{"id":132,"date":"2026-05-09T07:25:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T07:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inkingabroad.com\/blog\/?p=132"},"modified":"2026-05-09T07:31:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T07:31:05","slug":"each-schacciata-and-trust-the-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inkingabroad.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/09\/each-schacciata-and-trust-the-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Each schacciata and trust the process"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We’re still buzzing after a wonderful creative retreat in Florence; the second one we’ve run, and certainly not the last one!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there’s one phrase we’d use to sum up our 2026 Visual Storytelling Creative Retreat in Florence, it’d be “trust yourself<\/strong>“. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 1: Getting to know each other and our own creative goals <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There’s something eternally magical about the way the birthplace of the Renaissance awakens your imagination<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 1 always starts with an individual ‘treasure hunt<\/strong>‘, where everyone takes the time to soak up inspiration from wandering the streets of Florence. There’s so much to take in, from the architecture, open spaces and art, to the urban fabric of signs, lettering and street art, to the schacciata and gelati…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first task is to create a Goals Poster<\/strong>, that draws on these inputs, and expresses what each person wants to get out of the retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We did a formal ‘kick off’ for the retreat at the rooftop bar of The Social Hub, Lavagnini, where everyone got to share their Goals Poster and get to know each other better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sketching, eating, drinking, and making new friends – the latest Inking Abroad Florence retreat kick-off <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Day 2: Drawing \u2013 and seeing \u2013 in 4 different ways<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Day 2 is always the BIG day… a mix of walking, dining, and a TON of drawing. It started off with a brief tutorial on simple figure drawing<\/strong>, to help everyone break up a complex object (such as a figure) into composite parts with their mind, eyes and hands. This always helps us to tackle subjects that at first seem too daunting, and is great prep for what was to come: drawing statues and scenes in the Galleria dell’Accademia<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some participants chose to draw all or parts of the legendary statue of David<\/strong> by Michelangelo Buonarotti, while others took the time to draw a few of the hundreds of smaller statues in the Casts Room, or take in the composition and visual storytelling in the medieval diptych and triptych paintings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The toughest statue to draw \u2013 and a few of us were up to the task! \u2013 was the Abduction of a Sabine Woman<\/strong>, by the Flemish sculptor and architect Giambologna. A huge part of drawing statues and paintings is training ourselves to really see what’s in front of us<\/em>, not what we think<\/em> is in front of us. Our brains are so used to taking as many shortcuts as possible, and a big part of visual storytelling is often looking for \u2013 and finding and revealing \u2013 the details that others miss<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s time for serious drawing… and observing, and deconstructing, and discussing all things visual storytelling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The third way of seeing and drawing was with urban sketching. A big difference in this method (which can certainly be used in any form of drawing and visualising) is making decisions about what to focus on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n