Sketching Technique

 I go through the same routine pretty much every time I sketch. 

1. Pick a Subject: I keep a list on my cell phone in my reminders app of ideas of places to sketch. Every time I'm near one of those places, I try to take a look at exactly what is catching my eye. The more I think about it, the more I get hyped to do it.
2. To Thumbnail or Not, that is the question: When I'm ready to sketch something, I think about the following list to determine my next step:
1. How much time do I have?
1. If I only have a few minutes, I use a small sketchbook and sometimes skip the color
2. If I have a couple hours, I'll do a draft sketch somewhere to decide proportions, angles, color, etc.
2. What materials do I want to use?
1. Sometimes I want to use a certain sketchbook. 
2. Sometimes I only have a certain sketchbook on me (although I usually have 2-3 in my backpack - two 3x5 and one A5)
3. Sometimes watercolor and sometimes something else. 
3. Who is this for (me or someone else)? 
1. If it's for me, I'm usually less picky
2. If it's for someone else, I need to know if I'm making a card, scanning and printing it, and what size it's going to be
3. Laying it out: I use my hands to frame the painting first (right thumb to left index finger and left thumb to right index finger). Generally, I want something either on the right or left to help me frame the shot. I also want a top and bottom feature that I can use. It's ok if things extend outside of the frame
1. trees are a great example. They are great to use on the right or left and it doesn't matter if you see the top or bottom of them - you'll still know it's a tree
2. grass, sidewalks, and streets are the same. You don't need much of them to know there's a street there or the scene runs into a lawn.
4. Proportions: This is where my pencil comes in. I hold my pencil out straight and use it as a guide. I can usually guestimate if something is half way across a pencil, a third, a quarter, etc. That tells me roughly how far across the page I need to go. Likewise, paper is proportioned, so if you use the full pencil as the horizontal, you would use less of it on the vertical in a landscape orientation.  
5. Angles: Again, my pencil guides me. I hold the pencil straight out in front of me. I then turn it like the hands of a clock and get the rough time to figure out an angle. So if I line the pencil up with a roof, and it's pointing at 3 o'clock on one side and 7 o'clock on another side, those are my angles. The better I can get these the more 'accurate' my sketch is. This is: 
1. the best trick ever
2. the hardest part of drawing in my opinion
3. the biggest bang for your buck
6. Once I get some of these things figured out, I go to ink. They say less is more when it comes to details. You certainly don't need every leaf or every brick for the brain to know it's a brick building or a tree. This is where the artistic balance comes in. 
7. Then it's the water soluble graphite. 
1. First it's the darkest areas and anything that's in the shade
2. Then a second coat over the darkest areas. 
3. Sometimes even a third. The goal is to really see depth at this point. You'll know you've done it right when you have a tough decision to make afterwards - to add color or not.
8. Adding color: I don't claim to be an expert here. If I've done a thumbnail sketch, I'll sometimes test out my color, but usually I don't bother. I like bright colors and care more about implying color than accuracy of color. 
1. When mixing watercolor, start with the lighter color and just barely touch a darker color to it. 
2. Make sure you've mixed enough for what you need to paint!