How to Draw Sports Stuff
If you are a sports fan and a budding artist, you may want to combine both your passions. Drawing sporting events, people and equipment holds some challenges; all that movement and drama may seem overwhelming at first. Drawing a figure quickly, with only few pencil strokes, is the secret to capturing movement. Sports equipment, such as balls, sticks and clubs, are fairly simple, so begin with these.
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Things You'll Need
- HB, 2B and 4B pencils
- Cartridge paper
- Photos of sports scene
- Wooden artist's mannequin
Instructions
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Practice drawing ellipses, adding light and shadow to form a 3-D effect, to represent footballs, soccer balls and basketballs. Study hockey sticks, golf clubs and skateboards. Notice their size in relationship to human figures. Draw them from various angles.
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2
Look at a photograph of a soccer player as he is about to kick a ball. Pose your mannequin to match the player as closely as possible. The article, "Gesture Drawing" at Explore Drawing and Painting.com, suggests there is a 'line of movement' which is expressed as a simple cross through the figure's shoulders and from the back of the head down the spine. Practice capturing this line of movement by drawing it on printed-out photographs.
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Draw the head as a box, the chest as a short cylinder and the pelvis as another box. These will always follow the line of movement. Draw limbs as elongated ellipses. Sketch lots of these figures in many poses.
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Draw in the crowd by suggesting it with ovals for heads, never as individuals. If the event is taking place in an arena, capture the sweep of the roof and canopy against the skyline.
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Look at the sportsman's clothing. Observe how the fabric moves with or pulls against him, creating more lines of movement. See how muscle is bunched or extended. Which way is his gaze directed? This will help position his head. Put in a line of shadow at the feet to anchor the figure. Add in other players. Treat them in the same way as the main focus but with less detail. Take account of perspective and the size of their bodies in relation to where they are positioned on the field.
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Drawing at a live event will improve your skills. Attempt drawing an actual event. Concentrate on the lines of movement. Make many drawings through the game. Add notes about atmosphere, colors, weather conditions, light, sounds and smells to enable you to recall the event clearly. Take photographs so when you get home you can quickly get your drawing onto paper. Continually observe and keep drawing.
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Tips & Warnings
Speed up your drawing. The faster you draw, the more effectively you will capture the moment.
As you draw, imagine the roar of the crowd and the thud of feet on grass.
View other artists' work and see how they capture movement.
Pause videos of games to make quick sketches of the action.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Patrick Ryan/Lifesize/Getty Images pitcher in control image by CPonder from Fotolia.com
