If you are a beginner artist and have a longing to start sketching but don’t, then you perhaps can’t either find the time or you are unsure about how good you are at your craft. Either way, don’t worry because we have the perfect tips to get you started as a beginner sketch artist. Not only will these tips help you find time for sketching but you will also be able to improve your skills by a tenfold. Good luck, and let’s get started!
For a sketch artist to know his tools is as important as a pilot to know the controls of a plane. Having the perfect pencil at your disposal is going to make it easy for you to achieve precision. Pencils usually differ from each other on the basis of the hardness of graphite. To see how hard the graphite is on a particular pencil, you can just read the indication on its side. The indication would be, B, H or HB. ‘B’ stands for soft, ‘H’ stands for hard, and HB is the level between those two. For beginners, it’s usually better to start off with a pencil on the H scale. Additionally, some artists recommend beginners to work with mechanical pencils as they help in reaching a greater level of precision. The level of graphite in most mechanical pencils is HB which gives the artist a balanced range to start off with.
2. Leave the details for later
The most common mistake that most novice artists make is that they draw shapes and immediately want those shapes to have stunning details. This is problematic because it is imperative to have all the individual shapes on paper before you move on to creating any textures. Once you have mastered your outline, you should begin perfecting the shadows, details and other intricacies.
3. Learn to hold pencil for sketching purposes
Growing up we learned to hold our pencils in a way which would reduce imperfections. However, holding a pencil for sketching purposes is completely different as we are free to make mistakes and have rough lines, because we have erasers and we can go back and perfect them. When you start, try to keep your hand relaxed and don’t be afraid to make any mistakes. One important tip to keep in mind is to not let the blank paper intimidate you and give your hands a shake.
4. Make sketching a habit
Yes, it’s difficult to find time for a hobby in our busy schedules, but if you want to get better at something, you have to make it a habit. You know how we have to brush our teeth before going out? That’s how habitual you should be of sketching if you want to be good at it.
