Learn To Draw From Just Sketching

Learning to draw can be a long drawn out learning curve sometimes if your end results end up something that you are disappointed with. So in learning how to draw at least when I first learnt how to draw I first became a sketcher and this meant drawing quickly before finalizing a drawing and really this helped me to observe more and learn to sketch details.

Sketching is the way of working the pencil and creating something from whatever you are trying to draw, whether that is real or imagined and it is a personal way of drawing for the artist as your own art style is developed through the art of sketching. Being a sketcher really means you have to identify what you want as a design and you need to work to get there.

While at art college we were taught "to see all is to figure out how to draw all" and this small sentence has stuck with me for years, because it is true and it basically says that everything around you is for turning into a drawing of some sort and that the inspiration is always going to be there you just have to look for it.

People and situations in life can be the basis of a sketch or two, I remember at art college we were told to pair up with someone in the class and start to draw other people in the class, this at first seemed quite intimidating, but I soon found myself figuring a few things out about the sketching process and the benefits it could create if I learned from it.

What are the benefits of sketching?

• To capture movement in life, people and life in situations through sketching becomes a skill, the more you do it and when this becomes a habit then it is clear that the skill becomes a valuable one that serves your art well through the years by knowing what works in a quick sketch and what does not.
• Sketching, you can plan out whole drawings in light pencil marks, before you ever consider taking it seriously and finishing a full drawing, this creates a sense of planned execution and also builds on your artistic skills by increasing your technical skills in relation to perspectives and composition.
• With sketching you can capture moments in time that are original and unique, almost as if cameras never existed, sketching will become better if you don't obsess about the final result too much, your sketches should be about the exploration of the subject at hand.
• You can sketch anything to learn, there is no need to travel to special outside places to sketch, so if you fancy drawing your own hand then just sketch away and learn from the experience of it.

Sketching is as much about drawing something every time rather than trying to draw a perfect drawing every time.

In the following video I attempt to draw something random and quickly to see if it turns out what I'd thought. The very idea of drawing this way is what artists do all the time, if it works you have something to work on, if it doesn't however then you still have that idea to develop and more than likely need to start another quick sketch and approach it from a different direction or angle possibly.

As an interesting thought I'd already had the idea of drawing a horror skull and that's what I'd set my mind on to draw within the video, but it turned out in the early stages that drawing a demon tattoo idea would be better. Never fight the urge to not change track as artists we must follow our own judgement in our artistic endeavours.

Watch the video and hopefully feel motivated just to sketch and learn through practice, trial and error.