Artist sketching and drawing with pencils

How to Start Sketching: A Beginner’s Guide with Simple Daily Exercises

Main Takeaway: Establishing a daily sketching habit with focused, bite-sized exercises builds confidence, refines your mark-making, and lays a foundation in observation, form, and design.

1. Why Sketch Daily?

Sketching every day—just 10–15 minutes—trains your hand, sharpens your eye, and turns drawing into a habit rather than an occasional pastime. Consistency accelerates improvement more than sporadic long sessions1.

2. Get Set Up

A minimal starter kit:

Smooth white sketchbook
HB or B pencil (with long-lead sharpener)
Eraser
Fine-liner pen (optional for linear work)
A comfortable seat and surface at arm’s length for easy wrist and shoulder movement

3. Warm-Up: Mark-Making Drills

Begin each session with basic marks to train precision and confidence.

Straight Lines

Draw pairs of dots and connect horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines in short, medium, and long lengths. Vary pressure for light, medium, and dark tones.
Combine lines into simple shapes (rectangles, triangles).

Sketchbook page showing straight line exercises: horizontal, vertical, diagonal

Curved Lines

Connect dots with gentle arcs at different angles and lengths.
Practice circles and ovals, focusing on smoothness and consistency.

Sketchbook page showing curved line exercises: arcs and circles

S-Lines and Value Scales

Draw continuous S-curves in light, medium, dark.
Render boxes or shapes using parallel hatching for five distinct values.

4. Daily Sketching Prompts

Keep your practice engaging by sketching snapshots of everyday life. Choose one prompt per day:

Where did I go?
What did I see?
What did I eat/drink?
What did I wear?
Who did I see?
A random or memorable moment

Sketchbook page with daily sketch prompts list

5. Building Fundamentals

Observation & Measurement

Use light initial “lay-in” lines to block out proportions. Check with:

Plum lines (vertical/horizontal alignments)
Triangulation (angles/distances between key landmarks)
Negative space shapes around the subject
Then refine details in subsequent passes1.

Shapes & Form

Simplify objects into basic shapes (circle, rectangle, triangle, oval). Practice drawing boxes, cylinders, and spheres in 1-, 2-, and 3-point perspective to instill three-dimensional structure2.

Tonal Awareness

Once comfortable with linear marks, experiment with an overhand grip and graphite to lay in broader tonal masses. Squint to reduce scenes to 2–3 values; this sharpens your ability to see and render light and shadow1.

6. Bringing It All Together: A Simple Routine

Warm-up (5 min): Mark-making drills (straight, curved, S-lines, value scales).
Prompt sketch (10 min): Choose a daily prompt and sketch quickly. Focus on capturing essence, not polish.
Focused study (10 min): Pick one fundamental—measurement, shape, perspective, or tonal study—and practice it on a small object or reference.

7. Tips for Success

Stay loose. Relax your wrist, elbow, and shoulder.
Step back frequently to assess proportions and values.
Experiment with paper textures and media—finding what you enjoy keeps motivation high.
Review past sketches weekly to track progress and identify areas for improvement.

Embark on this journey with curiosity and patience. Within weeks, you’ll notice your lines growing bolder, proportions more accurate, and sketches more expressive. Happy sketching!

Want to learn Sketching and Drawing in detail? “Join our Sketching & Drawing Course 🎨”

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1 How To Practice Drawing: Drawing Fundamentals: The Definitive Guide (2025)[citation_id:9]
2 The Beginner Drawing Course: Drawing Fundamentals—10 CRUCIAL THINGS (2020)[citation_id:3]