WHAT’S IN A SKETCH?
There are some clients that still require “pencil sketches”. It must be a comfort thing to see that graphite sketchy grey drawing that really doesn’t give you much information—similar to coffee before committing to a date. I’ve been doing digital drawings for so long that picking up a pencil and making a mess on my desk with eraser shavings really annoys me. However, I do see the appeal of showing a client a pencil looking sketch. It makes them feel like they’ve really hired an artist or an illustrator. Plus, most people don’t really understand digital illustration anyway. They think the computer does the drawing. Be aware that drawing is drawing, and a sketch takes time especially if you are also coming up with the concept and/or composition. It doesn’t matter what tools are used—pencil & paper or Photoshop & stylus—so don’t forget to factor that time and cost into your illustration budget.
I never touched paper or pencil with this piece. I’m an illustrator to make money and the romance of paper and pencil needs to stay at home or in my free time when I want to be “artsy”. As much as I miss having the underside of my palm turn grey with graphite dust, nothing beats the control and versatility of Photoshop and a stylus.
KNOW YOUR TOOLS
Choosing between cold- and hot-press boards, soft and dense graphite, and even types of erasers made all the differences in the quality of a pencil drawing. It’s the same with Photoshop. The more knowledge you have about Photoshop, its interface, tools and possibilities, the more you can concentrate on the actual art. Start with a drawing pen (stylus) and tablet. These will allow you to use the pressure and tilt sensitivity settings, as well as work in proportion. The mouse was created to get around a desktop and move the curser—not to draw with. Use the brush selection palette, layers, brush flow and some filters. There’s many ways to skin this cat so the more you know about the software, the more you can create processes of your own.
It’s important to utilize Photoshop for all its precise measurements and exact drawing and selection tools. This will save you time; revisions will be easier. The following techniques will allow you to produce traditional looking drawings but it’s your talent that creates the artistry.
SAMPLE PROCESS: PENCIL SKETCH
Getting Started—You need to know what size to build your illustration, not only width and height but also in dpi (dots per inch). Do the illustration at 100%. If you make it too large or too small, the art will have to be reduced or enlarged when placing into a layout. That might be okay up to 20% but any more than that will degrade the quality of the art. Enlarging makes the pixels look rasterized and hard; while decreasing makes the pixels close up and this causes the loss of detail which defines a “pencil sketch”.
Document Setup—Using Photoshop CS3 for Mac: My example is 6 x 4 inches; 300pixels/inch; Greyscale Color Mode; with a White Background.
Tools Setup—Use the Brush tool; 9 Pixel Diameter; 100% Hardness; Mode on Dissolve; Opacity at 50%. In the Color Picker, use 70 K. Nothing in Brushes palette should be checked.
Precise Drawing—At this point you can either start drawing your object freehand or use the Pen tool to plot an outline. Since this will be a vehicle, I’m using the Pen tool to create smooth lines that I can adjust. Unlike a tree, the drawing needs to be more precise.
With Brush tool selected, choose the Outline Path icon from the Path palette.
It’s not beautiful yet but here’s what you get.
Continue adding to the drawing using the tools you feel most comfortable with: freehand with a Brush, plot with a Path, or select with a Marquis. If you use the round Selection Marquis go to SELECT > MODIFY > BORDER then choose the pixel width (I used 4). Then fill the border you just created with a fat Brush. It’s more work than just outlining a Path but you can control the density of your line and even miss some areas to make it look imperfect.
Adding Detail—In the Brush palette, check the Shape Dynamics option and decrease the size of the Brush. Add finer detail. Once the main lines are drawn, I freehand most everything else. If there’s an area that needs a straight line, press SHIFT in conjunction with most tools to utilize the Rubberband.
Adding Depth—Change the color from 70 K to 90 but not to 100 (solid black) and brush over the areas you wish to darken and make dense. Change the color to 40 K and decrease the size of the Brush for finer detail and shading. If there is an area that gets too dense and you don’t want to lose some of the work you’ve done by reverting in the History palette, change the Color Picker to White (QuickKey D > X) and sketch over. (You can use the Eraser just make sure you set Mode to Dissolve and use the right size Brush—it’s just more work.)
Completing the Drawing—Add a Layer: name it Background. A quick way to control greyness and detail for the background art is to adjust the Opacity in that Layer only.
Final Touches—I use a small Diameter White Brush and scribble out some lines and mess up the drawing so that overall it has that hand drawn look. Use Burn and/or Dodge to darken or lighten areas without adding muddiness or deleting necessary detail.
Copy the two drawn Layers and Flatten. Go to FILTER > BLUR > GUASSIAN BLUR and choose or whatever you prefer (I used .4). Uncheck Preview so you can see the effect and the original at the same time. If your client needs to change something, the original drawing is still available for you to adjust.
And of course, art always looks better in a frame.
