One of the common frustrations while drawing outdoors is when someone or something blocks your view. Cars...

People.

Admirers.

While picking a sketching location, I always anticipate the block first. For example if I'm by the road, I'll seek out places where I can't be blocked by parking cars.

This was drawn at the Singapore Art Museum. The cars came later and blocked my view. While I anticipated that, I couldn't do much because that was the view I wanted.

This was at Kampong Glam. It was in the morning and the roads weren't busy yet. I had anticipated cars and vans soon. After I laid out the rough composition, I proceeded quickly to draw those areas where I will be blocked. Sure enough, after an hour, tour buses started parking in front of me. By that time, I had already finished drawing areas that were blocked and could continue drawing other areas.

You can also use blocking people to your advantage. In the sketch above, the people were blocking the stalls that I was drawing.

Because I drew the people in, I didn't have to draw the complicated stalls. This sketch was actually made better because people adds movement and gives it life.

If you can't get the block to work in your favour, sometimes you just have to come back again to the same place and finish up.

Here's the recap for the tips:

• Anticipate the block and choose your location
• Anticipate the block and draw that area first
• Use the block to your advantage if you can