En Plein Air Drawing Tips with Bix Archer 🎨

Learn outdoor drawing techniques with ink and charcoal in this tutorial by artist Bix Archer at MoMA.

En Plein Air Drawing Tips with Bix Archer 🎨
The Museum of Modern Art
31.1K views • May 5, 2025
En Plein Air Drawing Tips with Bix Archer 🎨

About this video

In this tutorial, learn how to draw "en plein air" by watching artist Bix Archer demonstrate drawing techniques with ink and charcoal outdoors in MoMA's Sculpture Garden. Learn how to warm up with blind contour and gesture drawing and what portable materials you can use outside. Archer explains how to navigate changing light conditions in the environment through line and shading at various scales and how to incorporate the feeling and activity of the environment in your drawing. There's even a surprise proposal! Along the way, Archer refers to artists who inspire her, including Hilma af Klint, Ruth Asawa, Paul Cézanne, William Kentridge, Charles Burchfield, and John Marin.

00:00–1:18 Finding a place to start
1:18–4:13 Warming up - blind contour and gesture drawing
4:13–6:33 Expanding the frame
6:33–12:03 Using charcoal
12:03–14:10 Drawing at a larger scale (and a proposal!)
14:10–16:05 Fading light, wrapping up

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#drawingtutorial #drawing #enpleinair #tutorial #howtodraw #charcoaldrawing #inkdrawing #art #museumofmodernart #moma #museum #modernart

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Video Information

Views

31.1K

Likes

1.3K

Duration

16:05

Published

May 5, 2025

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