HOW TO DRAW A FIELD SKETCH
Anyone can produce a good field sketch. It does NOT have to be a work of art.
More marks are given for ACCURATE LABELS than the actual sketch.
You do however need to be able to recognize what has been drawn, so some artistic skill is needed.
EQUIPMENT
1. A clipboard or notebook to rest on.
2. Paper, probably A4
3. HB or 2B soft pencil & a rubber (make sure it is clean)
4. A large strong clear plastic bag, big enough to keep your work in. If it is large enough you
will be able draw with your hand inside the bag if it is raining.
5. If it is windy two elastic bands will help hold your paper down. (Remember spares.)
6. A camera to record the view.
7. A base map or suitable O.S. map to locate your position and local features.
Imagine you want to draw the view
on the right. You are sitting in a comfy,
safe spot, & you have a blank piece
of paper resting on your clipboard.
It looks so hard so how do you start?
The first thing to do is LOOK.
You need to make sure that your
Sketch is not too BIG and does not
“run off” the page, or is so small
you can not see any detail in it.
Thorncombe Beacon, Dorset
SO HOW DO I START ?
STEP 1
You are going to draw a “landscape letterbox, WIDESCREEN “ shape.
Very faintly draw a line across the middle of your page. This is your EYE LEVEL & often is the
horizon line. With your arm held out straight, sight along your pencil to work out how many
pencil heights go horizontally across your page. Next, again very lightly, divide your scene up into
boxes to form a VERY FAINT SKETCHING GRID. In this case only three boxes make up the view
and fit across the page (often it is more).
R4
STEP 2
If you look at the photograph you will see that
your eye level is the same as the horizon of the
sea, and that the view is really made up of
several triangle put together.
Draw you sketch as simple shapes- lines
rectangles and triangles. At this stage still keep
your drawing faint.
When you have the main shape, rub out the
pencil grid, as you don’t need it anymore.
STEP 3
After spending some time OBSERVING
what you see, try to add some of the detail.
There is no need to add shading or colour.
STEP 4
Now you can start to add the very small
detail.
It is a good idea to have some idea of
SCALE in the picture such as metre stick.
STEP 5
You now need to add labels. These can go
under or over the sketch.
If there is not enough space use a number
or letter key.
STEP 6
Once the labels are completed you need
to think about adding a TITLE.
Record also site & LOCATION details,
date, weather conditions, direction of view&
your grid reference. This is where a map is useful.
It sometimes helps to very faintly tint vegetation
pale green & water features in pale blue.
IMPORTANT - SEE ALSO R15
TO SEE THE PICTURES BUILD IN SEQUENCE & THE FINAL SKETCH CLICK HERE