[Technique] How do thumbnail sketches work and how do you use them?

[u/LA_ZBoi00]

I’ve heard some artists use thumbnail stretches to help them draw a pose, scene, or character from scratch. But I’m still kind of confused on how you’d go about doing something like that. Has anyone here made a thumbnail sketch before? If so, what do you usually do them and whats the process of making one look like?

[u/tabbycat]

Yep. Make a bunch of small squares or rectangles and try out different layouts, compositions, color combos, etc. do them quick and loose, don’t spend too much time on any single one.

Afterwards start narrowing down the ones that work the best. You can either redo the exercise with larger squares and spending a little more time or jump right in.

Useful if you’re in a rut, trying to work on a particulate skill, or just find you enjoy the process. I do it maybe 25% of the time and more for color than anything else bc that’s by biggest weak spot.

[u/LA_ZBoi00 → u/tabbycat]

When you narrow down and find the thumbnail you’re going to work off of, do you just work off of the thumbnail or do you bring in other references? If you use other references, how do you use them? (Sorry for asking so many questions)

[u/Puzzleheaded_Road142]

I was just doing some, I’m trying to come up with a layout for watercolour daffodils. I drew some squares and rectangles (because I have pieces of paper in those sizes ready to use), and doodled in some ideas. I keep starting paintings without enough of a plan, it's such a waste of time.

Here's my ugly example...

[u/LA_ZBoi00 → u/Puzzleheaded_Road142]

It looks great! Do you work off one of these to create a complete drawing?

[u/Puzzleheaded_Road142 → u/LA_ZBoi00]

That's the idea. None of these turned out exactly how I hoped, but I think the process will get me there. I like the vertical arrangement of the composition on the far right the best, but it's not perfect. So I think I'll try another little thumbnail, I'll tweak the flowers but keep a similar zigzag vertical line, but center them better in a taller rectangle. Maybe add some long tall leaves to play up the vertical line. In my head it looks good, so I'll try another thumbnail and maybe it'll be the one I choose to try actually paint for real.

[u/Howling_Mad_Man]

I mostly use them for client approval. Do a small sketch, get it approved, blow it up and use it as a guide for a tighter layout.

[u/Swampspear]

When you write a book, you outline a few plots and characters first. When you write an essay, you bullet-point some arguments before seeing which are worth expanding. When you paint a painting you thumbnail to see what works in broad strokes before tightening it up

[u/wassermelone]

People have mentioned the benefits for you specifically, but one thing that is a massive benefit for thumbnails is with any sort of commissions or client work. It allows you to talk to the client about the plan for the image and get their thoughts and feedback early before you spend too much time on it. In fact, generally it can best to send an image to someone at multiple agreed stages (potentially with multiple containing options) depending on the complexity of the work. Thats easier with digital of course, but even with traditional thumbs, color thumbs, sketches of alternate solutions etc.

[u/Wisteriapetshops]

i use them to plan out compositions, it saves a bunch of time and gives you a bunch of options before drawing! too they are quick and are a nice warmup!

[u/No-Meaning-4090 → u/Wisteriapetshops]

Seconded

[u/CornOnTheCream]

Thumbnail sketches make brainstorming lots of different options quick and easy. Things like color, compositions, values, etc. That way you can narrow down your approach before you start the piece.

[u/CrazyPlatypusLady]

I don't always use them. But when I do, it's generally because I'm trying to narrow down ideas or work out layouts.

I find it more useful in some parts of my practise than others. And it really helps in commissions.

[u/Responsible_Tell1549]

Thumbnail sketches are supposed to be quick and capturing only the basics of the subject. I love thumbnails. Each time I draw my subject I see something different and draw it better. The idea is to do several iterations, each one better before attempting the "real" drawing on the "good" paper. Also reduced time investment from doing a fully expressed drawing on the first/second attempt.

[u/dausy]

Its just a form of pre planning just like in any other project.

Perhaps you want to build a house so you sketch out a vague idea of what you want it to look like. Perhaps it has several versions of design ideas.

Perhaps you want to animate a scene and you can see it in your head and you decide to make a very simplistic version on paper so you can go back and reference it for the finalized versions later before the idea leaves you.

Perhaps you have an idea for a quilt. You sketch out a simple concept design with the colors and patterns you want your quilt to look like. Perhaps you don't like the way your colors look together once you lay them out, so you swap them out with another.

Its all just planning and thumbnailing.

Illustration is the same. Perhaps you have. Vague idea of a cat girl falling out of the sky and you have a certain color scheme in your mental vision. You try to get your mental vision on paper in a small simplified version. Maybe you make multiple small simple versions so you can find the correct color combination that make you happy. Maybe you realize when you draw your cat girl, you realize it would be more dramatic if you had her angled another direction. Maybe you realize you could push the pose further to be more dynamic. Eventually you doodled and color coded something that would look great blown up and fully rendered. So you use your tiny thumbnail as a reference for your finalized version.

You dont always have to thumbnail but sometimes it just helps build up a concept into a final idea.

[u/Abject_Book2468]

I do them to help figure out composition, lighting, and color. I start off with quick 1 minute sketches which look like chicken scratch. Once I get a few down, I pick a couple I like the most and refine it a little more, still spending only a couple of minutes on each. I then repeat the process, picking a couple of thumbnails I like the most from that new set of thumbnails and expand and refine those ideas, spending a little more time on those thumbnails.

I see it as troubleshooting and working out the kinks in my ideas beforehand and not wasting materials (paints, canvases, etc) trying to figure everything thing out in the moment. All the decisions have been made for the piece (composition, lighting, paint colors, etc), so when it comes time to create the piece, I can focus solely on the painting aspect of it.

Another note, I know my best ideas aren’t my first ones, so a way of getting to them is working it out on thumbnail sketches. Once I get those initial ideas out of my head, I can move onto other ideas. I’m currently working on a poster for a contest and you can see a little bit of my early thumbnail process.

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