How to Do An Observational Sketch

Observational Sketches: How to Do Them, and Why They Matter

Being able to observe is one of the most important skills that an artist could possess. It is often frustrating when you want to simply draw what you see, but the sketch is just not turning out the way you had hoped. Sketches are the most important base for your art, because if you have the wrong proportion or form, then no matter how good your render is, it won’t cover up the fact that your drawing is not accurate.

If your drawing seems disproportionate, asymmetrical, or just wrong, you might be missing the core fundamentals that make up your sketch. From this article, you can learn how to break down a reference, and sketching from observation will become much easier, making your art process less frustrating and way more efficient.

You probably already own a sketchbook, but I recommend getting a smaller one to carry wherever you go! With a smaller sketch book, there is less hesitation to start drawing, including doing observational drawings—just draw whatever is around you or whatever comes to mind. When making art becomes a habit, it is easier for you to improve naturally. Here are some sketches I’ve done this year.

What follows is a step-by-step tutorial for doing an observation sketch using the Envelope Method. The method starts off with drawing an ‘envelope’ to enclose the forms, which will be used as a guide for the rest of the sketch. This technique is great for keeping your sketch accurate, and can be used on any subject.

Draw an envelope of straight lines surrounding the subject. Imagine that you are boxing in the figure, looking at the overall big shape. Focus on carving out the negative space: the empty space around the subject. Draw the silhouette of the figure rather than the details within the silhouette.

Start to draw the main features that make up the figure—for this example, those would be the beak, the eye, and the cheek. Focus on keeping the shapes within the silhouette the correct shape and size in relation to each other. Break it up into blocks. The diagonal line I have drawn in the middle acts as a line of reference.

In general, you can draw imaginary lines that do not exist in your reference. By imagining that the lines also exist in your reference, they can help you decide where to place the blocks within your drawing.

When hatching, go along with the form of the subject. The arrows I’ve marked are the directions in which I made my strokes. This helps to create more of a 3D shape.

Block out all of the shading, paying attention to matching the values in your drawing with the values in the reference. To help the figure pop, you may choose to add a dark background.

While everyone has their personal shading preferences, something to always keep in mind is contrast. I typically pick if my light side is going to be detailed or if my dark side is going to be detailed. I make sure that only the dark or the light side is detailed, while the other side can be less rendered; this helps the eyes focus on the focal point. Contrast also ties back to the focal point; where you want the audience to focus should be the darkest or the lightest part of the whole drawing. When only one point is detailed or has high contrast, it helps the image have a lot more clarity.

Keep observing and keep on drawing. It is a cycle of endless improvement, where the more you draw the better you can observe. Sometimes improvement does not come from the fully rendered piece, but the hundreds of sketches that led up to it. Doing a sketch while in class, at home, or even at a cafe helps us grow our visual library. We store that image not only in our sketchbooks, but also in the memory that comes with it: if you flip through the pages, it is like watching your life experience develop alongside your art journey. If you haven’t yet done so, grab a sketchbook and continue to draw!