Sketching for Beginners

Sketching for Beginners

Drawing has always been an opportunity to bring your ideas to life. Surely you have come across the fact that you want to take a beautiful, interesting shot, you click the camera or take a picture on your phone, but the result is disappointing. There is no charm that you saw.

Why it happens?

Because in the head there is a picture with correctly placed accents, airy and light or, conversely, monumental. Do you know how to see the beauty in what surrounds you, and want to keep it as a keepsake? And do you know how to do it? Draw! Sketching brought this individuality of the drawing to the absolute, gave artists the opportunity for maximum self-expression. And in order to draw sketches, bright and expressive, it is not at all necessary to be a professional artist!

This is an art that absolutely everyone can master in order to express themselves and fill life with colors. Let’s get to know sketching soon!​​

What is sketching and why is it so popular?

So, a mean and dry definition sounds like this: sketching is a quick freehand drawing, actually a sketch or sketch, on the basis of which many professionals create full-fledged paintings, creative projects. But, at the same time, today sketching has ceased to be exclusively in the form of a sketch. Yes, it can serve as a prototype for some more “impressive” work of art, but the sketch itself is a complete illustration.

The popularity of sketching is explained by the fact that: it does not have rigid frameworks and rules; you can forget about the basics of academic drawing and give preference to your own views, styles, techniques; sketching is appropriate in many professional activities; it is easy to learn, it is interesting and gives the opportunity to actively develop; to create illustrations, you can choose materials to your taste – from classic simple pencils to “capricious” pastels; all sketches are characterized by “atmosphericity” – they easily convey the idea of ​​their creator, even if the embodiment itself may be imperfect.

In any case, the “mood” of the picture is easy to read. And, of course, sketching is still primarily live paper drawings. They are imperfect and imperfect, but that is why they are so charming. Many illustrators say that sketches have “a soul”. It’s a great way to be creative, express yourself, and just a fun hobby that you can do in almost any situation.

If you master the art of sketching to the full, then you can create magnificent sketches literally on a piece of notebook paper with the help of a pencil stub. And even the fact that you are sitting in a measuredly swaying subway car will not become an obstacle!

Who needs sketching skills?

As mentioned above, mastering the skills of creating sketches has a great practical application. In addition to being just an enjoyable, interesting, meditative and creative activity, sketching can become an important part of your professional life. For example, this skill is extremely useful: Designers. And absolutely anyone – web designers, specialists in landscape, interior design, clothing and anything else.

With the help of a sketch, you can quickly capture an idea that comes to mind, visualize it, which is extremely important, for example, when working with a customer – and not only! Heads of designers. For them, visualization of thoughts is necessary (and what is important – fast visualization) in order to clearly and in detail explain to specialists the task and the result that they should get. Specialists in creative professions – for example, artists.

Probably no need to explain why this is so important. Anyone who wants to develop creatively, is interested in the art of illustration and just has a desire to learn how to express their thoughts not only in words, but also in visual images.

Basic principles of sketching

The basic principle of creating a sketch is the ability to quickly convey emotions in the form of an image.

What is important here is not the technical perfection of the drawing, but its emotionality and the already mentioned “atmosphericity”. A carefully “licked” sketch is no longer a sketch. He is allowed to be imperfect. Some illustrators allow themselves to forget about the rules of perspective, proportions, abandon the fundamental principles of drawing for the sake of the most complete disclosure of the idea, the creative concept. So the most important rule for sketching is that there are no hard and fast rules!

Everything else is a recommendation! The main types of sketching Although sketching is a “sketch”, today it grows into a completely separate and unique art, within which there are its own directions. Consider the most popular types of sketching.

Food illustration.

This is a food drawing. Such sketches look especially organic in cookbooks.

Floral sketching.

Flower composition drawing. It is very often used by decorators and florists to simulate decor from interior or natural flowers.

Interior sketching.

It allows you to visualize interior design ideas and is usually used in the practical activities of designers.

Architectural sketching.

This is a sketch of buildings, city streets. Sometimes used by architects when developing projects.

Travel sketching.

Very often done on the go, right on the spot. Most often, such sketches are accompanied by some text notes.

Fashion illustration.

It is actively used by fashion designers, photographers, stylists, image makers, etc. They are used both when creating various collections of clothes, shoes, accessories, and are placed in fashion magazines, etc.

Industrial sketching.

This is a visualization of the concept of industrial design, which is often used in the development of any urban projects.

Landscape sketching.

As the name implies, this is a way to visualize landscape design. Such illustrations are very often used by professional landscape designers when working with customers.

Sketch portrait.

This is a simplified portrait created by the author in his own unique manner. Many artists practice different types of sketching, but almost everyone has their own “favorites” that are most pleasant to work with.

Therefore, choosing the direction in which you want to work is an opportunity to show individuality and, despite the pathos of the expression, “find yourself”. The main advantage of sketching is that it is easier to master different styles, types, directions than, for example, to learn fundamental academic drawing. This is actually the embodiment of fantasy without any boundaries and requirements – that is why sketching is so popular with both professionals and beginners.

Materials ideal for the first attempts at sketching

Initially, to create sketches, you will need the following set of materials:

Sketchbook or special paper for sketching. It is recommended not to save on it, because such paper guarantees perfectly accurate color reproduction, does not differ in excessive porosity, etc. In addition, sketch paper can have different toning, which will allow you to create especially interesting and original illustrations.

What to choose, paper or a sketchbook, is an exclusively individual decision and a matter of personal tastes. If this is a sketchbook, then it is extremely important that it be with stitched and not glued pages, since all notebooks assembled with glue crumble sooner or later, and their binding breaks, the pages fly out and get lost. And you do not want to accidentally lose such carefully created masterpieces?

Simple pencils (although mechanical ones are also allowed).

For the first samples, soft models marked 2B and 3B are sufficient. Colored felt-tip pens and markers – for the first time, any art markers or even children’s markers will do.

Watercolor pencils – they are easier to work with than watercolor, but they will help create smoothness and watercolor lightness, airiness of the picture.

Eraser. It must certainly be of high quality.

At the same time, it is undesirable to use it at first, because it is important to focus not on the quality of sketches, but on their speed. The presence of an eraser will make you overly attentive to the drawing and will not allow you to work out the speed, but in the future you will need to purchase it. This composition can be changed depending on your preferences and wishes, but it is recommended to start with just such a set in order to try different techniques and find the material that is most pleasant to work with.

Sketching pencils

What other materials can be used in the work? In addition to the basic materials, you can try other tools, combine them to your taste. The most popular among artists are: liners are actually “professional pens”. They are ideal for quick, not too detailed sketches; markers – they help convey texture and create great colors. Different types of marker tips allow you to embody any creative ideas.

By the way, they often successfully replace watercolors, but they are more convenient to use, especially if you have to draw “on the go”; pastel pencils – a material that is not “given” to everyone, but allows you to create amazingly sensual images; watercolor is a very “cozy” material, which is ideal for painstaking, but at the same time very “delicate”, airy and light sketches.

Some exercises to help you “get your hand” for beginners

To master the art of sketching, you can choose any training option: read books; study master classes (many of them are free), watch training videos; purchase courses (you can study them both online and visit art studios and schools “live”); practice on your own, intuitively master the art. But in general, paper and a few pencils are enough to start sketching (we even told you which ones to choose in order to create a full-fledged basic set).

You can start with the following exercises:

Parallel Draw

parallel lines of the same length in different directions. The main thing is not to put pressure on the pencil, to move your hand calmly, measuredly, smoothly. Let the lines at first turn out to be imperfect, but the more often you practice this exercise, the better they will turn out. By the way, it is not necessary to hatch the entire sheet with lines – you can change their direction and create different ornaments.

Rounded Lines

Here it is important to draw ornate indirect lines, placing them at the same distance from each other. The exercise can be complicated – the lines should be continuous, of different shapes. The sheet must be completed partially or completely. squares The whole sheet will have to be filled with squares of different sizes, which will randomly intersect.

Ovals and circles

They need to try to draw the same size, you can create arbitrary compositions from them. This exercise is very relaxing, soothing – it can be called meditative.

Eye Development Exercise

In the future, it will help to maintain proportions. Draw a line and visually divide it in half. Draw below half of the length of the eye line. Divide this line in half and draw the resulting half again. Continue like this until the segment becomes so small that it is already difficult to divide it in half. By the way, it is important to place the brush correctly: it should move easily, change its position.

The pencil does not need to be held close to the lead, optimally – 1/3 of the length of the pencil. In the future, you can learn how to draw basic shapes – a circle, a triangle, a square, a cylinder, master the techniques of hatching, shading (you can even try applying a gradient using dots), work on understanding and applying light and shadow in drawings, etc. And if after the exercises you want to create your own sketch, but the fear that a beautiful drawing will not work out is not released, then ready-made sketching kits are at your service.

They have everything you need to create your own mini-masterpiece, including paper with a basic sketch applied. You will only have to use the instructions to put into practice all the techniques and skills that you mastered in the exercises! That is, you have both materials and knowledge, but there is no fear of making a mistake, because the result will be obviously great!

Rules to remember

So, the “chips” that artists use to make sketches more realistic, “cartoonish”, voluminous, bright (in a word, unique) cannot be counted. But there are some tips that everyone should use: you need to choose those materials to which “the soul lies”.

A beautiful color of a marker or pastel, a bright and attractive sketchbook will bring special pleasure in the process of work; To get better, you need to keep practicing. Only with experience comes skill; do not save on professional materials. For example, if you use high-quality markers on ordinary office paper, and not sketching paper, then it will absorb pigment more and increase the consumption of markers. Quality materials are an important point in mastering the art of illustration.

Today, sketching is an opportunity to let your imagination fly, to learn how to draw beautiful, bright, attractive illustrations, or, conversely, to create continuous gentle miniatures. This is an amazing art that can be mastered even if you have never held a pencil or marker in your hands before. And most importantly, there are no strict rules and norms in sketching, it is the embodiment of creativity in its purest form! Try, do not be afraid to make mistakes and learn – after all, months and years of training always stand behind a great result, and we continue to improve all our lives!