There is no Fan-fare with sketching…..none….at least for me. Sketching doesn’t appeal to the masses like true art does….IMHO (in my humble opinion). UNLESS, you sketch something for someone. You know, draw a picture of a family (or member) for them to display; at the top of the stairs, along the staircase, in the foyer, above the fireplace. This is when the real profiteers can hone their talent with the task.
But for me…..
I just like sketching. Don’t know why, possibly it’s cuz I get to copy. And tweak toward perfection.
With my birthday next month, I think I know what I want. Look at my pencil stash, there’s 7 light green pencils, 4 dark green pencils, 2 blue and 1 black. Different brands that I picked up over time, shopping at various art stores. THIS DRIVES ME CRAZY. What would work better for me when I sketch would be to have all my H pencils (2H, 4H, 6H, 8H) in one color, my B pencils ( 2B, 4B, 6B….) in a different exterior color and my blends (HB, F, H, B ) in a third color. This would help my poor little brain …..do you see how tiny the identifying lead numbers are on these pencils?
I must be due for a new sketch, it’s been almost 2 months since I completed Yanina.
Since I gotta start somewhere, I chose to start at the bottom of the figure on the paddleboard.
As I continued, it was all about erasing….you see…I have no sense of proportion, especially early on. The foot-to-knee took up more than half of the leg. Anyone know any tricks to help in the beginner stages to keep things in line better?
All the drawing books and classes I've come across recommend lightly drawing a stick-person skeleton to get the proportions and positioning right. Then draw the rest on top of it. Of course, this works better when you're planning on inking it and then erasing all the pencil lines entirely, which you're not, so I dunno.
ReplyDeleteDepending on the perspective, that leg might be just right! You always end up doing a great job with your sketches of people.
ReplyDeleteI started putting tiny bands of color (just a white label sticker I colored in) around the ends of my pencils, so when I pull them from my cup of my box, I just grab the color I need- I started with red (the hardest pencils) and worked my way to indigo (the softest)- each shade in between is a step. I think you deserve a stash of awesome color-coded pencils, but maybe you can label your current pencils visually? I finally did that with ALL my stuff- markers, pens, pencils, etc. because it makes life so much easier!
ReplyDeleteI use the 8 head rule like they do in fashion illustration (although fashion illustration is usually 9 heads because of elongation). I simply rough in horizontal lines, then rough in altered lines such as shoulders and hip alinement, then mark in key joints (shoulders, elbows, knees, hips, etc. and connect the dots.
ReplyDeleteIt's like mapping out squares & rectangles before starting a landscape piece.
Here's a good example of a similar technique - http://www.flickr.com/photos/borrominibear/3494057300/
What great suggestions!! I'm a very lazy drawer I don't like to "have to" erase....I want it all to just magically appear on the paper correctly!! What world am I living in?
ReplyDelete@Chel- I should just personalize my stash myself, that sounds like a smart system with the bands of color :D