sketch tutorial Part 1

OK, this has been a long time in coming. I really had to sit down and think about how I was going to present this. I like to play around a lot with free hand elements, I find it comes in handy when you don't quite have what you are looking for in a stamp. Or when you just want to add some visual interest. If you look at the top photo, you will see a group of tools which I often use for freehand sketching. My tools include: Those shape templates used by graphic designers which you can find in any office supply store or art store. Next, pencil, good quality erasers, Copic multiliner pen for use with copic markers, Faber and Castel Pitt Artist pen. For the artist pen you will find three colors: black, sepia and sanguine which come with 4 types of tips, the finest being the ( s ). These pens also come in a varying range of colors fitted with brush tips. They are waterproof and suitable for color pencil and orderless mineral spirits as well as water color. The last two items shown are a CD and a Palette ink pad. These are just a sample of random items that can be used to create shapes. Oh ya also a ruler which is self explanatory.

Next is just my hand holding the pen. It does not matter if I am working with pencil, ink, water color or any other medium, I always hold my instrument at a comfortable angle that I can maintain. Important points are steadiness of hand, and the ability to put light pressure or greater force.
Now this is a bit of a weird picture, but I wanted something simple to explain this next step. Everything is made up of shapes. When you learned to draw squares, triangles, circles, rectangles, cones etc.... all of these were the foundation of any other drawing. Take a look at Bob the Tomato. In #1 you see an oval, #2: rectangle, #3: rectangle, or cut off triangle, #4: circle, #5: circle, #6: cylinder #7: circle , #8: crescent or half circle.
All right, the point of Bob the tomato is to show that everything can be broken down into basic shapes. When you start, look at something and see if you can pull out its basic shapes. After you have those drawn, out, then you go into the shapes and start altering the lines. Adding some lines, taking some away, warping, and lengthening are all part of it.

What's the point of this little sketch? Well this is why I'm late on my tutorial! A friend asked me to play around with some dragon shapes for a logo. This is one of my little sketches. It's still pretty rough but essentially I started by working with basic shapes. I have a bunch more which I won't bother you with, but I'm kinda excited because its been over 10 years since I did any art work, and I decided to keep brushing up on dragon images so that I can begin a small piece for my husband. He loves fantasy images and I figure I will make him a special present while he is away. So back the the classroom ( my personal one lol), because I'm pulling out my pastels again.

Ok, back on track! Next up is the barrel image which I promised to show. I started out with a CD since I wanted a large oval shape. This CD was the perfect size to begin with.

I started out by making an oval using both sides of the CD and then cut it off at top and bottom with a straight line. Remember not to put to much pressure with your pencil because these lines will be erased later.
next come the bands which hold a barrel together. I follow the curvature of my barrel. I also round out the bottom of the barrel. Think about these things when doing round or cylindrical shapes. Curves add dimension making it stand out instead of being flat.
Next I'm creating the top part of the barrel. It is a flattened oval. Go back to your childhood when we learned how to draw perspective with houses using those angled lines. In the case of rounded shapes, you use sharper curves.

Next I just add in the lines of the wood. I go straight through the strapping lines. It does not matter because I will erase it. I start on one side first till I get to the middle area, then start on the other side meeting my first part in the middle. The middle line is done last to balance the two sides out. All the time I am trying to follow the curve of the barrel.
Now is the time to take my pen of choice ( depends on your coloring medium) . I go over all my relevant lines using a steady smooth motion. No stops and starts for this part because you want smooth and not choppy lines.
Now that the lines are done, I can erase all my pencil marks and finally add the detail and color. Now please remember that I drew this up very quickly. Sketching can be time consuming when doing new items, but the more you do, the more comfortable you will be, and eventually you will also be a little quicker.