Let the Lines Guide You
Line up your drawing board and paper with your subject and lightly sketch horizontal lines. These will guide you as you place your subject’s features. Grab a friend and try it yourself!
Sketching and drawing are two different things. A sketch is a work in progress. You may sketch to observe your subject matter or to resolve questions regarding a drawing you are working on. A sketch may help you understand the values of a subject, or gain more understanding of the subject’s structure, proportions and placement of its compositional elements. Sketches like these may progress toward a more finished drawing. On the other hand, (no pun intended!) drawing is an activity that is begun with the intention of producing a finished piece of art.
With these definitions in mind, recognize that there are times to begin a drawing with a sketch and there are times to begin a sketch without any intention of refining it into a finished drawing. As a beginner, if you are trying to do more drawings than sketches, then you may be putting too much pressure on yourself. Loosen up and enjoy learning four different approaches to sketching and drawing: structural line sketching, value sketching, black-and-white sketching and contour sketching.
Let the Lines Guide You
Line up your drawing board and paper with your subject and lightly sketch horizontal lines. These will guide you as you place your subject’s features. Grab a friend and try it yourself!