If you’re following along in your studio, practice your own rough sketching by taking some of your best thumbnail sketches to the next level. Draw more carefully, but don’t worry about making them perfect. We’ll make them perfect later. Just make them good enough. Remember…baby steps.

Arnaud BARBIER

11mo

Hello, a rough sketch of another rock star, John Bonham, the drummer of Led Zeppelin:

Arnaud BARBIER

11mo

Hello, a rough sketch of Pete Townshend from The Who (young).

Ariel Dollopac

1yr

This is my rough sketch of Clint Eastwood.

Wendy de Boer

1yr

Here are my attempts at Tammy Slaton. In the first thumbnail, I quite liked the head shape and the hair, but the face didn't feel right. In the second thumbnail, I felt the features were going in the right direction, but the elongated head shape was a bad call. I definitely felt the head needed to be rounder and smoother. So on the third thumbnail, I tried to combine what I liked about the first and second sketch into one. For the final rough, I enlarged the third thumbnail and worked it out a bit more. I think it's going somewhere, but I'm also finding it quite hard to keep a sense of structure without using formal construction and taking measurements from the reference. What do you think?

Account deleted

1yr

Wendy, this looks great. I think the drawing looks solid and three dimensional. Nicely done :-)

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Peter Haller

1yr

Here is my try on Bill Nye and Joel. I am ok with the likeness. I see some structural problems but these will be resolved with the abstraction I hope :-). What do you think about this rough sketches? Thanks in advance.

tibonb

2yr

Another try, from thumbnail to rough sketch. I like the idea of the upper left and central thumbnails, that I tried to develop into a rough sketch. I still struggle however with the likeness (in the features mostly, I think). I can’t put the reference photo sadly, because of GDRP, but I would really appreciate any feedbacks on the overall structure and consistency of the distortions. @Court Jones ? Anyone ?

Court Jones

2yr

I also don't know what GDRP is and why it would prevent you from uploading a photo of the person. Let us know. The main problem with the rough sketch is there is a consistent skew to its structure. The shapes are "leaning" up and to the right. Especially the jaw, ears and glasses. My guess is you drew this on a flat table (or at least a low angle) and are right-handed. When you create a drawing looking at your paper surface from a low angle the shapes will look fine from that perspective. But when you look at them straight on, the skewed perspective becomes more obvious. If that is not the case and your paper surface was propped upright in front of you, then you need to focus on why you are doing that. Be sure to use parallel and perpendicular guidelines to map out where the features of the face will go.

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DoodleMick

2yr

Good Evening: For me, it's hard to tell a likeness without the originally image to look at. I do not recognize this individual, so I don't know if they are famous or not. With that said, your rough sketch look well done, and the over all sketch still looks like a rough, but also a work in progress. My eyes keep going to the one in the upper left. I would focus on that concept and see where it takes you. (Not sure what GDRP is) Lastly, the jaw line looks off on the single sketch. The right side (his left) looks sharper where the opposite side looks more puffy. Keep up good work. Mick

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tibonb

2yr

Hi there ! I’ve been following this lesson a couple of weeks ago. After trying different thumbnails, here is the final sketch, with ink. I didn’t actually pushed it further. Any advice to help me improve on this ? Thanks 😃

DoodleMick

2yr

This looks pretty well done. Your crosshatching looks pretty clean and straight. Nice job. Like the larger nose. I took a look at your pervious post as well, and that sketch looks more like a profile portrait than a caricature, but still looks well done.

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Ben Kindergarten

2yr

Its good. You are going to have trouble finding people who are able to give good advice at that level.

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Court Jones

Freelance commercial illustrator and caricature entertainer. He’s done a lot of editorial and product illustration and concept work for film and TV.