As a beginner, if an artist wants to improve his ability to draw what he sees and his overall skills, croquis drawing is a great way for him. It’s a drawing practice technique of roughly sketching illustrations. Once you master in it, you will learn drawing more balanced and realistic animation and comic figures. It will improve your observation skills as well, which is very elementary for an artist.

Croquis means drawing something briefly in a short time. Fashion designers use it as templates for their clothing sketches. All you have to do is keeping the basic elements of a human body pose, and reducing complicated details. Just go for balance, proportions and mood. You can easily practice it with a sketchbook and pencil, as it requires no special equipment. You can do it digitally too. The purpose is to be aware of the most significant elements of a figure.

Pro artists usually recommend drawing real subjects, rather than from photos. The best way for you is to study from natural subjects around us. You can practice drawing croquis using your friend as a model figure, or take an object from your room.

Materials for Croquis Drawing

You can draw on a single sheet, but sketchbook is preferable, as it will last longer to allow you to check your progress. Use a soft lead 4B-6B pencil. A 2mm sized lead is ideal. Remember, using an eraser is not at all a good idea. Get the basic pose and figure down.

You can use other mediums like a pen or a brush too. You are free to do it with traditional or watercolor brushes or brush pens. Make sure you choose the suitable paper, as the sketchbook is not made for wet mediums and the ink will possibly bleed through.

Digital Croquis Drawing

A software on your laptop or an application on your smartphone can be an option.  Some apps allow fingers to draw through touchscreen technique.  While a larger canvas than a smartphone is better, digital drawing offers you free use of different brushes and pens. Digital drawing provides you customized choices for your drawing.

Drawing within short time

Choose a live model or object, or from a magazine and draw within ten minutes. At first you may not be able to finish. Practice and get used to it.

Focusing on the whole

Quickly drawing the lines is fundamental here. Draw as many lines as you require, and you can add line width variation too. Draw whole figure outline first and then go for details and characteristics. Learning body shapes and proportions will be easier for you as you keep drawing more and more croquis. Observe and practice drawing human body shape, bone shapes, length and width of arms and legs. You’ll gradually know the center of gravity, and draw natural poses, which have accurate center of gravity, better and quicker.

Capturing the essence of croquis

Once you draw the shape and proportions, focus on the balance and mood, the overall essence of a lively figure. Drawing a good illustration requires capturing the mood perfectly.  Children are very focused on drawing the mood, rather than giving accurate shapes. Professional artists learn the art by drawing more and more croquis.