Value Sketches

A pencil is my favorite drawing tool because they're cheap, easy to find, and are very versatile. Almost any drawing can be made with pencils. Today, I created a sketch of a man using the instructions provided in the book Drawing for the Absolute Beginner. It is important to note the difference between a drawing and a sketch. The authors make this clear early on in the book: "Sketching and drawing are two different things. A sketch is a work in progress... On the other hand,  a drawing is an activity that is begun with the intention of producing a finished piece of art" (Willenbrink 14). The sketch I made is known as a value sketch. "Values are the degrees of lights and darks in a drawing or painting" (Willenbrink 18). Value sketches focus on the values of a subject rather than things such as structure or proportion (Willenbrink 18).

To create the sketch, I first shaded in the lighter values. The lightest value should be the white of the paper.

 Next, I added the middle then darker values.

To complete the sketch, I added a few finishing touches and adjusted the shading of the neck. I shaded in a dark background to separate the light values of the subject from the white of the paper.

I wanted to just keep on adding things to this sketch but I eventually had to find a point to stop. After all, a sketch isn't meant to be something complete. Do you know of any other types of sketches? How about techniques that can improve a sketch?

Willenbrink, Mark, and Mary Willenbrink. Drawing for the Absolute Beginner. Cincinnati, Ohio: North Light, 2006. Print.