"You can't do sketches enough. Sketch everything and keep your curiosity fresh."
John Singer Sargent |
Find out about: TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
- What is a sketch?
- Sketching for Real - a class with assignments
- Sketching Plein Air /Travels with a Sketchbook
- How to sketch people and interior landscapes
- From sketch to final drawing - a slideshow of a work in progress
- Starting to Sketch with Coloured Pencils
- How to sketch animals
TOOLKITS, BOOKS AND REVIEWS
- Sketching toolkits - advice and information
- Sketching Toolkit - product reviews
- Recommended books about sketching
SKETCHING COMMUNITIES
- Sketchercise
- Other sketching communities
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DOWNLOAD FREE ARTICLES
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Sketch of Fanjeaux in France. |
See my sketchbooks in the Travels with a Sketchbook Gallery on my art website
View my sketches of places where I live and where I travel to
in the UK ( London, England, Interiors ) and overseas (eg. USA, Australia, France, Venice and Bali).
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The copyright owner of all text and images and files on this page and linked pages is Katherine Tyrrell
All rights reserved except where use for non-commercial personal and educational use is specifically indicated.
All commercial use is subject to licence and fee - please contact me if you would like to discuss use. |
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What is a sketch?
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A sketch, in art terms, can be: - a way of practising and refining your skills in drawing and mark marking
- an exploratory drawing – exploring how something works/might work
- a quick drawing – e.g. sketching in public tends to be time-limited rather than open-ended
- a rough description – it’s OK if they lack detail; don’t fill the page or are not even completed
- a record of something you’ve seen
- a record of one or more aspects of something you want to develop into a painting e.g. a colour study
- a preliminary study – for a later painting (done before you start to check how your painting will work rather than as an underdrawing on your final support)
A sketch may be an imaginative or a creative interpretation of reference material – but it does not involve meticulous copying of a reference photo. Very often a sketch is a study of a subject that the artist can see – and consequently involves working and drawing from life.
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| Sketching for Real - a class about how to sketch - with assignments |
In May 2006, I was the tutor for a sketching class in the Drawing and Sketching Forum's Classroom on the Wet Canvas website.
You can read more about how successful it was in the blog posts linked to below.
The Introduction to the class and assignments have now been revised and updated
- Introduction (why do the class; what is a sketch; why sketch; outline of the assignments)
- Assignment 1: So you want to learn how to sketch.............
- Assignment 2: Sketching the Familiar - from life and outside
- Assignment 3: Getting out of Your Comfort Zone - Sketching in Public
PLEASE NOTE: No licence is granted for commercial use.
You MAY download and print out the pdf the files - for your private, personal and individual use only.
Teachers may provide a note of the URL (http://www.pastelsandpencils.com/sketching.html) in any list of websites they provide as useful information. They may not copy the material. All other use is subject to licence. See the download page or Making A Mark Publications for further details |
Sketching Plein Air and Travels with a Sketchbook - tips and techniques |
I share tips and techniques about my approach to sketching in posts to my blogs Making A Mark and Travels with a Sketchbook. Below are links to blog posts which provide advice. Some of them provide links to further resources.
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- Sketching plein air with coloured pencils - this is about a sketch I started at Kew Gardens and completed at home. It covers: how to get used to a place; how to use your camera selectively and for reference purposes; my version of a thumbnail sketch; how to consider and select colours; developing a sketch plein air and finishing it at home.
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The Order Beds 10" x 14" on Arches Hot Press copyright Katherine Tyrrell
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Contemplating Baga Beach, Goa
copyright Katherine Tyrrell | - Plein air art - 10 tips for working with sunshine and shade - When the weather gets warmer and the sun begins to shine, thoughts begin to turn to working plein air. However there are a few pointers which can make all the difference to what you achieve when drawing, sketching or painting plein air - and how you feel at the end of the day.
DOWNLOAD NOW FOR FREE
Making a Mark Guide to working plein air
- 10 tips for working in light and shade
to print out - for personal and education use only This can be reproduced for your personal, individual and educational use only so long as the copyright notice is respected and maintained.
You may not reproduce it further without my written permission
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- Making A Mark Poll: Preferred plein air painting media The most popular media for painting plein air are watercolour (29% of responses) followed by oils (24%) and soft pastels (16%). Two conclusions drawn from the poll are that
- the use of a particular media for painting plein air relates closely to how comfortable an artist feels using it.
- alternative / modern painting media are not used very much due to a lack of knowledge about the media's properties and how to use it.
- More sketching at Sissinghurst - covers my approaches to preparation (and what happens when you forget!), proportion and perspective
- How Monet used his sketchbooks - my analysis of how Monet used a sketchbook from the information to be gleaned from the an online exhibition of Monet's Sketchbooks associated with 'The Unknown Monet' exhibition and catalogue. Links to exhibition and all relevant sites publications included in post.
- More Mistral sketching - from the car - an option for sketching when a strong wind is blowing
- Travels with a Sketchbook - Resources for Artists - This is my standalone information site on Squidoo which provides resources for people who like looking at travel sketchbooks and people who'd like to keep a travel sketchbook but need a few tips first. It has links to the sketchbooks of other people, books about sketching and sketchbooks which can be bought from Amazon.
top of the page All text and images are copyright protected - see below for what that means |
How to sketch people and interiors
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- 10 Tips for How to Sketch People - Drawing and sketching people is an invaluable way of developing a wide range of artistic skills. I've been drawing people for very many years - family, friends, people in cafes and restaurants, life class models - and other artists. This post provides 10 tips on how to sketch people – or at least my understanding of how I sketch people.
- 10 "Dos and Don'ts" for how to draw people while eating I've drawn in cafes and restaurants all over the world - in the UK, Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. Lots of people tell me they'd never ever be able to do this. What follows are my dos and don'ts for being able to sketch people and interiors while eating - without it causing a problem for you.
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| From sketch to final drawing - a slideshow of a 'work in progress' |
 | A slideslow shows how a painting can be worked up from two of my initial sketches - made in front of the subject (in France) - to a finished drawing in coloured pencils which was completed at home
in England. |  |
| The first sketch in pen and ink focuses on the view which interests me. | | The final artwork - a fine art drawing in coloured pencils. |
Six slides show the development of a full sized coloured pencil drawing from the two sketches and photos taken at different times of day.
Click the link to see the slideshow of a work in progress (this is a link to my art website)
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| Starting to sketch with coloured pencils - by Katherine Tyrrell |
| First published in "From My Perspective" (July 2006 ) - Ann Kullberg's online magazine for coloured pencil artists. |
We're all familiar with the way in which coloured pencils can be used to produce some very fine artwork. However, many of you may be less familiar with how to use coloured pencils for sketching.
This article
- looks at the benefits of sketching
- aims to demystify 'how to sketch' for those who have not tried it before
- outlines why coloured pencils work so well for sketching
DOWNLOAD NOW FREE
Making A Mark Guide - Starting to Sketch with Coloured Pencils
to print out - for personal and education use only
top of the page | The benefits of sketching
with coloured pencils
Sketching with coloured pencils helps you to:
- Expand your portfolio of subject matter
- Get a true record of the colours and tones you see
- Develop your freehand drawing and observational skills
- Learn how to draw more quickly
- Learn how to draw outside - and in public!
- Learn how to choose what to sketch
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How to sketch animals
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How to sketch a cat in 30 seconds
What the guide covers: 4 key points explain how to sketch you cat in 30 seconds
- why the location of your sketchbook matters
- what to do if the cat moves
- advice on how to use your time and what to look for
- 5 great tips for how to look and how draw a cat in 30 seconds
- what you need to do next
top of the page |
DOWNLOAD NOW FREE
A Making A Mark Guide - How to sketch a cat in 30 seconds
to print out - for personal and education use only |
