Pointy End Goes on the Paper: Part 4

Pointy End Goes on the Paper: Beginning Drawing for the SCA Scribal Arts

Scribal culture in each kingdom throughout the known world is unique. As I am Trimarian, I approach things from that perspective. But my hope is that anyone interested in Medieval Illumination can find some inspiration and tidbits in this series of articles which will be helpful.

Part 4: Sketching How-To

As much as I would love to give a practical demonstration of sketching, I am still figuring out the go-pro and I think shakily bad videos would be less than actually helpful. So, I am going to do my best in text and pictures, and maybe later will revisit doing a video.

Lets start by reviewing what to keep in mind when starting to sketch:

• Draw lightly- any given line might get erased later
• Don't get bogged down in details
• Draft your entire layout first, then add detail 
• Don't erase until it starts to take shape and you are refining the piece, stray lines are normal 

And cardinal rule #1- Don't get discouraged. Your sketches are not supposed to be finished pictures. think of it more as getting the essence of what you want down, so you can play with it and tweak it later. Also, let's harken back to the first post in this series... NO FEAR. Just take a breath and try it out. And if you don't like what you have sketched, try again. With practice you will only get better. Remember, even Leonardo da Vinci had to start somewhere.

Leonard da Vinci, Study of Soldier on Horseback

So what are some methods you can use?

Method 1: Shapes

Welcome back to kindergarten, where stick figures ruled! Remember how you would draw a triangle for a woman's dress, a circle for a head? Same idea. The human figure, in general, can be broken down into a variety of shapes. Put those shapes together and you end up with a sketch that is in the right ballpark and good to base further refinements on.

The trick is figuring out which shapes to use for what, and what size to make them. So, here's a handy little cheat-sheet:

• Faces are ovals, and Heads are an oval pasted to the front of a circle.

• Men's torsos tend to be rectangles or triangles
• Women's torsos can be broken down into circles and ovals.

• Limbs can be broken into small rectangles for the arms/legs and small circles for the joints.

Method 2: Skeleton

Same idea, but more stick-figure like. You are still using ovals and circles for the skull and joints, but the other major body shapes are just lines. This is a good method for figuring out posing because once you figure out where a joint like the shoulder goes, you can play with where the line of the arm comes off of it.

Method 3: Swirlies!

Start drawing spirals and then just adjust the width/height of the spirals to match the form of what you are drawing. This method is fun, but has limited utility. I would not suggest sketching an entire human form this way, but it's good for a couple of things:

• Getting your hand moving in big circles is a good way to sort of break the ice and get you drawing. 
• It's a good way to get big sort of movement lines into the sketch
• Can be good for tight fiddly bits like hands and feet. 

Putting it all together

There are a lots of different methods, these are just the three that I personally use most often. And I never just use one of them. When I go to sketch I do a little of this and a little of that until I end up with something I like. Usually I'll start with big swirly strokes to get me started, then I'll throw a skeleton in, and flesh it out with shapes.

You can see all of these methods in the above, especially shapes and a bit of a skeleton in the arms. This sketch still has some problems, the angle of the hips and placement of the legs is off, but it's a good start.

Side note- I deliberately drew all of these sketches with extra dark lines in places, to make sure that the parts I wanted you to notice stand out. As always, use a light hand and be prepared to erase anything that doesn't work out. 

Practice!

And really, this is the important part. Practice, practice, practice. The more you practice the better you get. It doesn't have to be good, and it doesn't have to look the way you think you want it to look, but every stroke put to paper is a step in the right direction. Absolutely everyone in the world who has ever drawn well, got that way just with practice. 

Though... there are some tricks you can use to help you practice...

Trick #1: Work Big

Kid you not, the bigger you work, the easier it is to sketch. There is a reason that when you see pictures or video of professional art classes the students all have those big honking pads of paper that are half their height. When you have a 3 x 3 foot pad of paper and you are using the entire surface, your hand and arm naturally move across the page. It's pretty much impossible to sit there with your arm still, your cramped fingers trying to tease out little details. And the more freely you get used to your hand and arm moving, the more you start capturing things like shape, movement, and flow... all things you want to be getting onto the page, not those silly little details. 

Trick #2: Work Fast

Don't overthink what you are doing, your goal is to get as much down on the page as possible, in as short a time as possible. Something else they do in professional art classes is what I like to call 'flash rounds.' A model will pose in the center of the room, but all the students only have a specified amount of time to sketch that pose, say 5 minutes, or 2, or just one. After the time is up the teacher calls time and the model changes poses. Usually all the students will flip to a new giant page in their sketchbook and then have the same limited amount of time to try and capture the essence of the next pose, and the next, and the next. 

Some of my favorite sketches in art class actually came from flash rounds. When you are working fast like that, you really can't start drawing details, or it'll all be over before you've barely begun. To capture the pose you have to use broad strokes and as few lines as possible to capture the essence of it. The result is some really dynamic sketches full of movement.

Trick #3: Rip it up

Normally I am not an advocate of destroying your work. However, if you are at the very beginning of learning how to sketch, and you are having that particular sort of mental hiccup that can't seem to let go of the idea that everything that goes onto the paper has to be the best thing ever, or good, or what you intend to draw... you get the idea. Then in that specific instance it can be useful to do an exercise in discarding your work. Take a pad of paper and a timer. Give yourself a few minutes per page. Sketch something, and then when the timer runs out, rip it up. It doesn't matter what you have drawn. It could be bad, it could be the next Mona Lisa. Rip it Up. Do another. Rip it Up. Do that ten times in a row and you will start to draw more freely as you begin to let go of the idea that every line is super important.

For more practice tricks, check out this article I found while spelunking pictures of Leonardo da Vinci sketches. It also has some good practical ideas, inspired by the master himself.

Seriously, Practice!

That is your homework, get thee a big pad of paper and just start sketching! The more you do it the easier it will get, and before long you will be drawing like a champ. For bonus extra credit, take some pictures of your sketches and share them in the comments below. Lets see what you got!

Also, congratulations! You have made it halfway through my "Pointy End Goes on the Paper" Class. Obviously, the first half is mostly about practical tips for how to get started drawing. The second half will be me breaking down various aspects of medieval art and illumination to help you make your drawings look that much more medieval.

Stay tuned for Part 5: Perspective, or the Lack Thereof
Previous Post: Part 3, Sketching