Chapter 4 | SKETCHING

Sketching is trying out/figuring out something with a pencil, pen or brush, just as you can on a musical instrument, with a soccer ball or a dance move.

Sketches may consist of just a few lines…

… or a lot of scribbling!

Exercise 1: Make some sketches inside or outside of things that catch your eye. B/2B pencil and a small sketchbook (book size) are enough. You just leave outliers untouched. Draw right through it or continue in another place on your paper. The more you sketch the more natural it feels. Eventually, if you like, you can switch to a pen / fineliner and a brush with watercolor.

Take for example people waiting at a station or at a counter. They usually stand or sit in the same position for just a very short time. You won’t have time for details and extensive erasing. Sketches therefore often look unfinished.

With objects in motion you are almost forced to draw more and more flexibly. The result may look scratchy or messy but it is a great drawing exercise. A good example is the sketch of plowing horses by the virtuoso Dutch draftsman Georg Hendrik Breitner (1857-1923).

Exercise 2: Lightly drawn sketches, for example of self-made figures such as this little man staring at a candle, can be ‘cleaned up’ afterwards. You trace the most important lines with a pen or other color and erase the rest. Try it out with a self-made figure.

 

 THE FIRST STEPS TO AN ARTWORK

In the visual arts and architecture, sketches are often the indispensable first steps towards a final product. A good example are two of the very first sketches by the architect Frank Gehry for a spectacular building that now stands in a park on the outskirts of Paris.