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Question: Help me learn how to sketch!?
I have always been praised for my ability to draw cartoons (non anime style), and barely this year I have realized that I want to have a future career in the art industry, but my drawings are not good enough!. so I figured that sketching is the only way to improve, but i suck at it!. HARD!. I only ask three things from you: 1) tips and advice!. 2)if I should sketch only simple objects first and work my way up!? and 3) what are thing that helped you!? (on a side note i have already gotten drawing on the right side of the brain and the natural way to draw)Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
1) tips and advice:
a: Sketch whatever is in front of you!.
b: Sketch what you see and only what you see!. Do not sketch what you imagine!. ie!. Keep it real!. (You can get into fantasy later on!.)
c: Don't worry about capturing every detail!. Sketches are meant to be quick and general!. Going after detail is later and is called a study!. You will start seeing forms and features more as you get experience!.
d: Try to make at least some sketches of things you can return to and sketch again!. This gives you a better appreciation of your earlier sketch and how your sketching has changed!. (Don't look at your old sketch until you have finished the new sketch!.)
e: Try to work quickly!. You should be able to get the major features down in less than 5 minutes, certainly less than ten!.
Longer than that and it is likely becoming a study instead of a sketch!.
f: Take your sketch book and your pencils with you everywhere!. This is the biggest thing!. Take them and use them!. EVERYWHERE, like a photofreak and their camera, inseparable!. (Sketches are like snapshots!. Fast, not much thought, not very technical!.)
The best pencil case I found was a little plastic box with a hinged lid!. It is just long enough to hold my pencils and the lid snaps shut nicely!. I think it was made for fishing tackle!.
But all you really need is something that keeps your stuff clean and is stiff enough so you are not breaking pencils!.
g: Most important! !.!.!.!.RELAX!!.!.!.!.It is just a quick sketch!.
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2) Sketch everything, complex or simple, but keep in mind that the sketch should stay simple!. You are looking for the forms and relationships, not photo realism!.
3) What helped me most was an old bag of an art teacher!. She would not let us have erasers, used a timer on a stop watch, and smacked our knuckles (not hard) with her pointer if we tried to add touches after the buzzer went off!.
She also taught me to keep a hardcover sketch book and not throw old sketches away!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
get off the internet and go to the library!. you'll never know what you'll find out and what you'd really like!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
books, art classes!.!. learning a new style is hard to clean!. breaking for your old style!. this just happens look at other peoples art for inspirationsWww@QuestionHome@Com
Look, simply put, draw from the shoulder, and draw with an eraser!. Those are the two things you need to know most!. work your sketches, and try to make your blacks actually black (or at least darker than the grays)!. Again, go over the highlights with an eraser, rather than erasing sections!.
That's the last point!. You never smudged a picture!? When you go over a drawing for a bit, you tend to brush it accidently with your fingers or sleeve!. and that smudges the lines!. Don't avoid it!. Just be aware of it and that will help you fix things -- if you just draw over them rather than erasing then drawing over them!. Only erase the parts you are not going to draw over again -- the highlights!.
That covers 1 and 3!. The answer to two is this: SOMETIMES if you are really trying to get your picture right, even simple objects should be overwhelming!. I would say don't sketch only anything and explicitly only things you think you will succeed in drawing well!. Learn to be philosophical about rather than discouraged by your failures, and do draw simple things (I took my Dad to the Doctor's office this week and drew an empty chair there), but don't restrict yourself!. You can learn a lot!.Www@QuestionHome@Com