For an artist, the main thing is the sharpness of his feelings. Yes, it is a bright sensation thrown onto the canvas in any way - whether expressively with a brush or inspiredly and gently with a thin curly line - that is most expressive, most interesting.

But on one side of a good picture there is an amazed viewer, on the other the creator, the artist, is invisibly present.

Did you want to learn how to be on the opposite side of the viewer? Learn to create works that people will not be indifferent to? To do this, it is important to become the most sensitive spectators yourself. surrounding reality, but did you know that this is not just a gift from nature, but also attention that every person is able to develop in himself?

True, everyone. Differently he will express it later, but will be able to snatch out the sharpest, funniest or most beautiful thing in what now seems ordinary and familiar to you and me.

The easiest way to learn to draw is through friendship with a notepad. Set a goal of one sketchbook per week and have a few drawing tools ready to start.

Let it be simple pencils (a few from the 4B-12B range), black markers, charcoal or charcoal pencil, multiliners with a thickness of 0.1 mm to 0.8 mm, a synthetic or squirrel round brush number three and black ink, an art brush will also come in handy. The latter can be filled with ink or ink.

Any paper will do, as long as it is light, that is, white or ivory. The cover firmware should also be convenient. For some, a spring is convenient, for others, an adhesive book spine, here everything is not for everyone.

Now try to promise yourself that you will draw whenever possible. It is best if they are people or animals, and from life, but this is not at all necessary. It’s just interesting, and when it’s interesting to do something, it comes easier.

Just how to draw a person if you have never studied plastic anatomy, if you are bad with proportions? This question is asked by all the students whom I convinced to draw sketches in parallel with studying the basics of visual literacy.

Everything is very simple. The artist works from the general to the specific. This is how we see the world - first in the morning we see the overall picture outside the window, evaluate the brightness sunlight, to understand how much we like this day already in the morning, and only then we look at the objects around us, and also take a closer look at the view from the window. This is how we evaluate everything that surrounds us: from the general to the specific.

Therefore, if you look at a person whom you now find difficult to draw, you can see that he is very familiar to us in his anatomy. We recognize this man when we come to breakfast: he is one of the household. We won’t confuse him with anyone, because in his face, in the plastic, there is something so elusively dear and familiar.

But if we ask for it loved one pose for us, it turns out that we don’t know him at all: it seems that the eyes were drawn correctly, and the nose is similar, and the ears are in place, and the hairstyle is as it should be, but in general, “there is something”, and that’s all.

And disappointment flashes through my head: I’m not an artist, I’ll go do my usual things....

But meet the notepad. There is no need to immediately load it with long conversations with your new pencil friend. Let the first meeting be limited to five minutes. Few? But the pencil and notebook are almost strangers, they are not very interested yet, they are a little shy of each other, right?

And what can they have time to talk about while the morning household is frozen over tea? You can catch what everyone says from memory: a head, two arms, two legs and a spine.

Let the first hundred or so of your sketches be even shorter, because people don’t like to freeze in place. Let each drawing last two to three minutes, and until you get arms from the shoulders, and legs of the correct length and characteristic knee bends, do not look for the anatomy of Gottfried Bammes. His atlas is very good, it helps you understand the dynamics, it will help you feel the nature, but later, when in the allotted three minutes you will be able to grasp the general tension of the model.

Is one hundred sketches a lot? If you're just starting to draw, you might think so. But they will only take 300 minutes, which is only five hours of time!

So, just five hours of cramming: two arms, two legs, a head. Stool, table, cup of tea. In the morning. Before work. Faster, freer. The most convenient way to use soft pencils. Choose a pencil that suits your hand. Most likely, all-graphite, maybe collet or wooden. The softer the lead, the easier the line will go. Don't use the eraser just yet. Work not for purity and quality, but for quantity and speed. This will be your first task.

Follow the line. If you do not strive for perfectionism and penmanship, trying to make it beautiful and “alive” in the first hundred drawings, but stop running your pencil over one place, by the hundred and first quick sketch it will already become much more accurate and confident. The formation of handwriting will begin, and this is already a reason to start setting goals for yourself.

The line is already more obedient, perhaps it has become more lively, and sometimes emphasizes darker places, or maybe, while drawing, it is looking for a spot, trying to highlight it. Now is the time to try brush materials. A marker or brush will help highlight the shadow spot. Try different markers and find yours. Remember that each hand has its own unique pressure, and each person has its own handwriting, and a sensitively chosen instrument becomes a friend and ally in the search for the very essence of what is depicted.

So, after another five hours and a hundred sketches (here the number of sketches is more important than the number of hours, by the way), you already grasp the most familiar proportions: an arm bent at the elbow, legs, pelvis, shoulder girdle, you probably already manage to sit the model on a chair .

If you are satisfied with the result, you can already open Bammes’s dynamic anatomy textbook. If you are still drawing, but feel like you are wandering in the forest, draw until you believe in what you are depicting.

It is the feeling of self-control that is a sign that you can dig deeper. It’s as if we are looking for a treasure that is buried deep under the thickness of unknown layers of knowledge, and this treasure is freedom of image. But to get it out, you need to remove everything on top layer by layer. And just as you can’t dig up the ground without mastering a shovel, you can’t move layers of knowledge without a pencil. Only we don’t seem to dig deep, but build a ladder from drawings upward in order to reach all these artistic truths.

And now you are already testing yourself using Bammes. Well, is it getting easier to draw? Don’t be surprised that in the atlas we will often talk about dynamics, but you, it seems, are drawing a motionless person. In fact, for artists, anatomy is called “plastic” because it is the anatomy of poses. Everything is subject to the simple structure of a person: the spine, the sternum bones, the pelvis, the upper and lower limbs, and the skull are attached to it.

There are many bones that form the skeleton, and even more muscles that move this skeleton and influence a person’s posture. Therefore, any muscle tension is already dynamics.

Continue to draw a lot, limiting yourself each time in time to come to a sense of self-control. It will not be possible to immediately see the structure inside a person, but each sketch is a step towards this feeling.

Several hundred sketches are addictive. You already feel how you are growing, your handwriting is developing, but not everything is working out yet. However, the more you draw, the simpler and more masterly your sketches are, completed in two to three minutes.

Practice- great power. And there is a teacher in each of us. Be strict with yourself in setting goals.

The first is to meet the allotted time. And the most productive time for developing reaction speed is short. In our school's program, sketches take from 30 seconds to two minutes, and this develops the eye well and quickly develops the hand.

The second task is line cleanliness. It's better to do more drawings, the more lines. A diva nature, the most interesting and useful for an artist, does not like to wait.

The third task is proportions. It is too early for anatomy to know that the arms are shorter than the legs, and the elbows and knees do not bend, only at right angles can be perceived by the human eye.

The fourth task is stain, flow, plastic. It is better for the teacher to tell you about this based on the drawings you have completed; here the book will also give only theoretical information.

Finally, the fifth task is to check what is drawn according to the main laws:

• reference points,
• anatomy.

The most important thing is you and your friend - the notebook. With thin writing paper and a pencil: on the subway, in a cafe, at work, at home. WITH watercolor paper and with a brush: in the zoo, in the open air, in the biological museum.

The word "sketch" is related to the word "throw", that is, "sketching" your idea or plot. And it helps you think more clearly. He teaches and then serves as an expression of the inner feeling thrown onto paper.

Sketches are necessary for students, they are very necessary for beginning artists, and most people do not disdain them. great artists, they are grateful to this view graphic gymnastics for the hand and mind.

(the article is illustrated with the author’s graphics, as well as three-minute sketches by students of O. Rubtsova’s Painting and Drawing Classes)

Sketches are quick, concise, small-sized sketches. They convey general impression from nature, the most important and essential without working out the details: characteristic proportions, movement, individual characteristics. Sketching is one of the most critical areas vocational training. The ability to draw from life is not enough for creative activity. To create, an artist must know life, learn independent thinking, analysis, be able to observe, and accumulate plastic motives. All this is acquired only as a result of constant sketching.

An artist especially needs observation. This is the main quality of a master of fine art, a characteristic feature of every artist. Observation makes it possible to notice in life interesting points, important phenomena, processes that are the content and basis work of art. Without observation, an artist is unable to create an expressive artistic image, compose a composition yourself or simply come up with this or that plot. Without observation it is impossible to find on your own figurative motif in the surrounding reality.

Observation skills are acquired through daily sketching and sketching. Wherever an artist is, he must always draw: on the street, on a tram, at a meeting, at the market, at a party, at the zoo - in a word, always, everywhere.

To solve complex and most interesting sketching problems, you need to master the knowledge and skills of depicting simple tasks. Therefore, in the initial stage of training, you should not take on the creative elements of a sketch: the expressiveness of the artistic solution, the ease of execution, etc. This is beyond the power of a novice draftsman. The subject of sketches should develop in accordance with the important didactic principle of learning - from simple to complex: first, sketches of simple-shaped household items, interior, exterior, landscape elements, then heads and human figures in movement, complex poses, angles, plot motifs . The initial period of completing educational sketches plays an important role in the process of mastering visual literacy. Systematic and numerous sketches of various objects develop the eye, cultivate a sense of proportions and many other professional qualities.

Beginning draftsmen strive to quickly move on to depicting a naked human figure. Indeed it is interesting job. But you can successfully perform it only if you have certain knowledge and skills obtained as a result of completing simpler tasks. Therefore, at the initial stage of training, one should not neglect making sketches from various household objects, elements flora, buildings, interior, etc. This important period educational sketches have always been recognized and highly appreciated by outstanding artists and teachers. In the pedagogical activities of K. P. Bryullov, P. P. Chistyakov, I. E. Repin, D. N. Kardovsky, such sketches always found a worthy place. Thus, P.P. Chistyakov advised a student who had difficulty seeing proportions to make daily sketches of everyday objects. In I. E. Repin’s workshop, educational sketches were also an indispensable part of the educational process. The educational and methodological value of the sketches was highly appreciated by D. N. Kardovsky. Main feature His drawing training system consisted of numerous, daily sketches from a wide variety of subjects.

The role of sketches is not limited to this. Making a sketch acquires the main importance in education. creative attitude to the process of depiction, the ability to find methods and means of achieving expressiveness and imagery. The material of the sketches serves as the starting material for creating graphic and pictorial compositions.

The order of execution of any sketch is subject to the general mandatory principles of the process of any image (long-term or short-term): from general to particular, from large, main masses to smaller, secondary ones, maintaining the impression of integrity. First, you should decide its composition, the location of one or more drawings on a sheet, taking into account the “sound” of each sketch and the sheet as a whole.

When drawing various household items, you should first of all construct them correctly constructively and perspectively in general outlines and convey proportions. Simple forms objects close to geometric bodies(table, cabinet, buckets, pans), it is necessary to depict quickly and correctly in any rotation and position towards the horizon line. In some cases, sketches of these objects are accompanied by the transfer of chiaroscuro, without thorough elaboration, without characterizing the details.

In sketches and drawings of various objects of modern technology, it is necessary to proceed from the constructive essence: first of all, it is necessary to determine and outline in the drawing the main supporting and structural basis on which the entire object is constructed. For example, when drawing a car, you should start the sketch by establishing the most general outlines machine, determining the main proportions, length, width, height, and then move on to drawing the main parts. Consequently, the principle of drawing any such objects is based on general rules image process: first of all, the fundamental design and proportions are outlined, and then the drawing is enriched with characteristic details.

When sketching a landscape, care should first be taken to select the best point of view from which the landscape motif looks most expressive. The landscape sketch should be interestingly arranged. It is very important from the very beginning to determine the relationship between earth and sky by drawing the horizon line. In accordance with the horizon line, the main parts of the landscape motif, the proportions of large masses are outlined, the sizes of the drawn objects and their spatial positions are compared.

To successfully depict animals, you must at least general outline know their anatomy. The drawer must learn to guess the structure of the animal’s body under the outer cover, understand the relationship of the skeleton bones, know the location of the main bones, the location and mechanism of the joints. Each animal species has its own characteristic proportions, which change with age.

Drawing animals and birds in motion is very attractive and at the same time quite difficult. It is in movement that the plastic characteristics of the animal being drawn are most fully revealed. The mechanics of these movements have their own specifics, which must be taken into account when drawing. The process of walking or running in many animals consists of a number of interconnected alternating elements: the order of the legs, the symmetry of their movement when walking and light running, etc. Each movement corresponds to a certain position of the bones, so once again the importance of studying the skeleton of the animal should be emphasized. muscle anatomy.

When making sketches of various animals, you need to take a closer look at their behavior and characteristic features of their form. Therefore you should not do a large number of sketches. During one visit to the zoo, it is enough to sketch five or six animals, but then study them more carefully.

In sketch great importance is characteristic and typical for a particular model. It is therefore very important to preserve and convey to the viewer these features, to identify and emphasize them. This figurative side is extremely important in the sketch. The habitual, characteristic manner of a particular animal or bird to hold itself, move, everything unique, inherent only in a given object, must be noticed, revealed by the painter, sometimes “sharpened” to the required degree, played out in such a way as to create a convincing idea of ​​nature.

It is necessary to observe animals in a variety of positions, draw them from different points of view. An attentive artist will not only accurately convey the outlines of the animal’s body and its proportions, but will also capture its “habitus” and create a figurative idea of ​​it.

The art of sketching is significantly different from drawing from life.

A sketch differs from a drawing in its great totality and brevity of perception. The artist does not so much analyze the object of drawing as creates a graphic expression of the object based on the knowledge he already has about it, testing his ideas in direct observation. This is important in figurative drawing.

Students should comply correct sequence work on the sketch: quickly examine, comprehend, evaluate the object being drawn, mentally solve composition issues, see the future image on the sheet, mark the boundaries (the most prominent points) of the sketch with light serifs. Usually it is enough to mark the top and bottom of the image for a vertical composition or the right and left edges for horizontal placement, then with light strokes establish the proportions, the movement of the depicted nature, moving on at the end to clarification and generalization of the drawing.

While the person drawing has little experience, one should not strive for special ease, virtuosity, or technical dexterity in performing sketches. These qualities will come over time, but for now they should not be an end in themselves. It is much more important to achieve constructive, anatomical correctness of the image.

The human head and figure are the most interesting and difficult objects to depict. These sketches occupy a predominant place in the work of senior students. Students become thoroughly familiar with the principles of depicting the head and human figure during academic drawing classes. Regarding the depiction of a person in sketches, some additional recommendations can be given here.

Knowing the anatomical structure of the human head and figure, and having skill in sketching household objects and animals, students can easily cope with the tasks of depicting a person in sketches. When working on sketches of heads and figures, they do not make a detailed construction of the image, nor do they engage in careful study of chiaroscuro. The basis of a sketch is to convey proportions, movement, and character. These quality moments are achieved through not large quantity visual arts for a short time.

When making a sketch of a person’s head, the artist first of all cares about quickly and convincingly conveying his impression of the person being depicted, identifying the most characteristic features of his appearance, inner world, mood, etc. The process of constructing the image, sequential drawing of the form, comparison of parts in this case it proceeds more secretly and quickly. The person who draws is engaged in construction as if along the way. His attention is focused on the task of expressing the main thing, the typical, being able to expressively and succinctly talk about the person being depicted.

In sketches big role The sharpness of the characteristics of the depicted object and the figurative solution play a role. Moreover, the speed of completing sketches (even the shortest in time) does not at all imply or justify the presence in them of errors, untruths, bad taste, fragmentation, etc. The sketch should be integral and, if possible, free in execution, but take special care of “freedom” and “dexterity” of execution does not follow. It is not the technique, not the technique, but the content of the image, fidelity to nature, that should primarily be the concern of students. Freedom in execution and technical mastery come with experience, after a large number of sketches made.

One of the most interesting, but at the same time difficult tasks that arise when working on sketches is sketching groups of people, various scenes observed on the street, at home, at the institute and other places. Most often, such sketches are completed very quickly, since the painter does not depict people specifically posing, but records his life observations, draws people in a wide variety of situations, in various settings.

This is the great value of such sketches. But this also poses a considerable difficulty for those who draw. The difficulty of making such sketches also lies in the fact that, along with the expressive depiction of individual figures, it is necessary to find the common thing that unites people, to see them in a certain unity.

It is necessary to take care of the composition, the integrity of the sketches, immediately deciding the placement of all the figures, outlining the entire group, then moving on to the characteristics of each character, comparing the figure by proportions, character, gestures, movements. The drawer must remember the characteristics of the whole, the proper generalization of the sketch. In more elaborate sketches, along with the solution of these problems, individual characteristics of the figures should be given, at least in general terms, in interconnection, as parts of a single whole.

Group sketches, as well as sketches of individual figures, provide students with great practice and rich material for working on composition.

The material collected as a result of such sketches becomes the artist’s golden fund, from which he draws the themes of his future works and chooses a type characters paintings, illustrations, relies on this natural material, achieving convincing solutions to his compositions.

Sketches can be made using lines of different thickness and activity; in other cases, the artist can use the means of chiaroscuro, tonal spot, laconically conveying the general shape, silhouette, nature of lighting, volume and material.

A line in a sketch has great visual potential. Using only lines, without introducing chiaroscuro into the drawing, you can not only depict the proportions of an object, but also convey its position in space, volume and nature of lighting.

In a linear sketch, depending on the nature of the shape and lighting, the lines should be different in tone, from the lightest to the darkest, varied in thickness, sharp and blurry, continuous and interrupted. They now strengthen, now weaken, now approach, now move away, disappearing completely and reappearing in full force. Carefully outlining the shape with continuous lines of equal thickness gives the drawing a dry, sharp and at the same time sluggish appearance. Such a drawing is as boring as monotonous singing or reading without lowering or raising your voice. The most correct drawing in proportions and perspective, outlined with rigid lines of equal thickness, will give the unpleasant impression of a dry drawing. When the lines in the drawing are varied: sometimes strong and bold, sometimes light and barely noticeable - then the linear sketch fits well into the plane of the paper, becomes voluminous, spatial and alive.

Various changes in the nature of the lines should not be random and arbitrary, they should be associated with nature. When the position and lighting of the shape of an object changes, its contour, i.e., the visible edge of the shape or the boundaries of surfaces, also changes, and where this edge is closer in tone to the tone of the background, the contour may be invisible. Therefore, in a sketch, contour lines and surface boundaries are conveyed by strokes of varying quality, both in tone and in width and softness. In the shadow parts of the object, the drawing line is drawn with strong pressure from the pencil, in the illuminated and convex parts of the object - with light pressure. Those details that are in the foreground in nature and are striking at first glance are depicted sharper and more clearly, and those that are barely visible to the eye or are in the background are drawn with thin, light and intermittent lines. There is not a single straight and geometrically correct plane on the shape of the human body. Therefore, the boundary of the volume - the linear contour should be just as smooth, changing depending on the nature of the shape, its movement and position in relation to the light source.

To more quickly and correctly identify the nature of the lines emphasizing the form, you should, when looking at nature, squint your eyes in order to see it more generally. In this case, the character is better revealed contour lines subject. The pictures above give examples of educational sketches in which you can see an interesting, lively and varied line that conveys and design features form, and its textural qualities, and spatial arrangement.

As you gain experience in rapid line drawing You can also introduce chiaroscuro into the sketch, trying to convey volume with large shadow spots.

In addition to sketches from life, it is necessary to do exercises in sketches from memory. It is recommended to complete these sketches after completing a long training drawing. Based on the impression created from the studied nature, the painter reconstructs from memory the most general, character traits her. This trains visual memory well and develops the ability to acutely perceive the main, typical, and interesting things. Sketches from memory of former natural objects can be considered the first exercises in composition.

No less useful are sketches for representation, which are made without life based on observations. These exercises develop visual memory and imagination, help to accumulate experience; Fantasizing and thinking in images is accessible only to those who have a large stock of ideas acquired as a result of many years of drawing from life.

So, proportions, movement and character - these are the properties of nature that are conveyed in the sketch. If all these conditions are met, then the sketch may have independent artistic value.

Simultaneously with sketching, one must engage in long-term drawing, since excessive enthusiasm for sketching at the expense of long-term tasks, instead of cultivating the eye and observational skills, can accustom one to a superficial, frivolous attitude towards form.

Materials and sketching techniques

You can use paper for sketches different varieties, varying in size, color, tone, roughness. For sketches with a pen, smooth, thick paper is good, on which ink or ink does not bleed. For single-color and colored sketches in watercolor and ink, paper that does not absorb too much water and is slightly rough is more suitable. To make sketches, you can use medium and soft pencils, charcoal, sanguine, sauce, ink, ink, watercolors, watercolor and pastel crayons, and felt-tip pens. You can also use soft colored pencils, if you know how to tastefully select the required combination of colors. For example, it is not advisable to use green and blue pencils for sketching portraits and human figures. Dark and warm colors are more attractive for these purposes.

The sauce is worked dry and wet method, if you first dilute it with water to the desired density and draw on damp paper with a stick. In this case, the sketches well convey the tonal features of nature.

Various felt-tip pens are interesting for their visual capabilities. Especially with felt rods like these, which allow you to draw both thin and wide lines and quickly cover large areas of paper.

To make sketches, one-color or colored watercolors are often used. Filling with watercolors (paint of any saturation) is sometimes combined with drawing the outline with a felt-tip pen or pen. Sketches in several colors are more difficult and require time and experience.

Of course, they should remain a graphic image, but not a pictorial one, where they are more carefully conveyed color relationships between individual objects and the background.

Work with undiluted ink (or diluted with water) is done with a soft watercolor or other brush. In terms of technique, this work is similar to working with watercolors (filling).

Interesting sketches with watercolor crayons on slightly dampened paper (one-color sketches are preferred). The choice of material and work technique depends, first of all, on the intent of the task set by the painter, on the nature of the object being depicted, personal inclinations and taste, and the ability to master this or that material.

Animal sketches

Before sketching from living nature, you should practice sketching from stuffed birds and animals. Such sketches introduce the artist to the characteristic forms of the animal world and develop the ability to holistic vision. When sketching an animal, you need to try to quickly capture the general shape and its characteristic features. The limited time allotted for such sketches (5-10 minutes) requires the attention of the drawer. Before starting work, it would be advisable to familiarize yourself with the main structural features of the skeleton of the animal or bird being depicted, which will make further work conscious and allow you to always feel the bones of the skeleton under the outer cover.

At first, it is better to choose stuffed birds for sketching, with plumage that is not too variegated, which often complicates the search for a general shape and involuntarily leads towards detailing.

To have a complete understanding of the animal’s form, you need to make sketches from life of the stuffed animal, placed in various turns, and then sketches from memory and imagination.

Having gained some experience in depicting stuffed animals, you can move on to sketches of living nature.

At first, it is better to make sketches of animals in relatively calm poses, which makes it easier to determine the general shape.

In further sketches, along with defining the most characteristic features forms, the task of conveying movements that speak of certain habits of a given animal must also be set.

Since the animal is constantly changing its pose, a sketch will be the most accessible form of depicting it directly from life and will serve as starting material for further creative work in this area. Despite all the difficulty of working on a sketch of an animal changing its position, it is undesirable, however, after interrupting the sketch of one animal, move on to sketching another in the hope that the second session will be longer. For an inexperienced artist, this often causes a feeling of frustration and introduces unnecessary nervousness into the work. If the sketch is done in a zoo, you need to set the task of becoming more fully acquainted with the character of one of the animals, since this will leave a certain image in the visual memory, which can always be recreated from memory.

The famous Soviet animal artist V. A. Vatagin, who has many years of experience in drawing animals, in his book “Image of an Animal” recommends using the following method in sketches: “You draw, for example, a sitting hare. He changes his position; you didn't have time to sketch it. Leave the drawing unfinished and start sketching side by side the pose that the hare took, then the third, etc. You end up with a whole group of drawings of the same animal in different poses and different degrees of completeness (in the sense of the captured pose). An animal in a zoo has limited movements and often repeats the same poses; the painter has the opportunity to return to unfinished poses and bring them to the desired completeness.”

In a sketch of an animal in a relatively calm pose, one can convey the basic light-and-shadow relationships that reveal the form.

Rembrandt's drawings that have come down to us, for example, such as the sketch of an elephant and a lion, made in Italian pencil, thanks to the expressive and rather wide shading, leave the impression of the massive form and power of the animals depicted.

Among the graphic heritage of V. A. Serov, a prominent place is there are sketches of animals, made with very meager means and distinguished by skill in rendering characteristic shape this or that animal. His illustrations for the fables of I. A. Krylov, where in drawing the characters the artist uses both visual memory and experience in working from life, testify to deep knowledge characteristic features of the animals depicted.

Serov Valentin Alexandrovich. Lion and Wolf. 1911

Serov Valentin Alexandrovich. A lion. Sketch. 1898-1899

Types of short-term drawing

Sketches of objects around us in everyday life are the most accessible, simple and relate mainly to initial period training. The object of sketches in independent work can be a variety of objects, but to begin with it is better to choose those that are simpler in form. To have a complete understanding of the shape and proportions of an object, it is useful to sketch it in different positions, from different points of view.

Education academic drawing necessarily includes sketching classes. The word "sketch" speaks for itself and means "to sketch", i.e. convey the main characteristics of the depicted object in a short period of time. IN educational process sketches are necessary as auxiliary material and, at the same time, as exercises that allow you to replenish knowledge and develop skills acquired in the learning process.

Sketches are distinguished by their short-term nature. Sketches are longer in duration and serve other purposes. For example, when working on a long drawing, you cannot understand for yourself the structure of individual components and parts of the model. To understand in more detail, you should make separate sketches of the places causing difficulty from different positions.

Sketches can be either linear or tonal. The choice of the type of sketch depends on the tasks facing the draftsman, as well as his experience in working with a particular graphic material. Sketches must be done in different ways graphic materials and don't be afraid to experiment. This allows you to feel the difference between them and at the same time give the sketches variety and characteristic expressiveness. Thus, a steel pen with liquid leaves clear lines and strokes, just like a sharp, medium-hard pencil. Sanguine, charcoal, and sauce make it possible to better reveal volume in tone and convey the integrity of the shape of an object. No less an important component is paper. You should pay close attention to its quality (texture, density and tone). The tones of the paper should be restrained and their color variations insignificant.

The first sketches and drawings begin with the simplest geometric natural forms, gradually complicating them. So, before sketching a human head, you should practice sketching animals and birds.

Sketching should be done constantly, and not in fits and starts, from time to time. Don't be afraid of your first drafts - they will be miserable and awkward, but that's just the beginning. Over time, subject to systematic work, the sketches will turn out better and better.

As paradoxical as it may seem at first glance, when doing free sketches and sketches it is often very useful not to “think”, but simply draw quickly and a lot. As a result, something turns out no worse than with prolonged mental work. One thing is absolutely certain - the more and more often the sketches are done, the better they turn out.

Sketching exercises should be carried out purposefully, depending on the specific task assigned and taking into account the sequential development of previous tasks. Systematic classes allow you to successfully improve your drawing skills, and also provide significant assistance in mastering educational material. They contribute to the development of the eye, hand coordination and quick orientation, the ability to accurately and concisely convey the most essential, to identify constructive-structural, proportional and dynamic patterns of depicted objects. Fluency in the art of sketching allows you to move on to freely depicting complex living forms without the use of auxiliary construction lines, which is evidence of growth professional excellence draftsman.

A sketch makes it possible to work uninhibitedly and, at the same time, to focus all your attention on the most essential, excluding the unimportant. To do this, you will need great love for your chosen profession, will, character and determination.

Quick drawings - sketches and drawings from life - play an important role in the artist's creative process.

Unlike long, multi-session drawing, where even the smallest details complex whole, sketches and drawings from life most often capture the general impression, the most important thing in the objects of the image or, conversely, individual details of nature. At the same time, a sketch, no less than a long drawing, must correctly convey the shape, proportions, volume, spatial position of the object, psychological condition the person depicted. A characteristic feature of a sketch is simplicity, generality, and breadth in conveying the shape of an object. The artist draws as quickly as possible what interests him and attracts his attention. Often images and impressions are supplemented by those accumulated earlier, awakening creative activity the artist, give birth to the idea of ​​a future work. Those drawings from which the embodiment of a creative concept begins are called sketches.

It is difficult to name a more or less famous artist who does not have a large number of varied sketches and sketches. They precede and accompany the creation of works of graphics, painting, sculpture, decorative and applied arts, and help highlight the main thing, the idea in various genres of fine art.

Sketches and sketches can be performed for educational and cognitive purposes. In this case, drawing is a means of studying nature, surrounding life and accumulating professional knowledge and skills. Another creative task is set by the artist when performing sketches and drawings in order to work out details, individual images of this or that major work. In this case, the artist’s sketches often have independent artistic value and are exhibited in museums and exhibitions. These are many of the sketches by Rembrandt, A. Durer, J. O. D. Ingres, E. Delacroix, I. E. Repin, V. M. Vasnetsov, V. A. Serov, K. P. Bryullov, M. A. Vrubel , I. I. Shishkin, famous Soviet artists N. A. Andreev, I. I. Brodsky, B. V. Ioganson, G. S. Vereisky, M. B. Grekov and other masters.

Both of these functions of sketches and sketches are organically connected and represent a unity in the visual activity of both a novice artist and a mature master.

Tens and hundreds of sketches and sketches famous masters testify to their attentive, thoughtful study of the patterns of shape, volume, structure of objects in the surrounding world, about the feelings that gripped the artist when meeting with a phenomenon or event that struck him. Here are drawings of sitters, educational still lifes, sketches street scenes, portraits of contemporaries, sketches of landscapes, animals, architectural structures, sketches thematic paintings and much more.

In some cases quick drawings are performed under the direct impression (or from nature) of a particular event or meeting, without being associated in the artist’s imagination with a future thematic composition or a specific plot. The artist saw a group of schoolchildren at the station that amazed him, took out an album and immediately sketched it. A tree felled by lightning or the mirror-like surface of a clear lake caught his attention - again a pencil with an album in his hands. Such a collection of drawings is necessary for future use in future creative work; it allows one to accumulate observations and often serves as a starting point in the creation of wonderful works of art.

Drawing on the street, in the subway, in institutions, on construction sites, during excursions, etc. is of great benefit. In addition to accumulating impressions, such drawing develops the ability to “see” reality, the characteristic features of objects and phenomena. The ability to “see” is a necessary component of artistic creativity.

The sketch is of particular importance for the development of the eye, hand and observation skills of the young artist, because in this case the draftsman is forced to discard details and strives to capture only the most essential characteristic of a given model with a few lines and strokes.

Sketches and drawings, depending on the purpose, tasks, conditions, are carried out by the most different ways and materials. Most often - with lines without thorough modeling of the form; lines with tonal elaboration of the form, using elements of the construction scheme. Sometimes sketches can be done in tone or spot.

The materials used for sketches and drawings are very diverse. These are graphite pencils of varying softness, colored pencils, ink (with a wet and dry brush, as well as with a pen), sauce (wet and dry), sanguine, pastel, plain watercolor, charcoal (wood and pressed), chalk (on tinted paper, cardboard) .

The role of sketches and sketches is great as a purposeful means of activating the attention and interest of young artists in fine arts, to your artistic creativity. In classes in art clubs, studios, children's art schools sketches and sketches are an important means of fostering a love of art, good school professional skill of the young artist, his development artistic abilities, aesthetic feelings.

Our world is full of colors and magic. Sometimes, walking around the city, you want to leave an imprint of this atmosphere. Most the best option– create it yourself, on paper. Or rather, make a sketch. In order to start drawing sketches, you don’t need any, you just need desire.

Sketchbook

First, you need to buy the right sketchbook. IN ideal is a notebook of A5 or A6 size that fits into any bag. A6 can even fit into your pocket. The density should be from 90 g/m^2. You can draw with anything: ballpoint pen, liner, regular pencil. An album is a kind of diary. What's different about sketching is that you have a specific connection to what you're drawing.

Inspiration

Where do you get inspiration for drawings? My advice to you: get out of the house more often. Every day something interesting, not necessarily large-scale, happens in the city. Try to perceive differently what you have already seen. At any moment you can sit on a bench or go into a cafe with large windows and recreate what you saw. If you really want to, you can paint on some details that you remember at home.

Start

Never be afraid to start. In fact, when we talk about the fear of ruining a new notebook, first of all, we are afraid of being disappointed in ourselves, because I already imagined how beautiful it would be, but as soon as I started drawing, I realized that it turned out absolutely wrong. But a sketchbook is just there to try, make mistakes and learn. You don't have to start drawing from the first page. You can start from the middle or even from the end. Drawing will become much easier. After all, the essence of a sketch is a recording of ideas, not a creation of art.

Notes

Notes give a special style to the drawings. Notes create new level, carry additional information, because some things, for example, music or smell, cannot be drawn, but the inscriptions will very much complement the overall picture and bring even more emotions into it.

Collages

In addition to notes, you can add various elements to your drawings, such as tickets, restaurant receipts, or stamps. Over a period of time, they will complement your story in a way that photography cannot.

Thoughts on paper

From time to time, fill in the blank sheets with different patterns. You’ve heard about the so-called “telephone drawings,” when you are focused on a conversation, and your hand itself draws whatever it wants. Let your drawing not be planned. This is how freedom of expression can be achieved. Believe in yourself, in your perception, and every time you will be surprised at your capabilities.

Idea and implementation

As children, we had a lot of fantasies. Especially those that were not destined to come true. Fortunately, such fantasies can easily appear on paper. After all, the drawing does not necessarily have to contain only what exists in reality.

Feelings

According to the way you see things, the feelings behind your drawings, you change. Feel free to draw the way you feel. Your drawing should show your personal view of things. The brighter the emotions in the drawing, the more interesting it is.

Of course, there can be essentially no rules in such drawings. Draw as you wish. But, still, there are some tips on how to make the drawing as close as possible to the drawing in your head. Basic tips:

• Think about the size and location of parts in advance
• Practice calligraphy and create your own special “style”
• Keep it simple
• Depict only elements that are important to you
• The drawing doesn't have to be perfect

The best part is that all you need to put your thoughts down on paper is a notebook, a pen, and a stream of imagination. Turn this world upside down if you so desire. Paper will accept absolutely everything. We must learn not to be afraid to start and express our thoughts. This process made many people surprised at their capabilities.

Two quick sketch problems: how and where to start?

Probably every aspiring artist was given advice: “It’s time to make quick sketches.” Indeed, there comes a time in the life of any painter when the need arises to go beyond the boundaries of the apartment, studio, courses and try a radically new way of depicting the world. And if it is still clear what to do with landscapes and architecture, because houses and trees do not try to escape, then with living nature things are much more complicated.

Undoubtedly, creative process- it’s a very personal, even intimate matter, and for everyone it proceeds in its own way, however, probably everyone initially encountered at least two problems.

The first is psychological

Imagine, you got on the subway/bus/Tr Amway, arrived at a museum/zoo/café, took out a specially purchased cute sketchbook, a pencil and... you were simply petrified with horror: your hand doesn’t obey, your eye has nothing to grab onto, it seems that those around you all sides look over your shoulder, and the chosen model looks intently into your eyes or retreats altogether. It immediately becomes too crowded, or vice versa, too empty. This is exactly how many beginning artists make their first attempts at sketching. in public places ended in failure.

What to do if this happened to you?

Relax. Look around: people are buried in smartphones, newspapers, books. Nobody cares about the man with a pencil and a notepad. Moreover, as experience shows, even if someone notices that they have become an object close attention artist, then he himself begins to worry terribly: at best, he will pose tensely, at worst, he will blush and hide his eyes. Conclusion: people are more afraid of you than you are of them.

If the problem of the psychological block is left behind or does not arise at all, then problem number two appears:

Model not posing

As soon as you chose a colorful character in a picturesque pose, he immediately changed it, and then left altogether. Obviously, there is simply no time for drawing according to the rules, when you should choose the center of the composition, build a figure, etc.

There is an excellent technique: you should start not with a gradual construction, but with a general silhouette. Thus, you solve two problems at once: compositional arrangement and general image. Please note that by outlining only the silhouette, you have already given a certain character to the figure.

By the way, about character. Some creative universities give this exercise: students draw portraits of each other, but each time they do it in less time and with fewer details. Thus, they reveal the most striking and characteristic features of a person’s appearance. Essentially, we face the same task.

If quickly sketching in public places is difficult and stressful, you can start with special meetings where artists draw invited models for a fee. In such places there is always a calm working atmosphere, and at the end there is a screening where everyone can present their work to a general judge and listen to constructive criticism from the professionals.

Like any other technique or exercise, quick sketching takes time to master. At first this may be irritating, tiring, and uncomfortable, but gradually the hand will begin to move more freely, and the eye will begin to notice and remember interesting details. New ideas for more serious work will appear, and besides, sketches for these ideas can be done in any place and position.

It's stupid to think about how high your level is to allow yourself to draw in public. Firstly, because most passers-by see you first and foremost last time and their opinion does not play any role, and secondly, they themselves are unlikely to be able to either. To go beyond the usual boundaries, even if it’s the walls of one’s own art, is already an action, a movement forward.

So, the next time you leave home, don't forget to take with you everything you need for a quick sketch:

First– a sketchbook or just small paper, up to A4.

Second– a simple pencil, maybe a mechanical one, which doesn’t need to be sharpened. Once your hand starts moving quickly and confidently enough, you can switch to a liner or marker; some even manage to use charcoal.

Third- a nag that won’t cover everyone around with pellets.

Having seen an interesting composition, pull yourself together and concentrate on the work, try to sketch with general silhouettes, noticing and emphasizing the most interesting and characteristic details and features - this will make it more convenient to finish the work at home.

Don't be upset if after a tiring day of drawing there are almost no successful sketches. It is the matter of time. With regular practice, the result will be noticeable within a few days.