What Do You Need to Learn Sketching?

Understanding how to sketch is an important part of the drawing process. Sketches are quickly made freehand drawings. They can be used as references or be stand-alone pieces. Artists, designers, architects, and scientists all commonly make sketches, albeit for different reasons. Sketches can also simply be made for fun. 

You might worry that sketching will be too hard to learn, especially if you have no prior experience. This guide will help you understand the best methods for learning how to sketch and what you should study first to make the learning process easier. This way, you’ll be successful whether you’d like to take up sketching as a hobby or to help develop your drawing style. 

What is Sketching?

Sketches are done using your imagination or observations. These freehand drawings are typically made using charcoal, graphite, ink, pencil, or Conté crayons. Drawings may also be done using these mediums, but they typically will incorporate color using colored pencils or pastels. Sketches are usually done on sketch pads or small notebooks because they aren’t intended to take up much space. Conversely, drawings are done on higher-quality surfaces, often with the intention of being displayed. 

Sketches are a way to map out a drawing or painting. They can serve as the first stages of your pieces, where you work out perspective, motion, shape, and lines. However, just because sketches tend to be fewer serious than drawings, that doesn’t make them necessarily easier. Successful sketches will not just incorporate these essentials but will demonstrate comprehension of them. 

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You don’t need to have experience with art or drawing to learn how to sketch. Sketching has few limitations or rules, although it is a foundational skill for artists. 

Benefits of Learning Sketching?

Learning how to sketch can provide several art and non-art-related benefits. Sketching requires close attention to detail. When you sketch from observation, you need to pay close attention to your subject. It’s important to consider how motion, perspective, light, and other factors will influence your depiction of your subject. Sketching, therefore, gives you more experience paying close attention to detailing, improving your brain’s ability to focus and recreate these details. 

Your sketches may be sold for money. Plenty of people purchase well-done sketches or commission them. Pencil and ink sketches are popular, especially among minimalist-style decor. Once you feel comfortable with the quality of your sketches and your ability to sketch from observation or imagination, you can consider selling them to make some extra money. 

Sketching can be relaxing. When taken up as a hobby, sketching can be done at your preferred pace. You have the option of choosing whatever medium and sketching surface you’d like and can sketch whenever you have the urge to. Exercising your creativity through sketching is an effective way for your brain to produce serotonin, which can relieve stress and reduce anxiety. 

Is Sketching Easy to Learn?

Sketching can be difficult to learn if you have no previous drawing experience. It can take some time to understand how to create something that you’re observing or imagining. 

You can learn sketching in several different ways. You can teach yourself how to sketch by watching videos and tutorials online. This method is useful for learning important terminology and the essentials of sketching. It doesn’t provide you with an instructor to ask questions, so this method is ideal for people who are motivated to learn on their own. 

Learning to sketch can be made easy when guided by an expert. If you learn best when led by an instructor, enroll in an online or in-person sketching class on CourseHorse. Classes are taught in a studio or online, using a video conferencing platform. Both course types are led by instructors, which means you’ll be able to ask questions, receive feedback, and observe in-depth demonstrations. 

Classes are offered at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. Some classes are welcoming to artists of all skill levels. If you live in the NYC area, check out the sketching classes offered by the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan. There are sketching classes that can teach you the foundations of sketching and guide you through the completion of a finished drawing. ArtClassBrklyn in Brooklyn offers a sketching and drawing workshop for those looking to learn the basics of figure drawing in a low-pressure environment. 

What You Need to Know Before Learning Sketching

There are a few things to know before you begin learning how to sketch. One of the most important things to understand is how essential observation is to the sketching process. You can always sketch from imagination but sketching from observation is more common. You’ll need to understand how the subject you’re observing is influenced by different factors like motion and light to successfully recreate it in your art. 

It’s also important that you understand the medium you’re using to sketch and the sketching surface you’ve chosen to use. The type of medium you use can affect the impact of your sketch. Certain mediums may be darker or lighter on different surfaces, requiring more or less of the medium to be used depending on the outcome you’re looking for. Knowing the differences between mediums and surfaces before beginning your sketch can save you time, although it doesn’t hurt to experiment. 

What You Need to Learn Sketching

Sketching doesn’t require very many tools. Taking an in-person sketching class may provide you with some or all of these materials and give you the chance to become more familiar with them. If you’re looking to sketch in your free time, here is a list of the items you may want to invest in. 

Pencil

It’s recommended that you use HB, 2B, 6B, and 9B graphite pencils for sketching. The numbers and letters designated to a pencil signify different characteristics. H indicates the hardness of the pencil and B indicates how dark or black the pencil is. HB pencils will produce both light and dark marks. There are also F pencils, which indicates how well the pencil can maintain a fine point. 

Eraser

When sketching, you’ll want an eraser that erases the medium you’re using the best. Using a poor-quality eraser on graphite can result in a mess. Erasers are not just used to erase mistakes but are also used as a drawing tool. You can use an eraser to lift highlights and refine the edges of your sketches and drawings. After determining the medium you’d prefer to sketch with, look online for artist-posted eraser reviews. 

Paper

The medium you’re using should also be considered when deciding what type of paper to sketch on. Basic sketches don’t require high-quality paper, but if you’re sketching a piece to sell or for a commission, you should use thick, acid-free archival quality paper. Detailed drawings sketched with graphite, for example, should be done on smooth paper. Cartridge paper is a popular choice for graphite drawings because its grain is great for creating a textured pencil line. 

Key Takeaways

• Sketching can be difficult to learn if you have no prior experience. 
• You can learn the fundamentals of sketching through videos and tutorials or by taking an online or in-person sketching class. 
• It’s important that you understand the importance of observation when sketching as well as the qualities of the medium you’re sketching with. 
• To learn to sketch, you’ll need graphite pencils, paper, and a high-quality eraser. 
• You can contact CourseHorse to learn about the online and in-person training options available to you, including private group sessions.