To take a real-life, 3D object and accurately portray it on a flat surface is a feat in itself.
c. A few more details.
That should be enough. You can then add some more detailing with the feathers and the eye and shading and what-not. But for now, you want to capture the pose of the subject, that's the first and most important step in realism. If you try the detail before the pose, you risk losing the subject before you can even get a basic idea down on the paper.
6. Try your best. Another cliche' guideline but a crucial one. If there is no passion behind that pencil, you're not going anywhere. Learn to enjoy sketching and do it often to gain the skill and feel of it. You'd be surprised how fast you can learn. And, the rewards of good artwork is evident both in the satisfaction you get from it and your mental confidence as well. This added capability will drammatically change your perspective of things.
Good Luck.
Your fellow biologist,
Ashley Marie
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| One of my incomplete sketches. I particularily am an avid equine artist, given that references for them are not only plentiful, but they're majestic creatures as well. |
Any biologist collecting studies on the field will probably need to sketch something down sooner or later. It's practically inevitable, given the need for diagramming and placing your research into notes.
And these sketches can't be just a few lines jotted down. They usually must be quite detailed, portraying the stature, and ultimately an accurate anatomy of the organism.
Of course, you may just do this for fun, or to teach yourself about the animal through drawing it, to ingrain the organism's looks and behaviors for future reference on your behalf.
The following are my top 6 tips to accurately bring life and realism to your sketchwork, with a "wow" factor.
1. Use quality but easy materials that you can carry around with you. A no.2 pencil is great, but if you want to add varying depths and that wow factor, I recommend graphite. Thin paints and pastels are certainly not easily used for this sort of work, and they don't bring much accuracy with ease, either.
2. Have a camera at hand. I know what you're probably asking. Why sketch when you can just snap a photo? Well, firstly, sketching the organism helps you familiarize with your subject, and secondly, it is far easier to diagram and label a sketch than a photo. Pictures can be used as reference when your subject refuses to keep still. Plus the zoom in will help you ornithologists out there, for birds certainly are rarely stationary, if at all so. Then when you have the finished photograph, you can sketch with perhaps better accuracy, for the subject is truly still.
3. Pay close attention to detail. If you've ever been in art class, you've probably had this shouted in your ear about a million times over. But if there's one word that screams realism, it's detail. Pay attention, for example, to the shading behind the horse's eye, to the shape of its pupil (surprisingly it's rectangular). Or on a fish, the glimmer of its scales, the spots that trail along its side, the length and shape of its fins. Go even further than that! Be a magnifying glass. Look into deeper details. Are the textures on the spots of the fish different than that of the rest of the scales? The membrane behind its eye? The texture of that membrane? Put everything you can possibly see on paper. Take notes if you have to.
4. Use some imagination. Seriously, every artist needs this. The reason I love art is because it's never mathematical, it's all in the imagination, in the greatest depths of your sub-conscience. While drawing that horse or fish or plant, imagine how it moves, what it does, how it eats or breathes. Think deeply about where it lives, how it glides along the air or swims beneath the surface. Having these kinds of thoughts in your head ultimately guides both your mind and spirit into your pencil, and brings your imagery to life.
5. Draw a quick guideline first. That bird's not going to be on that branch for long. Why not whip up a few circles that make the shape and stature of the bird before you load on the detail? Not everyone can afford that ultra high-tech zoom in Canon with the state of the art lens equipped for snapping quick motion shots (I definitely can't). And for one thing, I'm not much of a phtotgrapher, I've barely touched a camera in my life.
a. What I do is look at the object, in this case a bird, and draw a few circles like this (The following three diagrams are not mine):
b. Then quickly draw a few major stature details in. They help you visualize and remember the subject more accurately in case the bird flies off:
c. A few more details.
That should be enough. You can then add some more detailing with the feathers and the eye and shading and what-not. But for now, you want to capture the pose of the subject, that's the first and most important step in realism. If you try the detail before the pose, you risk losing the subject before you can even get a basic idea down on the paper.
6. Try your best. Another cliche' guideline but a crucial one. If there is no passion behind that pencil, you're not going anywhere. Learn to enjoy sketching and do it often to gain the skill and feel of it. You'd be surprised how fast you can learn. And, the rewards of good artwork is evident both in the satisfaction you get from it and your mental confidence as well. This added capability will drammatically change your perspective of things.
Good Luck.
Your fellow biologist,
Ashley Marie
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