During the month of July, I read “Sketch Every Day” by Simone Grünewald. I learned a lot of things, and though I already draw every day, it made me want to sketch every day as well. And so far, I’ve managed to stick to it, and I can already see so positive changes!
As I said, I already draw every day. However, most of the time, I’m working on rather detailed illustrations, so I spend a few days on each of them, and the process often keeps the same, since I’m mostly sticking to my style and technique.
I did sketch from time to time or did work on other “smaller” illustrations, but not daily. So, a few days ago, I decided that I would now make at least one sketch (or study) every day, to keep practicing regularly, as well as not to get too “bored” about using the same technique over and over again.
I mostly work digitally using Procreate, but sketching and studying that way is possible!
Here you can see some sketches I did last week, using a paper texture and some coloured pencils and watercolour brushes, that give a traditional feel that I absolutely love.
This is actually the only “sketch” I’ve done, as my other drawings are mostly studies, like this one:
Then again, I used different brushes than those I normally use, so this was quite a fun experience!
This one was the very first drawing I did after reading Simone Grünewald’s book. I had spent a few days working on detailed illustrations, for both my portfolio and a client, so though not a sketch or study strictly speaking, it allowed me to take a break., which I definitely needed!
I think that’s one of the most positive aspects of sketching every day—I can do that between two works without fearing it to make me late. And, secondly, finishing a drawing (even if “just” a sketch) makes me feel like I’ve been productive. I know I’m not being unproductive when I spend a few days working on an illustration, because, well, I’m still working on it, but it just doesn’t feel the same, since I can’t manage to create fully detailed illustrations every single day.
Doing these sketches and smaller works honestly made me feel pretty good, and even helped me stay motivated!
It’s probably to early to tell that it has made me improved, though, because my first day of daily sketching probably was only two weeks ago, but I’m sure it will.
On another note, I thought it was important for me to set myself a few constraints and objectives regarding this practice:
- I shouldn’t be using my own brushes when sketching. This is so that I can use way much more brushes that usual, and try new techniques as well—and I know that, if I use my brushes, I’ll probably be using the same technique as well.
- The sketches and studies I do should take me up to 1 hour, but not more. Otherwise I would end up overworking on every little detail and that would lose its interest (according to me).
- I like my illustrations to have some traditional feel, though I do most of them digitally, so I also want my sketches and studies to have that same feel. As you can see with the different samples I shared, the brushes I am using are mostly dry media-like or oil painting-like.
- Speaking of traditional feel, I also try to use a very few number of canvases—hoping to end up using only one layer per sketch and study, which hasn’t been the case yet.
- I want to study the lighting of the photos I use as references, as well as the colours, so that I can improve these in my illustrations too. We can see on my sketches it’s not really my strength, but I’m sure I’ll get better with time.
- I also want to learn how to depict different textures in different manners, and I’ve found out that studying food for this point could be super useful! Just take three different kinds of cakes and you’ll see they all have different textures and feels. Each fruit also is very different from one another, and another challenging thing to draw are drinks or food in glasses! Now I do understand how it is possible to become a food artist or photographer!!
And here we are, at the end of this post!
I wasn’t very long, but I really wanted to share this experience and tell a few words about it. I’m really enjoying this process, and I hope this can make you want to try sketching (almost) every day, too!
I hope to write again soon!
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