Hatching Trouble-Shooting Guide

USk Chicago: Tuesday Tips & Tricks by Wes Douglas

I learned a long time ago that I like hatching as a sketching technique. It’s efficient, effective and it is almost effortless. "Efficient" because you can literally use just one pen and a pad of paper to hatch your sketch. "Effective" because you will not have to convert your sketch to a halftone conversion in order for your sketch to be reproduced in the newspaper or magazine article. I say almost effortless because sometimes it does not work out the way I had planned. 

There are several forms of hatching: Linear, quick tonal, radiating, contoured, precision hatching and the popular cross-hatching. But sometimes hatching just doesn’t turn out the way you had planned. Some days require a LOT of effort. So I thought I’d submit my trouble-shooting guide for hatching:

ISSUE: The resulting sketch did not match what you envisioned in your head. Believe it or not, this sketch of the woman on the train (at left) is messed up--the hatching was too light and I stopped short of completing the texture in the lower half of the sketch. Perhaps I was in a rush to finish this before I had to depart the train or I got tired of making little hash marks? Who knows? Regardless, it is fixable.

TRY THIS: Keep this sketch and move to the next page and create a new sketch. The beauty of sketching is that you can always try, fail and learn. In the case of this sketch, I could go back and add in more cross-hatching and a frame to finish off this sketch.

ISSUE: Maybe it came out too dark and it looks like the subjects changed ethnicity or the female grew a 5 o’clock shadow.

TRY THIS: You can use a blank page and just practice different styles of hatching with different pens. When you find the pen that makes the marks you like, make note of it for the next sketch. In the case of this couple at the Jamba Juice, I went back over the problem areas with white paint and lightened the heaviness of the hatching, particularly on the man's face. One other thing this sketch could use is a frame to give the lines a place to end. As it shows right now, the lines fade off arbitrarily and pull the eye away from the main subjects.

ISSUE: The direction of your lines did not enhance the shape or sense of volume for the subject. The lines should indicate the way a surface reflects light, folds or wraps around an object.

TRY THIS: Pay attention to the surfaces as if they have a grain to them and make your lines follow that “virtual grain direction.” Take a close look at the motorcyclist above and notice how I changed the direction of the hatching to convey the wrinkled pant material, the shape of the tires and gas tank and even the boots.

ISSUE: What if the style of hatching I chose does not go well with the subject matter?

TRY THIS: If you haven’t gone too far, paint white over your curly-cues and try again with linear or cross-hatching. If you have covered the building, like I have in this sketch at left, you might be best to start over and try a new hatching style.

Another trick I like to do: when you are finished with your line drawing, stop and scan or make black & white copies of your sketch. Take one of those copies and try out a hatching technique to see if you like the line quality and linear direction. If all goes well, you can now create your hatching tones on your original sketch. This coffee house was one where I did not like the original attempt because my light source was off. But I came back a few months later, redrew it, and applied a different hatching technique to where I like this much better now.




Please tell me that you have had hatching issues as well and how did you fix them. I can't possibly be the only one with these issues, right? Help!

Would you exercise and sketch at the same time?

Tuesday Tips & Tricks

Many moons ago, I had heard a lot about how you should do little exercises while you are stuck in commuter traffic–whether it be on a bus, train, airline or especially in your car with stop-and-go traffic. So it made me think, with all of the hours I spend sitting in a chair or at my desk urban sketching ideas or observations, should I be exercising while I sketched?

I decided to do a little research on some simple exercises.

“Calisthenics” are a form of exercise consisting of a variety of exercises, often rhythmical movements, generally without the use of equipment or apparatus. They are intended to increase body strength, body fitness and flexibility with movements such as bending, jumping, swinging, twisting or kicking, using only your body weight for resistance.

When performed vigorously and with variety, calisthenics can benefit both muscular and cardiovascular fitness in addition to improving psychomotor skills such as balance, agility and coordination.

Likewise, over at Smashing Magazine, author Laura Busche highlights the benefits of traditional sketching:

Extends memory: “The better you become at translating imagery from your mind to paper, the more visual resources you will have to draw on and the easier it will be to retrieve them in the future.”

Aids concentration: “Sketching stimulates us to a comfortable level — enough to keep us awake, concentrated and engaged… Some believe that we reach deeper levels of concentration and develop richer concepts when our own hands are the hardware.”

Allows for flexibility: “Because of our brain’s limited processing capacity, externalizing our ideas on paper makes it easier to restructure them, transforming the initial structure into a new one.”

Cool, there seems to be a common thread here that I wanted to explore further. I want to be remembered as the first Urban Sketcher who creates a series of simple exercises that can be done during sketching, especially at a two-day event such as the upcoming 2015 Urban Sketchers Chicago Sketch Seminar #uskchicago2015.

Here are a few of the exercises that I have developed (with a little help from my personal trainer). Give these a try and let me know what worked and didn’t work for you.

Disclaimer: I am not remotely qualified as a physical trainer or therapist. Please consult your physician to determine if a regular exercise regiment is recommended or will even help your sketching technique. If you find that your sketches have significantly gotten worse, please discontinue any exercise until you consult your physician.

Note: Don’t forget to pause for a drink of water as needed.

Sit Up Sketching: Grab your sketchbook and pen, lie down flat on your back with your knees bent, and do a normal sit up towards your knees. When you reach the upright position, place your sketchbook and pen on your knees and draw a few lines of what is in front of you while you hold this position. Then allow your torso to slowly fall back towards the horizontal position and repeat 10 times or until your sketch has been completed. 

Sketch Push-ups: With your body in a horizontal position, push yourself up so that your body remains rigid with your arms fully supporting your torso and lower your body with both arms at alternating intervals, holding your body in the up position for 1 minute and lowering for 5 seconds. Sketching is best accomplished while you are in the upper position. Repeat until your sketch is complete.

Sketch Planking: With your body in a horizontal position, push yourself up so that your body remains rigid with your arms fully supporting your torso. Your sketchbook and pen should be directly under your drawing arm. You may have to shift your weight over to your supporting arm while you sketch with your free arm. Sketch quickly while you shift your attention from your subject matter to your sketchbook. By the time your supporting arm starts to fatigue, you should be wrapping up your sketch.

Approximate sketch time: 10 minutes.

Lunge Sketching: Stand in view of the object you wish to sketch and take a big step forward and bend your knees as shown. Place your sketchbook on your lap and begin sketching the subject in front of you for as long as your legs will support you (perhaps 30 seconds will be sufficient). When you start to feel fatigue set into your legs, stand up and rest for 10 minutes while you sketch. Then repeat the lunge again for 30 more seconds. Repeat until your sketch is complete.

Alternative Wall Sit Sketching: Stand in front of a brick wall, half wall, fence or fire hydrant with your sketchbook and pen in hand. Bend over slightly into a sitting position until your knees are at a 90º angle. Place your sketchbook on your lap and begin sketching the subject in front of you for as long as your legs will support you (perhaps 30 seconds will be sufficient). When you start to feel fatigue set into your legs, stand up and rest for 2 minutes. You may choose to sketch while standing up during this rest. Then repeat the wall sit again for 30 more seconds. Repeat until your sketch is complete.

Bench-Step Sketching: This exercise is a derivative of the box step and step platform exercises. In this version, approach an empty half wall or bench (preferably without someone already sitting on it) and either step upon or hop onto the bench. Select an object to sketch, raise your arm cradling the sketchbook and begin sketching. Jump down safely off of the bench and back up at regular 5-minute intervals. Not recommended if you have bad knees, back or ankle issues.

Lower Impact Sketch Exercise Ideas:

Sketchabout: With your sketchbook supported by your arm positioned at a 90º angle, place your pen over your sketchbook and begin walking and sketching simultaneously. This is the same activity that people will perform while walking and texting on their phone except that you will be exercising your observation and drawing muscles.

Peddle Sketch: With your sketchbook supported by your arm positioned at a 90º angle, place your pen over your sketchbook and begin biking and sketching simultaneously. This will require great balance and multi-tasking as you focus on your ever-changing subject matter, the motion of moving your legs in a cyclical fashion, torso movements to maintain balance to steer the bike “hands free” and build your observation skills. Perhaps practice this in an empty parking lot while cycling before co-habitating with other vehicles.