My friend Mike and I started a sketching challenge. The challenge was simple; spend 15 minutes every day sketching. We both wanted to strengthen our visual communication skills. This seemed like a good way to do it.

I expected my skills to improve, and they did, slowly. What I did not expect was that there was a bigger benefit to sketching than merely learning how to create an image by hand. It was re-learning how to see.

I want to capture an image of a room, I can. In less than 5 seconds I can have my phone out of my pocket and snap a high resolution image of whatever it is I wanted to record. But I have not truly seen that room. I have not noticed the way the wall isn’t quite square, the way the light falls across someone’s face, or the forgotten nail on the panel board. These small details in agrégate make a moment worth capturing and are the reason, knowingly or unknowingly, I reach for my camera. Recording them slowly, deliberately, inefficiently, with a pen and a piece of paper, allows me to truly imbibe that moment. Even if I fail to adequately capture these moments in my sketches, I nevertheless have succeeded at learning how to see.