Sketching, I soon realized, required a lot more thinking and techniques than I previously assumed. To have a decent idea in my mind of how I want my painting to turn out, I must have a detailed sketch beforehand. Everything from the overall look to composition to tiny details, such as flowers, rocks, and grass, could be included in the sketch. Painting references by other professional artists are also must-haves because finding some good ones could really save time when painting!

 

The overarching sketching process is: start with the concept, which is coming up with an idea I want to paint and writing a few sentences describing it. Then, circle the "paintable" words or phrases that could be represented by an object, figure, symbol, etc. I also added little notes and doodles in the margin to continue brainstorming. Secondly, it is time to make two thumbnails. They should be no bigger than a business card and reflect what it is I want to paint. Now, I am brainstorming the layout and things in my painting with mini sketches instead of words. For example, I am unsure whether to put a tree on the left or right of the canvas, so I could do one idea for each thumbnail and see which looks better. Of course, the reality is more complicated, and the two thumbnails should not be too similar, in my opinion. I already mentioned the next step, but I will reiterate, emphasize, and elaborate on the importance of finding professional, contemporary artist painting references I am willing to follow! I tend to be a rebel when it comes to following my references, so I got to work on that still. Basically, I need one for the overall look of the painting, another for the sky, subject, landscape, buildings, etc., depending on what I am painting. To summarize, I must have a reference for everything in my work, which cannot be from the same artist, and the ones for each sketch must be completely different. Finally, I can do the half-page sketch, which should pretty much be the look of the final acrylic painting. It should take at least an hour and include all the values from dark to light and details.