Answer to a Concert-Sketching Question

In the next issue of International Artist Magazine (#107), I answer your questions about sketching in concerts. Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing some of those questions and answers.

For example—Tomas Quinones asks: “What about low light? Do you bring a small light?”

I don’t use reading lights because they’re too attention-getting. If I want more light in a concert hall, I sit closer to the front, where the stage lights spill over into the first few rows. The level of the house lights farther back depends on the venue, and you never know how dark it will be until the show starts.

The relative brightness between the bright stage lights and the dark house lights can be a problem. If that difference is too great, it can take a long time for the eyes to adjust.


If I’m sitting in very low light, I use a bold black shape vs. white shape technique. A black brush pen is good for drawing these shapewelding sketches, where you can see what you’re drawing even in near darkness.

Examples of brush markers are the Uchida Double-Ended Markers or Staedtler Mars Graphic Duo Brush Markers or Pentel brush pen. I like the ones with a broad tip on one end and a pointed tip on the other. But if you plan to use brush markers, you don't want to use one that has a strong smell, and check them out first on spare pages of sketchbooks and wait a few months to make sure they don't bleed through the paper. 

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You can pick up a copy of International Artist Magazine (#107)