Sketching is an art form, enjoyed by people of all age groups. You can begin sketching at any age. It will give you an opportunity to sharpen your creative skills. It is not very expensive as a hobby, as you just need a pencil and a paper. It is not a very difficult skill to learn. You can start sketching by looking at some objects, or you can do so with the help of your imagination. It may be easy to copy work of other artists, but you should not do that, because you are depriving your creative skills from getting developed up to its potential. Sketching Tips for Kids ➺ Always use good quality pencils and paper. For any good quality sketch, these two are the most important things required. Otherwise, you will not get the kind of end result you were looking for. ➺ Sit in a place where there is enough sunlight, or a room with a full spectrum light. If you are a right-handed person make sure that the light comes from the left side. ➺ The first step of sketching for kids is drawing simple lines. The lines could be curved, crossed, straight, or scribbled. It will help you to develop a sense of control over the strokes of pencil. ➺ Then, you can start drawing curves like oval, circles, and such other geometrical shapes. In the initial stages, you may not get the kind of figure that you are trying to make. Do not be disappointed, as you can improve through practice. ➺ Also, try to draw lines with varying thickness and darkness. This will help you to sense the kind of pressure to be exerted on the pencil to obtain a certain type of line. ➺ Identify those weak areas of your sketches and practice them more. Drawing Tips for Beginners Correct Use of Pencil ➺ Use a range of different varieties of pencils like hard pencil, soft pencil, etc. ➺ Sharpen all your pencils well, to obtain the best effect on your drawing. ➺ You can keep one pencil with blunt point for using it on some drawing techniques, like shading. ➺ Hold the pencil in a way which you feel most comfortable. ➺ Some people hold the pencil for sketching in the same manner as they hold it for writing. ➺ Others prefer to hold it with the thumb and index finger only, while the pencil is placed below the palm of the hand. ➺ Whichever is your style, just make sure that you do not press it too hard on the paper. Draw Outlines ➺ As a beginner, you should start drawing figures of various shapes, that are simple to draw. ➺ You can start with fruits like bananas, apples, grapes, oranges, pears, etc. All of them have different shapes. ➺ Keep them on a table and touch the edges of each fruit with your fingers. This way you can get the idea of their individual shape. ➺ Then, start drawing them on a paper with the help of a regular HB pencil. ➺ Draw outline of each of the fruit at least ten times. ➺ This way you will learn to interpret a three dimension structure on a two dimensional surface. Add Shading ➺ After the outline is drawn, add shading to it. Observe each of the fruit carefully. ➺ You will find that the surface of each of them is different. These difference has to be interpreted on the paper with the help of shadings. ➺ See how the textures of each surface reflects light and accordingly apply the shading on drawing. ➺ The surface of an orange is rough, so you have to add patches and spots on the surface with the help of variations in shading. ➺ For a shiny, smooth surface of pear, the shading should be distinct and only at parts where the light gets reflected. Correct Use of Eraser ➺ Always use the eraser lightly on the drawing paper. Or else, you can end up damaging the paper. ➺ Avoid too much of rubbing of the same area to prevent breakage of the paper. If you have to erase a large section of the drawing, use white eraser. ➺ When only a small portion of the drawing has to be erased keeping the surrounding area intact, use a soft eraser. ➺ To get rid of the graphite stuck on the eraser rub it thoroughly over a white paper. Preserve each of your drawings properly, so that in future when you see them you can see how much you have improved. In this manner, you will get a lot of enthusiasm to improve yourself further.