Base sketch- how do you clean up a sketch?

[CatTheSwordsman]

I'm working on basic sketches- trying not to freak out too much about getting everything perfect
But once I get the base down I get lost on how to clean it up
What do i do once i have the basic shapes down? I've tried to clean up similar sketches before and it turns from "hey this looks okay" to "whoops I ruined it"
Reference this is what I based the drawing off of, by the way. It's a stock site so

[YuukiPinkuu]

⌠☆ミ⌡

It helps to start from a stick figure or quick gesture drawing. Try to draw lightly. Then you refine the form of the person. Next, I like to draw their face, hair, clothing, accessories, etc. If you are new I suggest using a photo to referencec and trying to do basic poses from all angles first. ^-^

Here is an example.

It's a cartoon so it's not the best example but... you can still see the drawing going from basic shapes to a developed sketch.

Keep practicing ^_^

⌠☆ミ⌡

[CatTheSwordsman]

Stick figures don't seem to work for me- I've been trying those for ages. Maybe I'm doing them wrong? But overall, I tend to get anatomy and the general body down better if I do those vague shapes from the sketch- when I'm drawing from reference, anyways. Thank you, though!

and yeah, im gonna keep practicing. C: I'm just bad at, well, puzzling out the steps on my own?

I like doodling in colored pencil cause the lines seem easier to see (to me) but they're also softer and feel more like a 'sketch' but the lines do NOT erase well at all so I think i might have to switch back to a lead pencil if I wanna do more than sketch and practice doing bodies.

Mechanical makes really clean lines, in my experience, but they're also harder to erase . . .

But I do have wood pencils and charcoals and stuff.

I do NOT have a tablet or an art program so I have to do everything by hand, which, for whatever reason, its harder to find information on completing a drawing by hand than via a tablet or art program?

Sorry for babbling at you- I'm a biiit talkative and it helps me to figure my thoughts out if I verbalize them, or well, in this case, type them out. Thank you though!!! You seem very nice and I appreciate the advice C: And your avatar is adorable.

If you don't mind, do you have advice on gesture drawing?? that's something I can't seem to get the hang out of at all.

[BigGayFish]

❝Bruh❞

*coughs* I don't want to be rude, but what you have there, imo, isn't a sketch per se but rather a guideline. I guess technically speaking it is, but that's semantics. First things first, don't get hung up on tools or if you have a tablet/digital tools or whatnot. Unless you're looking for improving your technical skills with a certain tool, right now it's all excuses.

You've started out alright what with a very light guideline. What you need to do now is add in the details that give the drawing life and bearing. It doesn't need to be super super detailed but it should be enough to give you the basic gist of it. It usually helps if you use a darker pencil but when I do this step traditionally I always use the same pencil I did for the basic guidelines. If you plan to keep it a pencil sketch or not color it in/give it fine lines, then go over it again but darker to showcase the details. If all of that sounds confusing to ya, just look at this:

This is a redline (kinda) of the details of what you would add to basic guideline in context to your piece.


And this is another example of just that. If you look carefully, the red shows the basic head shape and his hair, but not the details of the mask and the eyepatch, which I added and then redrew with fine lines afterwards.

When that's done you either take an inking pen or a darker pencil and draw the fine lines that you need and lightly or harshly (depending on your medium) erase the picture leaving only the sketch/piece behind. In some cases though, it's better to leave it as it gives your sketch depth and shading. Like this:


Hope that helped maybe???

❝Who cares?❞

[CatTheSwordsman]

It wasn't an excuse- often when I ask how to clean stuff up, people tell me to scan it and do it in an art program, and I was trying to make it clear that I need to do the stuff via hand, so that's what I need to hear about. I like art via pencils- and the medium I want to excel in is with pencils and markers and paints and stuff.

I call it a sketch??? I've done other types of art that's not people and that's what a sketch is for me. Well, I guess everything before the kinda-done stage is a sketch to me? I dunno, I think what a "sketch" is kinda depends on a person. I've seen people with sketches where it looks like a finished pencil drawing to me, so.

and thank you!! having solid advice IS very helpful- I don't have have inking pens, but i have a pile of prisma colored pencils which I can do the outlines for, I just need to pick a color. I kinda get hung up on what details to use, but seeing what details you'd keep is VERY helpful. I'll post probably later tonight to show my attempt?? I just don't want to leave your reply too long.

Seeing what other people would do is so helpful and I appreciate the advice!

[BigGayFish]

CatTheSwordsman

It wasn't an excuse- often when I ask how to clean stuff up, people tell me to scan it and do it in an art program, and I was trying to make it clear that I need to do the stuff via hand, so that's what I need to hear about. I like art via pencils- and the medium I want to excel in is with pencils and markers and paints and stuff.

I call it a sketch??? I've done other types of art that's not people and that's what a sketch is for me. Well, I guess everything before the kinda-done stage is a sketch to me? I dunno, I think what a "sketch" is kinda depends on a person. I've seen people with sketches where it looks like a finished pencil drawing to me, so.

and thank you!! having solid advice IS very helpful- I don't have have inking pens, but i have a pile of prisma colored pencils which I can do the outlines for, I just need to pick a color. I kinda get hung up on what details to use, but seeing what details you'd keep is VERY helpful. I'll post probably later tonight to show my attempt?? I just don't want to leave your reply too long.

Seeing what other people would do is so helpful and I appreciate the advice!

If it wasn't an excuse then forgive me. I usually see people say that when they're looking for excuses as to why they can't do x and y, myself included in the past. Traditional media isn't as forgiving as digital but I've always felt it's often more rewarding because of that, which is why I still draw traditionally abudantly moreso than digitally haha.

Sketch is such a weird word because it's one whose definition is up to the interpreter. For me a sketch will forever be a finished product that does not showcase an artist's maximum potential. So I can have a watercolor painting and I'll call it a sketch if I personally feel that I didn't go all out on it. Of course your definition of a sketch can greatly differ. I guess that's why I wouldn't define guidelines as a sketch to me. Unless they're intended for pise and body references. Like doodles. But that's a whole different ballpark haha.

I'm glad though my advice in the end was helpful. I've been told by many people that I tend to over explain something and thus end up confusing them lol. You don't need like brand name inking pens btw. I find that your normal ball point or gel pen work very fine for traditional mediums. Picking colors tho is a tough decision, especially if you're so flimsy and whishy washy with them like me. If you have any other q's about sketching things out tho that you'd like to ask, I'm all up for it to help.

[CatTheSwordsman]

[/img]
figured I'd post and update shot- I dont have a scanner, so this is from my 3DS camera

I think I placed the head and arms wrong so im trying to fix that but switching colors is really helping me start to finalize the sketch, thank you! Im in the middle of doing some corrections and adding details, updates to come

[BigGayFish]

*squints eyes at the picture* Her arms look fine but her neck's too long. You added a contour line under her chin for it and now all I can see is a snakey-neck. I suggest erasing it all or shortening it so that it's only a hint. It's getting there tho.

[CatTheSwordsman]

oh gosh- thank you, I didn't notice that!! wow im so glad that got caught now. I'll fix it and take another pic- the headplacement is kinda getting me but hopefully it doesn't take too long. (it just takes a bit to upload the updated pictures, since i have to get it on my 3ds, then get it on my computer, then get it on photobucket.just as a warning that uploading the photos is a bit of a process)

do you have any advice on shadows? a basic lineart is one thing but I've never learned a thing about shadows. (I'm self-taught so kinda figuring out what i need to learn as i go.)

[BigGayFish]

CatTheSwordsman

oh gosh- thank you, I didn't notice that!! wow im so glad that got caught now. I'll fix it and take another pic- the headplacement is kinda getting me but hopefully it doesn't take too long. (it just takes a bit to upload the updated pictures, since i have to get it on my 3ds, then get it on my computer, then get it on photobucket.just as a warning that uploading the photos is a bit of a process)
do you have any advice on shadows? a basic lineart is one thing but I've never learned a thing about shadows. (I'm self-taught so kinda figuring out what i need to learn as i go.)

It was the first thing I noticed when I looked so I thought it'd be good to tell ya ASAP haha. I feel ya on the whole uploading thing. When my scanner was on the fritz and I didn't have a computer I had to do a long convoluted mess of taking photos from my phone emailing them to myself downloading them on my mom's tablet and then uploading them from there to wherever. It was just one big headache.

Now as for shadows, that's something I still struggle with. I find it always best to have lightly drawn arrows of where your light source is and then shade the shadows directly underneath any objects immediately caught by the light. 
Take these two pics for example:

In this one, even tho there's no shade in the body (because I forgot like a derp lol) the hair has shading in places where the light would've been blocked by the turning of the head and by the hair in of itself. 

This one, on the other hand, you see that the lighting is set harshly from the viewer's right side (her left), and since it's close, the shadows are much smaller and spread thinly. If I had put shading on the floor though, it'd be harsher an elongated in contrast. 

Hope that helped.

[CatTheSwordsman]

I'll have to take that into mind- I'm not quite to that stage yet, though. I'm still struggling with the head placement, whoops.

Oh- I meant to respond to the sketch thing earlier: my idea of a sketch is basically the first stage to an art work, and then i build on a sketch until its done. Anything unfinished- like doodles or pose practice- still fall under sketches for me, but yeah. That's what a sketch is to me- unfinished pieces.

sorry it took me a while to reply- I had to check on my pets and stuff and set them up for the night and I'm finally at my computer again, trying to figure out this head placement

Thank you so much! That does help- and I appreciate the examples, I have a hard time visualizing *word* advice so seeing it in action helps me figure out what i'm doing

[Weenie Hut Franchise]

I guess as a continuation of what people have stated above, my recommendation would be to absolutely start sketching lightly. Try to add as little pressure as possible when doing the initial sketch because, as I'm sure you're aware of, the darker lines will be harder to erase later on. I don't recommend sketching with a colored pencil, regardless of you being able to see it better. Colored pencils are designed to stay on the paper, making it difficult to erase marks you've made. If you still want to use them however, I recommend getting a kneaded eraser since it can do a decent job.

You also mentioned that you have charcoal. I don't recommend doing sketches with it unless you are going to be doing a charcoal drawing. It's very messy and you can't really use pencil over it. You can certainly do it the other way around (charcoal on top of pencil) and it'll work fine.

I think if you want to stick to using pencils, invest in some graphite pencils. You can get a pack that have a variety of densities, from really soft to really hard. They can help you with controlling pressure and the darkness of lines.

As for gesture drawings, they are meant to be quick. You are getting the basic form and lighting, but that's it. Detail is absolutely last if you are able to get to it in time, but the idea is to not get hung up on details. Try to forget about them completely when doing gestures. Think of gesture drawings as warm ups. Start timing yourself when you draw something, and when the timer goes off you should have at least the basic shape of what you are sketching. You can start yourself at five minutes, then gradually decrease the time (three minutes, two minutes, one minute, thirty seconds, etc. etc.) once you get the hang of it.

Sorry there aren't that many pictures! I tried lol u- u anyways I hope this was a little bit helpful to you?

[Astralalpha]

YuukiPinkuu

⌠☆ミ⌡

It helps to start from a stick figure or quick gesture drawing. Try to draw lightly. Then you refine the form of the person. Next, I like to draw their face, hair, clothing, accessories, etc. If you are new I suggest using a photo to referencec and trying to do basic poses from all angles first. ^-^

Here is an example.

It's a cartoon so it's not the best example but... you can still see the drawing going from basic shapes to a developed sketch.

Keep practicing ^_^

⌠☆ミ⌡

orz Thanks for posting this!! heart