Notes On Sketching

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Those not interested in creating graphics will probably want to skip this post :).

Whilst I've learned many interesting techniques over the last year or so, one thing I still have quite a bit of trouble with is sketching. When I sit down to draw a character with pixels, I can 'build' the character block by block, meaning that I don't really have to worry about sketching. But when I 'paint' with soft brushes (something I'm only just beginning to learn) I can't really just sit down and draw a character's outline - things very quickly end up out of proportion and looking quite strange. I came across this technique a couple of times and I thought it had to be worth a shot - anything to help me with sketching. I've documented the entire process I used to create the final image here, in as much detail as I thought sufficient.

Before we start, let me just say that this image is the very first time I've used this technique, so hopefully my use of it will improve with practice.

Step 1 is to form a blobby shape that represents the character very roughly. Because the blobs take so little time to draw, and can be done zoomed out, it helps me create a pose that I am satisfied in around about 1 minute. I used a size 9 brush with 100% opacity and tablet pressure sensitivity set to modify brush size.

Step 2 is to go into greater detail figuring out the character's shape - arms, legs and shirts are defined here. This only needs to be very rough as it will be scrapped completely. Shading is not necessary, but I find it helps me to define forms more clearly. To do this stage I used a size 19 brush at 65% opacity and with pressure sensitivity on brush size once more.

Step 3 is to make an outline of the form we've just created. I did this on a new layer with the pencil tool (because of the hard edge) set at size 2, with 100% opacity and no pressure sensitivity. I used white to help see the outline more clearly.

Step 4 is to take our outline and seperate it (which is why I used a layer, because it makes life easy). Using the fill bucket I put in basic colours for the main zones. There we have it - our sketch is done! However, just for the spirit of completion, let's take it a few steps further...

Step 5 is to form some very basic shadow shapes. This is more preperation for step 6 than a step by itself, but I found it nice to seperate the two for clarity. I used the same setting as in step 3 to create these shadows - the magic wand selection tool is very useful here for selecting an area of colour to work within.

Step 6 is softening shadows. Rather than using layers, I directly paint over the top of the image, as any little bits of outline showing through can be masked quite easily later. I used a brush size of 9, with opacity set once more to 65% and tablet pressure sensitivity set to brush size. I didn't worry too much about fine strokes here because I don't feel it is necessary to this particular image.

Step 7 is merely outlining the image to help define form. For this I used a size 2 brush with 100% opacity and pressure sensitivity set to brush size.

So there we have it, my first character using this blob based 'sketching' as a foundation. It's not the most detailed or exciting of characters, nor is the colouring the best, but I found the technique of working from a rough silhouette quite effective in this case. Please note this is not intended as a tutorial - it is merely notes on a new technique I'm exploring. I hope you got something out of this - and for those of you without tablets, please remember that it is not actually necessary to possess a tablet to be able to create these sorts of images (although it is easier with one). I hope to improve my drawing skills with this technique - I certainly find it easier personally than sitting down and creating lineart as a foundation.