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 and 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.

Thorncombe Beacon, Dorset

Imagine you want to draw the view on the right. You are sitting in a comfy, safe spot, and 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. 

 

So how do I start?

Step One

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 and 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).

Step Two

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 Three

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 Four                                                                                 

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 Five

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 Six

Once the labels are completed you need to think about adding a title.

Record also site and location details, date, weather conditions, direction of view and your grid reference. This is where a map is useful. 

It sometimes helps to very faintly tint vegetation pale green and water features in pale blue.

 

 

An example fieldsketch exercise is available here.

This powerpoint presentation shows the picture sequence and the final sketch.

 

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