Brittany's Desk

The importance of getting sketchy

Imbria Arts Announcement!!!!

First off starting today I will be adding my weekly + blog posts on art here on the main site to give another place for fans to find out my stuff and to share what is going on with things. Additionally my Weekly quick draws will be on display and family friendly weekly patreon pages starting this weekend. Now on to today’s Blog 

 

Okay one of the most important things for a artist to do in their life is to carry a sketchbook with them. Personally I carry a hard bound sketch book over soft bound ones simply due to the abuse I put mine through as I work. But no matter if you carry ether or just even a pack of paper. Having a sketch book at your side helps you improve your skills and even work out ideas and designs. To have access to paper and a pencil improves your speed and lets you have life drawing examples available over taking a photo and drawing from that as a reference.

 

(Each page as I go to work on a comic gets sketched out rough in about 15 minutes so I can design the layout, and how I want the characters to be staged in the panels they appear in.)

Most my sketches are like my weekly quick draw request I do on Deviant Art, are around 10-15 mins at most. And that’s a good lesson to have when doing any sketch. The idea is to get the function and quick details out the way. Your sketchbook is where you build ideas not finish them.

(character quick draws for Demon Blade lesser characters)

Here is a challenge. Are you finding it hard to draw hands. Make yourself fill 2-10 pages in a sketch book of nothing but hands. Struggling to get a characters look down. Draw out the ideas you like and try and piece them together.

(I have been working on this one character idea for awhile and haven’t quite gotten a look down but I think the eyes are don and will keep up in adding them in the future.)

Bad at drawing cars? Buildings? Animals? Go out and draw them in your sketchbook giving yourself 10-15 minutes to draw them. After you do several of these you find you get a better idea for the function, movement and build of the thing your trying to draw. And before you know it your able to draw that thing by memory.

(working out ideas of fictional logos that will appear off and on in Demon Blade, some of these work and some I sent back to the drawing board, but all where done in 5 minutes)

Oh but Brittany, I don’t have time to run out to places and draw things. I only can do digital. Then use digital means. Each year handheld tablets are getting better. Or if your like me and still working on a desktop computer. Then take pictures ether from your own life or by others and sketch from them. If you struggle at something… Trace it! (GASP!!!!)

(Character developing idea, I am basing him loosely on Billy Idol)

But isn’t tracing stealing art?

Yes and no! And I want to go into this in a future post. But to learn tracing and seeing how others came about or even how something is in the world it helps teach you to be a better artist.

(a quick draw of Tetsu poses I will use done in about 3 minutes)

SO GO OUT AND DRAW! NOW! (Well not now its dark and late where I am but later when its day is fine. But still DRAW!!!!!)

What do you think? Do you have your own opinion you want to share, or do you want to chime in on mine. Do you have a suggestion of a topic you want me to cover? Share it in the comments.

 

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