5 Must-Know Sketching Tips

 1. Know your tools

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As with any other art-related practices, it's ultimately going to be up to you to explore different supplies/techniques so you can arrive at your personal favorites.

​However, what you should know is that you can go far with limited and inexpensive supplies. So don't get overwhelmed with the large variety of papers, pencils, erasers, etc. out there, and go for the basics. 

For my quicker sketches, I usually like to prepare the following:

a) Three different pencil grades (usually HB, 2B, and 6-8B) 

b) Drawing/sketching paper or sketchbook 

c) Soft rubber graphite eraser

d) Basic metallic sharpener

e)  Zero eraser 

These are optional, but useful if you want to start drawing more realistically:

f) Blending stumps or tortillions

g) Kneaded eraser

In terms of paper, it's useful to start noticing how different thicknesses and textures affect your process, as well as the outcome of your drawings. 

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​2. Start with simplified large shapes and forget about details until later

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This is huge! When we're just starting out drawing, we want to get into the details right away and spend hours working on a drawing just to find out that it looks off at the end. 

It's absolutely imperative to learn to visualize your subjects (whether your drawing still life, the human figure, a landscape or anything else), as combinations of simple shapes like cubes, cylinders, rectangular prisms, cones, etc.

​Learn to tune out all the smaller shapes and intricacies until after effective proportion and placement of individual elements in regards to each other, has been achieved. 

I'm serious! Don't even start adding details, textures, shading, or anything of the sort, until your base outline sketch is solid. 

Once you've gained enough practice creating basic outline drawings, I highly recommend looking into shading techniques that will allow you to start creating a believable sense of three-dimensional form. 

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​3. Learn how to hold your pencil for drawing purposes

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It can take a bit of time for the beginner artist to get comfortable holding a pencil for drawing purposes. This is only natural, as we've been trained to hold pencils and pens a certain way since we started writing.

When we're writing, we need to be able to create neat, legible letters right-off-the bat. On the other hand, when we're drawing, we start by laying down imperfect lines and we refine them along the way (that's what our erasers are for!). 

​These are two very different activities and we have to make that mental switch necessary to change our approach depending on what it is we're doing. 

There are many different ways of holding a pencil for sketching purposes and there isn't one that is necessarily "better" than the next. It's going to depend on what you find most comfortable at each point of the sketching process once you have a bit more drawing practice.

Have in mind you'll usually switch between different hand positions and grips throughout your drawing process. However, generally speaking, you want to position your hand further away from the tip of your pencil.

You also want to move your entire arm as you draw and not only your wrist (as you do when you're writing). 

Try to relax and draw loosely! If you're too tense, warm up by drawing different types of lines and shapes. There's absolutely nothing to be nervous about, especially if you start out with light lines that you can easily erase (as you always should).

Always start lightly, and move on to darker values as you refine your sketch.

Have fun with it and throw perfection out the window! Fearing you'll make mistakes and striving for perfection will keep you from creating art, which will keep you from making progress.

​Don't ever fear the blank page and, remember, with every sketch you make you'll get better and better. 

​4. Develop your observational skills and hand-eye coordination through using references

Drawing from both photographic references, as well as from life, is absolutely essential for progress to occur. Especially when we're looking to develop high levels of realism. 

These types of comments show ignorance on the part of the commenter in terms of how art and creative processes work.

Using references allows us to develop our observational skills and our hand-eye coordination. It's also impossible for the human brain to hold on to all the visual information that a photograph (or seeing something directly) can present to us.

Even if you're intending on developing a cartoonish style in the future, studying how things actually look like in real life, will help enhance your work and make it more effective.

​5. Make sketching a habit

Out of the five tips I'm mentioning in this post, getting into the habit of sketching regularly, is probably the most important of all. Oftentimes we make excuses, telling ourselves we don't have enough time to draw.

​However, it's a matter of reminding ourselves what's important to us, getting our priorities straight, and setting aside the time.

If you want to get better at anything in life, you have to do it consistently.