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In this article, I write about how photography has influenced my sketching style and observational skills. I provide a concise, step-by-step guide in understanding how to reinforce your sketching practice by first photographing personal references.
At the heart of sketching lies the power of the artist’s imagination, but at the center of imagination is a rich mixture of real life experiences. These experiences combined with keen observation, create specific images in our minds, strengthening our artistic message.
- Imagine an adventure travel truck that once traveled the vast landscape of Africa, but now stands old and rusted, abandoned in an urban parking lot.
- Imagine a 19th-century boutique hotel called The Splendid, now fragmented into cheap Airbnb studio apartments.
- Imagine a broken and dusty 3-wheeled van, transformed into a mobile library brimming with ancient alchemy books.
How did I come up with these concepts?
The answer is quite simple: be receptive to your surroundings, observe the world around you, let your imagination spark stories about everything you see!
Before you begin
Sketching comes in a diverse spectrum of styles, reflecting the individuality of each artist. Just like color, it can be vibrant or muted, simplistic or intricate, rendered in pencil or ink, with a fineliner or marker.
My personal sketching style involves using a fineliner with an ink feel incorporating mark-making textures, typically in four shades of gray. I work digitally with Procreate or Autodesk Sketchbook Pro on my iPad.
However, if you’re a complete beginner in sketching or drawing, I encourage you to explore my article on getting started with sketching in 8 exercises. Additionally, I previously wrote about how to generate creative ideas by researching an idea and creating inspiration boards to help you develop a visual concept.
Let’s sketch a Mercedes Travel Truck
I love old cars, and when I see one on the streets, I have to take a few pics of it because they are simply aesthetically pleasing; like they have a story to tell.
So in this article, let’s sketch one vehicle from my Parking Lot, a Mercedes Travel Truck, model 1113. As I’ve said in my intro: Imagine an adventure travel truck that once traveled the vast landscape of Africa, but now stands old and rusted, abandoned in an urban parking lot.
I have found this beauty on the streets of Berlin. Before sketching, I took about 30 reference photos of this vehicle. The sketching process was somewhere between 4-5h and you can see a timelapse video on my Youtube.
One of the most important points to understand here is that the reference experience creates a strong depth in our perception. The photography process itself becomes a discovery and curiosity process.
Photography: makes me present
As artists, we feed our minds and souls with tons of real-life references. We are continuously on the lookout for references; in fact, we see good references everywhere and in everything.
If you use Pinterest like I do, it gives instant hints and generates bold ideas. It easily sparks our imagination.
However, beginners easily get confused by the infinite possibilities and can easily get lost in ideas and creation. I see this with many of my students – they go down the rabbit hole of searching and searching for the “perfect reference”. Why do you get lost? How do you get back on track? Well, this is a topic for another article; it’s about the focus on the story.
For me, photographing my own references means engaging with a reference. You just need to grab your phone – no fancy equipment at all – just go out and shoot. And there’s no need for photo editing either.
But notice that I’ve just said “engage” not “search”, “look” or “find” for a reference. Engaging implies having a real experience.
The photography process isn’t passive. It’s an active participation and experience with your environment. Why? Because it has a double purpose:
- First, you’ll be authentic with your own references.
- Second, you’ll find meaning in your message.
Photography: ladder photoshoot process
The ladder photoshoot is a personal concept of mine. It means photographing my own reference in a large spectrum, from macro to micro. The details and complexity are everywhere, in the long and closeups shots, so I’m NOT looking for details.
I’m looking for Perceptions. I’m looking for that feeling of wonder and curiosity that says in my head, “Gosh, look at that!”
So the ladder process means, in a way, some sort of focus on different perceptions. I see where it takes me. I usually spend about 20-30 minutes photographing the same subject. It can be anything: a door, a building facade, a car, a drain pipe, a garbage can, a wheel… Anything that fascinates me!
Let me break the Ladder Photoshoot down into 3 steps:
- Large View: I start with large shots to perceive the natural surroundings of my subject. It can be both night and day; the light and darkness can be tricky.
- Go Closer: I gradually get closer and zooming in, but I do it physically, not digitally with my phone. This allows me to choose a focus point that unexpectedly becomes a new subject of interest for me.
- Imagine a story: I search for something seemingly insignificant and I make it significant. I seek out elements which initially may not be apparent but soon become a piece of information in my radar. This is my moment of wonder – “Gosh look at that!”
Photographing your subjects will give your references a vivid and tangible sense, but the analysis of the photos, determining what works and doesn’t, will occur naturally through the sketching process.
This process helps me visualize different points of view at the same time! And as I’ve said before, it engages all my senses in that particular moment and experience.
Sketching: 3-step process
I’m an iPad user and thus I’m mainly a Procreate user. I always work on a very large canvas somewhere between 6-10k since it gives me that large resolution to sketch high details in a deep zoom-in.
Here’s my general technical setup:
- Software: Procreate
- Canvas size: 6-10k px
- Sketching Brush: Technical Ink Pen, 6-10px size
- Texture Brush: 6B Pencil in variable size
- Shading Brush: Gesinski Ink in variable size
- Many, many layers
My sketching process is based on several steps or sketching passes. This means that I don’t construct everything all at once; I don’t deal with all the details at the same time but rather build it up gradually from the outside in and from shape to texture.
My system is built up of 3-5 steps, depending on the complexity of the scene, but in this particular article, I’ll keep things simpler.
So let’s discuss a 3-step process, one step at the time.
Sketching Step 1: Layout. Size and Proportion
It is extremely important to start with a good construction, regardless of the subject size (small, medium, large). This is your floor plan!
You have to understand that through our art, we are mimicking reality. Find a way to understand the comparative relationship as a whole.
In step 1 I’m focusing on two key things:
- Overall size: height, width and, depth in case you are doing a perspective drawing
- Overall dominant shapes: basic geometric shapes, think large, medium and small shapes.
Remember, keep things very simple because our brains can interpret and imagine the information.
For me, this is the most simplistic drawing I do. I look at my photo references from a point that is ridiculously simple and super easy to see, like a child. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication – Leonardo da Vinci.
Sketching Step 2: Sketch. Structure and Texture
During my second step, I integrate almost all the sketching details; everything I can do just by using an ink pen.
I’m using a Technical Ink Pen with a 8px tip on a canvas of 10k px so it’s like sketching with a small needle – it takes quite a few hours.
In step 2 I’m focusing on:
- Capturing a variety of materials such as rubber, metal, wood, glass
- Adding additional construction elements as small elements that supports the dominant once
- Imagining for the purpose of the object and how the environment influenced it
- Looking for unique surface characteristics such as dry paint, first, dust, scratches
Remember, we sketch texture, we don’t paint it
At the end of this step, we need to have a very strong sense of the object’s appearance as a surface or substance. However, depending on the complexity of the scene, I may break this step into two separate two steps: Structure vs Texture.
Sketching Step 3: Details. Contrast and Shade
The final step is creating a black and white version (B&W shades) since I’m not using colors.
My focus is on enhancing the overall contrast. I already have some decent contrast, since contrast to me is like a projection in all the multiple elements: shape, size, density, and shade.
In step 3 step I’m focusing on:
- I already have contrast in shapes, from small to large shapes
- Contrast in mark-making as texture, from dense to wide texture
- Contrast in shade, from dark to light areas
I’m aiming to make certain areas more clearer, but overall we are contrasting values of light and darkness, new and old, clean and dirty. In doing so, you will enhance that artistic essence, just by adding in the shades of gray (like mixing colors).
Contrast in any kind of visual art gives clarity as a whole. I may use different texture brushes like 6B or a Gesinsky.
Takeaways: 5 key points
We get good at what we do repeatedly. If you want to be good at something, do it over, and over again – then I promise you – at a certain point you become the process.
The artistic style transformation may not happen overnight, but with persistent effort, it will definitely quantum your work.
Here are my key points on how photography helps me in my own sketching process:
- It gives clarity during the sketching process, like a roadmap. It shapes the initial idea towards the final artwork.
- It’s food for thought since it gives depth and makes my art more impactful.
- It’s a wonder of a variety of elements that initially seemed invisible.
- It gives insights for enriching my awareness and observational skills.
- It’s an experience by itself, even if I don’t sketch anything afterwards. It’s just a quality time with my husband since we are both interested in street photography.
The following questions are extracts from my drawing classes. So here we go.
QnA: Why don’t you just use Pinterest for searching references?
Answer – Get to know your subject!
Just think for a moment: if we want to really get to know someone, regardless of their background we need to interact with them, ask some questions, and find out their story. Every human being has been shaped by life experiences over time. But what if we do the same with an object?
Can you imagine having a conversation with a car, or with the door knob of a 100 year old door?
Let’s go even further with our imagination – imagine you are the object, let’s say a diamante. What kind of story would you tell about yourself? Are you shinny? How many faces do you have?
There are many subtleties in an object, hence we need to observe, study, compare them. There’s a story behind every single object. We need to find it, create it, imagine it and show it.
This is visual communication, after all!
QnA: How many photo references should I take?
Answer: Your photo references are your own laboratory.
It’s not about the number of photos; it’s about a 360-degree perception of the story behind the subject. But you can shoot, let’s say at least 30+ unique images.
The process is simple: focus on multiple perspectives.
- Experiment with large and close views.
- Experiment with wide and narrow angles.
- Experiment with close-ups and micro shots
- Even experiment with day and night mood, for example taking a photo at a building facade.
We need experiences to create, both in real life and in art as well. Only this way will we “see” a clear image in our minds. It’s about engaging all our senses to fully experience a moment.
QnA: Should I draw everything I see?
Answer – Not exactly. That’s boring and sounds like tracing a photo. We interpret and communicate a message.
Our artistic and imaginative muscles need to be trained to grow, but only through the conscious exercise of observing things around us.
Sketching from your own photo references represents an authentic expression rather than a sketching technique. Personally, I don’t believe in drawing from imagination, that “imagination” becomes repetitive over time. And a repetition of something from the past is not a novelty.
My own unique references are my inner dialogue, so to speak.
How come? Because I see beauty in an old rusted pipe, a construction broken sign lying on the street, or an overloaded garbage can.
QnA: What are observational skills?
Answer: Observational skills are your most powerful tool.
Observation is a skill, and like any skill, you can learn and develop it. But Critical Observation refers to the ability to observe something with great attention to detail and accuracy. It is one of the most important skills an artist can have.
Keen observation is developed when the insignificant becomes significant, the uninteresting interesting; the things we supposed to be of no importance are seen to be the only vital things in your art. A regular person doesn’t see them, but they feel that everything is in place without knowing why.
I challenge you with this process, pick anything that interests you from your own environment, take some photos of it and then go sketching.
Resources
- Reference photos used in this article, Mercedes Travel Truck, model 1113, ZIP Archive: approx 191MB
- Artstation Project, The Parking Lot with high-res concept sketches and time lapse videos
- Artstation Shop, Photography reference with vehicles and architecture
- Youtube Playlist, Time lapses with sketching exercises with vehicles and architecture
