Pencil Sketches from Old Sketchbook

Sharing a couple of sketches from early days of sketching. There are more from that time, but sharing just 2 for now. These are not perfect but I was learning & practising. Not that I am perfect at sketching now, but I used to practise pencil sketching a lot back then. I realise it’s been so long since I sketched anything.

Both these (following 2) sketches were done with reference. The Tarzan and Jane one (my favourite) was from a fridge magnet that my sister had gifted me. I was studying animation around that time and had started with 2D sketching classes. I most enjoyed practising the familiar characters from favourite animation movies.

I loved this book ‘Cartoon Animation’ by Preston Blair and would rent it from the library very often. The first pencil sketch of a surprised cat with a bumble bee and the dog’s is from that Preston Blair’s book. If you are interested in sketching or traditional animation, do check out this book, it’s wonderful and at that point I found it to be super helpful.

Cute cat and dog pencil sketch – from Preston Blair’s Cartoon Animation book

When I was preparing from my elementary art exam back when I was at school, I didn’t quite enjoy practising still life, as I wasn’t particularly good at it. What I did like though was that it gave my overthinking, hyper-active brain some time to calm down. I don’t have any of those sketches with me anymore. But here’s another one where I attempted to draw and shade a yarn ball, many years later.

Here’s a pencil sketch of a tree that I drew just randomly, when I was having a rough day. It is really a very beginner level sketching (not that I have levelled-up now) but it is always fun to just hold the pencil and draw a random image (or tree, hehe). Do you also do this, some time, any time?

I once came across this simple yet elegant pencil sketch of a young woman and I had to try it out myself. I’m now not able to find the link to the original work/artist, so apologies (if I find the link to the original sketch, I will update this post later). The original sketch was so beautiful that I was immediately drawn to it when I stumbled upon it while looking for some inspiration. Here’s my attempt at recreating this simple but pretty line art.

And here’s an ink art with a quote from Moana movie. I had enjoyed the Moana movie and loved the brave Moana character. This one is not a pencil sketch I know, but the quote there is just something I always like to remind myself whenever I’m feeling a little lost (like today).