A sketchbook is a handy tool for every artist. Each week I hope to publish a blog on what I am sketching.
When I first started painting, I did not draw or sketch. Most YouTube artists will say, drawing is not a necessary skill for painting. You do not need to be able to draw to paint. There are other methods of transferring your image to the canvas. You can use a grid; this method gives you a great deal of accuracy and I will discuss that in another blog. You can trace it; again a good method and discussed in a prior blog. At the very beginning I traced my images.
One day I was attempting to paint a painting based on a YouTube tutorial , when I found I could not trace the image because of the size of the available traceable was smaller than the size I needed for the canvas. I was not aware of gridding as a method of transferring your image to the canvas; this was taught to me when I started taking actual art lessons.
Being a problem solver, I figured I could create the image myself on a piece of paper large enough for the canvas I was painting. I sat down, placed the image in front of me and when shaking hands, started to sketch it out. I used shapes to help me draw the image. After I got the basic outline, I worked to refine it. It took me a while to create the basic outline of a woman in the rain holding an umbrella, but through that experience, learned that while drawing is not a mandatory skill, some ability to draw was a good skill to have. The other thing that experience did was show me how relaxing it can be to sit down with a pencil and paper and just sketch. Sketches are just that sketches. You can use those sketches to perfect a possible image for a painting, or see where the contrast be lies in a painting. Or you can just sketch for the sake of sketching. Frankly, I find just sketching to be fun and relaxing. It can be very therapeutic; pencil paper and watching a sketch come to life.
I prefer paper and pencil, but sometimes I want to explore more than a sketch, so my other sketchbook is my iPad and the procreate app. There I can explore depth of color, shape of the design and whether or not the colors are harmonious. Colors that jar or fight against each other are not enjoyable for someone viewing the art.
This week's sketches include a portrait (I am fascinated with portraiture), flowers, some color pencil sketches. Let's checkout a few of the sketches.
While drawing is not essential to being a good acrylic artist, some ability to sketch will make it easier to do so.
Until next my next blog....
(All art displayed is the property of the author, Catydid)
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