Freehand

Sketching Tips and Tricks Drawn from Art

Helen Birch

• Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781452119779
• eBook ISBN: 9781452129617
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art Techniques

"Examples + explanations = inspiration... There is something in this guide for advanced, intermediate, and beginning artists alike." — Library Journal Creating stylish sketches by hand is easy and fun with this inspiring guide. Freehand breaks down basic drawing techniques into bite-sized chunks, and reveals their practical application in dazzling examples by today's coolest artists. Over 200 innovative works of art demonstrate all the fundamentals—line, tone, composition, texture, and more—and are presented alongside friendly text explaining the simple techniques used to achieve each stylish effect. The final section of the book offers aspiring artists essential reference materials to hone their drafting skills and practice what they've learned. Petite in size but comprehensive in scope, this hip handbook will teach artists of all skill levels how to find their personal drawing style and start making amazing sketches.

The Sketches

Background and Space

Marina Molares

These two landscapes share a number of characteristics: both are monochromatic, both are repeat patterns, and both were drawn using black pen and constructed digitally. The contrast between them lies in Molares’ use of space. She has laid out the telegraph posts so that the background paper shows through. The tone of the paper is an important part of this subdued design. For the other landscape she has packed lots of shapes into a confined space. Only the non-filled mountains allow the white of the paper to show through, and around these Molares has used heavier black lines to emphasize the contrast of tone.

Much of the skill here is in Molares’ selection of what to draw, and how to draw it, before creating digital repeats. Both the looping, rhythmic wires of the telegraph posts and the dome-like mountains make great patterns.

	Line, construction
	Black ink, digital
	Monochrome, design
	Landscape

If you have Photoshop or Illustrator, look for pattern-repeat workshops online. There are also software programs designed to create a seamless pattern.

See page 25 for another example of repeated shapes creating a landscape.

Alternative Reality

Julia Pott

This drawing is a good example of balance between real-world reference and imagination, experimentation and design. Pott has nestled her animals together in a digital collage, as though they are posing for a group shot. This adds to the human character Pott has imbued her quirky creatures with. All of this sets the scene for an alternative reality, allowing Pott’s experimental moments—a hint of Spirograph patterning, a rubber-stamped date, random circles and diamonds—to sit comfortably and not appear out of place.

	Construction, layers, color
	Felt-tip pen, digital, collage
	Imaginative, reference
	Animals, birds

Pott achieved the perfectly flat colors of her animals by drawing them part by hand and part digitally.

You can see other examples of alternative realities on pages 27, 49, and 79.

Blended Layers

Paula Mills

This is a drawing of many layers, blended through digital manipulation: color and line are immediately apparent, but texture is involved too. Mills has confidently brushed a strong color onto a textured paper. The clean pen lines provide an effective contrast to this. The top layer is the white-line drawing. She has drawn this in an informal way. She has been confident in using a natural, flowing line to lay on her block of cer...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• What is Drawing?
• The Sketches
• Drawing Fundamentals
• Contributors
• Index