Drawing

Sketches

Free Sketching Techniques and Expert Tips

Table of Contents
Drawing Sketches: Free Sketching Techniques and Expert Tips
How to See (from Start Sketching and
Drawing Now by Grant Fuller) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Steps to Gesture Drawing (from Sketching People:
Life Drawing Basics by Jeff Mellem) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
A Look Inside the Sketchbook of Roberto (Bob) Cardinale
(from Sketchbook Confidential). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
A Look Inside the Sketchbook of Kate Sterling (from Sketchbook
Confidential) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
M o r e Res o u r c es . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8

Except from: Start Sketching and Drawing Now by Grant Fuller

Learn to See
Have you ever noticed that although you are able to recog-

After you draw an object, your memory has a vastly

nize countless objects at first glance, when you try to draw

improved record of that object. After drawing it a few more

them from memory, you cannot recall enough information

times, you may find that you can draw it from memory. The

to make a good drawing?

down side, however, is that the quality deteriorates because

This is because your memory records key pieces of visual

youve taken your eyes out of the equation. No matter how

information about things as you look around, and your

good your memory is, it does not compare to what you see by

brain feeds back a shorthand version of your surround-

looking at the real thing. Lighting, texture, subtle shapes and

ings. This abbreviated method allows you to quickly iden-

contours are all things that fade from memory very quickly.

tify all the objects around you, spot dangers, avoid collisions
and find things.

As an artist, you must learn how to look at things as if

you were seeing them for the first time.

Memory Fills in the Gaps

We can recognize objects from fragments
of shapes and bits of information.

Drawing Sketches: Free Sketching Techniques and Expert Tips | 3

Upgrade Your Memory

Not only do we recognize fragments of objects, we also have

familiar that you will have symbols in your memory for

a collection of highly simplified symbols in our memory.

those objects. However, tools like a can opener, kitchen

When we draw, we are competing with those symbols. It is

whisk, egg beater or perhaps workshop tools, which are not

important to concentrate on upgrading these images as we

likely embedded in your memory are better for this exercise.

draw by committing new information to memory.

Youll need to study them as though you were seeing them

Draw a few household objects that are slightly uncom-

for the first time.

mon. Dont select a table spoon or knifethey are so

Memory Can Be a Roadblock

Because of the simplified symbols already
present in our subconscious, when
beginners are asked to draw something
from memory the result is often similar to
the images you see here. Upgrade your
memory!

Draw Things in Order to Really See Them!

In the course of drawing unusually common objects, you will learn how things
worknot scientifically, but how the parts
connect and relate in size and shape.
Drawing something as mundane as an
electrical plug can be an adventure in
seeing. You will begin to notice things that
make you realize you have been looking
but not really seeing.

Drawing Sketches: Free Sketching Techniques and Expert Tips | 4

Draw What You See, Not What You Know

Even after only one drawing, you will
notice so much more about your surroundings. It becomes a personal challenge to
discover new information about things you
have seen a thousand times.

Force Yourself to See

Many items that appear complex at first
are really made up of simple geometric shapes. A camera is just a few ovals
and rectangles, but seeing how they fit
together makes the drawing process
exciting.
Force yourself to see. You know the
camera lens is a circle, but from an angle
the circle becomes an oval.

Keep Practicing!
Some objects look easy to draw, but upon
closer examination, will present unexpected
challenges. Making an object look convincingly
real takes practice, so do not be discouraged if
you dont get it right the first time.

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More Practice
Look carefully at this drawing and then close the
book. Draw as much as you can remember. Open
the book to this page and compare. Modify your
drawing but keep trying to hold as much in your
memory as possible. You will be able to complete a
drawing in fewer stages as your memory develops.

Drawing Sketches: Free Sketching Techniques and Expert Tips | 6

Except from: Sketching People: Life Drawing Basics by Jeff Mellem

EXER CISE

STEPS TO GESTURE DRAWING

Developing a consistent step-by-step approach will help
you avoid any hesitation when beginning a drawing.
Once you have internalized this artistic process it will
free your mind to concentrate on what youre trying to
communicate rather than how to draw. That is not to say
you cant change the procedure to suit your needs, but
as a rule, you will be better off approaching each drawing with a process you are comfortable with.

1| Begin With an Oval for the Head

Keep in mind how the head tilts in space. The head is a good
place to start because it establishes a rough proportion for
the gure.

JUST GO AROUND ONCE

You dont need to go around and around and around
to draw an oval. Draw efciently, keeping the drawing
simple and light. This skill is so fundamental that I still
ll up pages practicing circles and other basic forms.

2 | Draw the Neck as It Pulls From the Head

This line will roughly follow the movement of the spine. You
wont necessarily draw the anatomical position of the spine,
just its movement in relation to the head.

3 | Continue Down the Body

Capture the uid movement of the torso. Notice that the
lines are basically single strokes. Theyre not hairy lines;
they are short little hatch marks.

4|

Drawing Sketches: Free Sketching Techniques and Expert Tips | 7

4 | Continue Down the Figure Through the Legs

Each line needs to feed into another, leading the eye from one
mark to the next so that the brain connects them into a singular
object. Return to the top of the torso and add the arms.

PR ACTICE
GESTURE DRAWINGS
Go to a park or the mall and
begin creating gesture sketches
of the people you see.

4 | Continue Down the Figure Through the Legs

Sketches: Free Sketching Techniques and Expert Tips | 8

Each line needs to feed into another, leading the Drawing
eye from one
mark to the next so that the brain connects them into a singular

FINISHED GESTURE DRAWING

This rst stage of drawing looks simple when
done correctly. It will establish the foundation
for everything else. If the drawing is weak
at this stage, it will be far more difcult to
develop it.

P R AC T I C E
OBSERVATIONAL SKILLS
When you see someone doing something
interesting, close your eyes and remember
the body position. Where was the left
arm? Was he or she leaning forward or
away? Which direction was the head
tilted? What was he or she wearing? What
was the overall demeanor? Now open your
eyes. If the person is in the same position,
check the accuracy of your memory.

Drawing Sketches: Free Sketching Techniques and Expert Tips | 9

Except from: Sketchbook Confidential

Roberto (Bob)
Cardinale

Churches hold a special significance for

Cardinale: The church form speaks to my love
of ecclesiastical architecture and springs from
my monastic background as a Benedictine
monk and my travels. His sculptures of real
and imagined churches, towers and synagogues, many of them commissions, are made
of pine and richly painted, average about 16
inches (41cm) tall and require 60 to 90 hours
each to make. The Santa Fe artist (originally
from Colorado) has made over 400 of them,
focusing on the churches in New Mexico, Texas,
California and Mexico, and many from the
Tuscany region in Italy.

Drawing Sketches: Free Sketching Techniques and Expert Tips | 10

I journal mainly when I travel as a way of capturing

some sculptural element of a church or other structure
that will remind me of my emotional response when I
first saw the building. I sketch mainly to get a feel of the
piece that I want to sculpt, and often to work out some
problem or way of achieving some detail.
Most often, this is in the evening as that is when I spend
the most time in my studio, and the distractions of the
day are pretty much behind me. I usually use a no. 2 or
other soft pencil and often work on grid paper. Many
times, I sketch directly onto the wood that I am going to
work with.

When sketching, I try to be very conscious about the

feeling of the piece and what part or parts I have to
exaggerate in order to get the feeling that I am after.
When I sketch, I feel very open and relaxed, as I am not
trying to do a finished or important drawing. Its as if
Im just thinking about a form and not trying to create
one.The sketch is free to do what it wants, and I feel no
need to exert control over it.

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I like the fluidity and freedom of sketching as it allows

me to wander through the ideas in my mind. Sketching
helps me to think out loud as it were. It is fanciful and
doesnt have to go anywhere or be something specific.
Sketching lets me be free of material and process. I dont
have to worry about the cost of material or the logistics
and tools that come into play in doing a three-dimensional piece.
My sketches only suggest the physical work, and often
after I sketch some detail of the piece or the overall idea
of the piece, I set the sketch aside and get directly to
work.
Sketching helps me see detail that my eyes would miss if
they were not guided by my pencil.

Drawing Sketches: Free Sketching Techniques and Expert Tips | 12

Sketching helps me to think out

loud as it were. It is fanciful and
doesnt have to go anywhere or be
something specific.

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Kate Starling

canyons of
Starling is an oil painter who lives and works in the
king as
southern Utah. Educated in geology, she spent years wor ntrai
a geologist and National Park ranger. After formal art
landscape.
ing in the 1980s, she devoted her work to painting the
she has
Schooled in the importance of direct painting from life,
s on the
spent years painting outside, learning the way light play
and trails
land. Now she splits her time between the roadways
tings
surrounding her home and the studio. Starlings pain
ing a sense
portray the natural world and focus on communicat
immediacy
of place, atmosphere and dazzling light, retaining the
of the painting experience.

I have heard of artists who start every day with an hour

of drawing. I admire their discipline, but my drawing
comes at odd times and through necessity.
Aside from sketches preliminary to painting, I draw as
I can catch the time. I often sketch while waiting for
someone or when caught with a compelling view and
no paint box. It can be a way to survive the boredom of
idleness or because too much time has passed without
the pleasure of making something.

Drawing Sketches: Free Sketching Techniques and Expert Tips | 14

I sketch on a 5 8 (13cm 20cm) ring-bound pad

that slips into a leather cover. It is a replica of one that
Maynard Dixon was fond of using and was a gift from
the Thunderbird Foundation at the Maynard Dixon
Country Art Show. For outdoor sketches I draw with a
black Sharpie Twin Tip pen.
My sketchbook is a compositional tool that allows me to
make sense of the visual stimulus around me.

Drawing Sketches: Free Sketching Techniques and Expert Tips | 15

When I am painting outside, I often find myself starting

with the basic question, What was it that stopped me
here? It is usually one element that must be emphasized in the composition to convey the concept of the
painting. If it is the scale of one dominant feature in the
landscape or a strong shadow, it can be easy to sketch it
out quickly, but it is more likely to be a subtlety of value
or color.This requires me to remain conscious of this
theme, so I sometimes write a note to remind myself
and refer to it later in the painting process.

One of my cherished activities is a weekly figure drawing session organized by a local artist, and very little will
conspire to make me skip. It is a luxury to devote three
hours to drawing, and with the human form so exacting,
the concentration and discipline benefits my landscape
painting. I also teach a beginning drawing class in my
small town, and clearly articulating the basics of drawing
every week has sharpened my understanding of twodimensional representation and how the human mind
perceives space and form.

I always make a composition sketch before I start to

paint, and while this started as a discipline to eliminate
false starts in painting, I have found that it is a way of
focusing my mind to the painting process. By sketching,
I calm down and ready myself to concentrate; in a short
while I can feel myself click into a different mental state.

As a landscape painter, I take liberties with the placement of objects in space, and the sketchbook is the place
where I can experiment and play.

Drawing Sketches: Free Sketching Techniques and Expert Tips | 16

Jump Up Point
Oil on linen (finished painting)
18" 24" (46cm 61cm)

to paint,
I always make a composition sketch before I start
te false starts
and while this started as a discipline to elimina
ng my
in painting, I have found that it is a way of focusi
mind to the painting process.

Drawing Sketches: Free Sketching Techniques and Expert Tips | 17

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