Planning With Thumbnail Drawings Many beginning artists jump right into their final drawings without having a plan. It's natural to want to create crisp detailed drawings in one step. Although just diving into a finished drawing is fine for doodles or quick sketches, detailed works take more planning and organizing. This is where the simplicity of a thumbnail drawing comes in. Working at a small size (I usually thumbnail Makeshift Miracle pages in a 7.5" x 5" rectangle), you can see the entire composition more clearly and worry about the overall aesthetics. Don't go straight into the details or just work on the characters. Plan the entire page loosely with a light pencil (2H-4H or a non-repro blue). It's easy to make changes at this stage because the drawing is rough and you haven't committed to any final lines. If you've got a detailed background to plot out, make sure you've got ample amounts of reference material. Never assume that you know how something looks if it's a real life object. Get reference and draw more confidently. You should also do your thumbnail drawing on a larger sheet of paper and plot your perspective points right on the same page. It'll help keep your work consistent and you can use a standard ruler to plot your perspective instead of a huge drafting table and a straight edge. If you're unsure of how a page is working, don't be afraid to start a new thumbnail and brainstorm different ideas. Several quick thumbnail drawings can help you refine your ideas quickly without wasting time on full pieces that don't work. After taking some shots with my digital camera of a local subway station, I brainstormed my ideas. Here's the thumbnail drawing I did for the first Makeshift Miracle page: Thumbnail Drawing Notice that it's a mess of blue, red and black lines. I started with blue, then as I grew more confident with the perspective and composition, I darkened the lines with red and black. Once the thumbnail drawing is darkened, take it to a photocopier and blow it up (I blow mine up 200% to 10" x 15"). Place a clean sheet of paper over top and draw your final lines confidently based on the plan you've got underneath (I use translucent marker paper so I don't even need a light table). Add detail, texture and shadows... and: Finished Line Drawing Notice that there's subtle changes to the piece, but that the composition and perspective is identical. Don't just trace your earlier lines, refine and think carefully about what you can add to the piece as you draw. Composition guides the viewer's eyes Speaking of composition, look carefully at this drawing. There are a variety of elements that subtly point towards the focus of the piece. The leaves, the pole and even the angle of the stairs are all placed on purpose. They help frame Colby and bring the viewer's eyes over to him. Using compositional techniques like this are most effective in long shots where there's a lot of things to look at. We want to show the entire area, but ensure that our audience is focused in the right spot. The elements in the foreground and behind Colby act as a framing device and help give a sense of depth as well. Thumbnail drawings give you a great chance to test compositional elements before committing to a detailed piece. After the drawing is complete, I scan the final line drawing into the computer and color with Adobe Photoshop 6. But, that's another lesson for another time... Questions or comments? Feel free to E-Mail me. Related Links: Scott McDaniel: Perspective Primer Scott McDaniel: 1 Point Perspective Perspective Scott McDaniel: 2 Point Perspective Perspective Scott McDaniel: 3 Point Perspective Perspective Scott McDaniel: Warp Perspective Home / Archive / About / History / Tutorials / Praise The Makeshift Miracle is hosted on Keenspace, a free webhosting and site automation service for webcomics.