How to Create your own Picture by Sketching

A sketch is often the first step towards a picture - no matter whether you have an elaborated painting or a drawing in mind. With the sketch you try to keep an idea and to concretize it. The sketching is usually done as quickly as possible, because the artist wants to bring a momentary thought or a living situation to paper. Nevertheless, or above all, you have to work very concentrated here.
In this guide I would like to show you how to create a own picture by sketching.

A sketch for one of my paintings

The sketch - examples of famous artists

Exceptionally famous for a variety of sketches is Leonardo da Vinci. There are countless sketches and draft drawings from him. This is also one of the reasons why he has such a degree of recognition nowadays.
But other great masters are known for their sketches as well. Among them are Michelangelo Buonarroti, Edgar Degas & Albrecht Dürer - to name just a few.
While these sketches and drawings back then were regarded as a kind of a “waste product" on the way to a painting, they are now frequently regarded as own works of art.

Make sketches for your own picture

If you want to create your own picture, sketching will help you to improve your results. Especially when you draw the picture quasi from your imagination.
Sketches can be done actually with any drawing tool. I’m using in most cases a soft pencil or an ink pen. However, since this is only a quick layout for a picture, you can also use a ballpen, felt pen or other material for drawing.

As already described, the sketch for a picture is intended to capture a hasty thought or idea. However, sketching is not done quickly, but rather with concentration and intuition as well. Strokes can be drawn quite vigorously, but not with the head turned off.

Designs for another picture of mine

An example of using the sketch for an image

To illustrate the use of our own sketches, let's look at an example:

The rocket launch

This image was an idea that was stirring around my head for some time. I then came to the conclusion to make my idea a reality. To plan my painting I drew a few sketches, which became more and more detailed. Sketching helped me a lot on the way.

Here is a sequence of different drawings for the painting:

Quickly drawn sketches for my picture

Detailed sketched illustration of the rocket launch

Sketch colored with markers

Drawing with further developed picture composition

Partial coloration of the sketch

Illustration with another variation of the sky

Detailed design for the flames and smoke clouds

After sketching a few drafts for my painting, I dared to sketch a preliminary drawing on the paper. Thru all these sketching I had sufficient security to finally realize the painting.

Here is the finished picture:

Finished painting - rocket launch

As you can see, sketching helps a lot to create a own picture or. You will have more confidence to realize your own painting. Sketching is, of course, a matter of the exercise. And you know: The path is the goal.