Sketching & drawing are words commonly used in place of one another, but there is a difference, and understanding how these closely related activities differ does matter. Here are example images followed by an explanation of the thinking process behind them.
The Barn Swallow sketches were made by observing a group of some 30 birds through a spotting scope mounted on a tripod. A scope is the ideal tool for studying bird behaviour from a distance; your hands are free to hold a pen and sketch pad, while the birds don’t feel threatened and behave normally.
When I’m sketching birds from life, my aim is capture their gestures. Gesture is the story, energy and body language behind what your subject is doing. In this particular instance, the swallows had gathered on a sunny ledge and were busy preening their feathers. Preening was the essence of what I was trying to get down on the page. To do that, I was sketching quickly with only brief glances at my sketch pad. Economy of line is mission critical; lines shall wander and proportions will drift - that’s ok. Birds only give you seconds, so it’s not the time be counting primary and secondary flight feathers; the spirited activity (gesture) is what matters in the sketch.
Next is a pencil drawing of a Chimney Swift. Very similar in size to a Barn Swallow, they’re both aerial insectivores found where I live in Southern Ontario. I made the drawing from a dead bird which had collided with a window and was found by a volunteer with FLAP Canada. This bird was preserved through taxidermy and has been used by FLAP for educational purposes during public outreach events.
With such an exquisite bird as a model, this is the time when you want to explore the surface textures and details that you must, by necessity, overlook when you’re frantically sketching a moving subject from life.
Since the swallow wasn’t going anywhere, I moved it into soft window light and proceeded to take measurements to ensure a 1:1 life size drawing. The mounted bird was somewhat damaged due to being transported in and out of boxes, so it was my task to “polish” up the rough patches on route to the finished drawing. Audubon’s landmark Birds of America was made in similar manner with all of the birds painted life size.
The stacks at the library groan under the weight of volumes written about this topic, but in this short post, the distinction I use is best summed up this way:
Sketch = Gesture
Drawing = Measured Study
Similar activities using similar tools (pencil, pens, paper, etc.), but different when it comes to the mindset and approach you bring towards your subject.
Alan