Sometimes when you finish your sketch, you discover that you don’t like the result. Why is that happening? And what to do with this? Don’t worry about it, there are some tips that help you improve your sketch. There are several ways to make it look better.
Start with pencil sketch and color it
Here are my pencil sketch, and after I fill it with watercolor:
Background and foreground view for depth
Good practice to cope with flat sketches is to add to your main character, foreground and background . It will add depth to the sketch. One more tip for depth expression is size of the objects. Big objects are always look closer to us and the smaller far from us.
Emphasize with thicknesses
Use a brush pen or thicker liner/brush when you want to emphasize an object or to add thickness to the object. This is another way to bring life to the sketch. If you wanna make some small tiny details choose a thinner liner/brush pen.
Use hatching
Lines are very important, they make your sketch more realistic. For example, adding lines to the object can show its texture, shadows and depth. But anyway don’t try to overwhelm with lines, try to match the right line to each subject. Understanding what is the balance in hatching and details will take time, it comes with practice and experience. So don’t judge yourself hard, give time to yourself, be patient.
Try color pencils
If you are doing a watercolor sketch sometimes it looks not so vivid as when dry. Try to use colored pencils on it to return the vivid color. Color pencils also make smooth and gentle gradients. Your sketch will look great!
Add lights and shadows
If you don’t do lights and shadows it might be a problem, because the sketch will be flat. If that is the issue, try to look at the reference and recognize where the shadows, light and highlights are. Then dark the areas in the sketch where the shadows are placed. For highlights use white pen or leave it as a white paper. Try to make a smooth gradient from the shadow with darker tone to the light .Leave a piece of white paper for the highlight.
Don’t be afraid of details
If you have a lack of details in the sketch or too many details it could be a problem because it should be balanced. If you have too many details, there’s nothing to do, only lessons to learn. On the other hand, if you have a lack of details you can add them. For example, bricks on the houses. It could be something small, but make sense.
But before you are changing something I suggest you to leave your sketch for a day and then look at it with a fresh look. Maybe it will satisfy you and don’t need any changes. Anyway when you draw more, your skill will grow and sketches will improve. Wish you only great sketches!
