The hardest part of any drawing is the void of a blank canvas staring back at you. Even with a vivid picture in your head, getting it down on paper can always feel daunting.

That’s where thumbnailing comes in.

So, what is a thumbnail?

Thumbnails are small, quick sketches meant to map out a concept before committing to its final design.

This process of creating them, known as 'thumbnailing,' is the idea stage of a project: where you figure out exactly what you want to draw, and how to communicate your message most effectively. 

While named after being the size of a thumbnail, they're more accurately the size of the whole thumb; about an inch tall. The perfect height to get in the overall shapes without going into micro-details. 

It's where you figure out the overall 'vibe' of your work. 

All of my pieces, even the Doodles, begin as a thumbnail.

For example, here’s September’s Print of the Month!

 

Adorable, right? I’m very proud of him. But this piece didn’t spring fully formed onto the page. 

Instead, Mr. Fall Y’all began his life as a series of thumbnail sketches that looked like this.

I always love saving these early test runs because you can really see the ideas come to life. Each iteration added something that would eventually come into play in the final piece.

The first thumbnail helped me nail down the shape of the ears, the second brought in the idea for the stripes, and the third solidified the pose. Each version contributed something crucial to the final product. I

Imagine how long it would have taken if I instead made 3, full sized, fully rendered pieces to discover the aspects I liked most from each?

When should I use thumbnails, then?

My honest answer? Always! There's never harm in giving your work a practice shot in miniature. For digital art, painting, anything visual can benefit from a thumbnailing stage. 

And I do mean anything. Here is me thumbnailing the entire layout of a comic book. 

 

What are the benefits of thumbnailing?

There are three primary reasons to use thumbnails:

1. It Saves Time. You can work out all the problems and plan your piece on a sketch page, instead of painting the whole thing and realizing you need to make changes. Think of it as building a foundation for a house, if the foundation isn't strong the house will crumble. Without strong thumbnails your final piece might end up being a mess

2. It reduces overthinking. Because the time investment is so small, we’re willing to take bigger risks with stranger concepts. Even the craziest idea is worth a 60-second sketch. And who knows, you may just find your new favorite pose!

3. It simplifies shapes. Working in miniature forces you to identify the most important parts of your picture. You can figure out where the lighting is coming from, the bigger overall shape language, and positioning between figures. Details like intricate shading on jewelry aren’t present in thumbnails, so you can focus on making the overall structure of your work more inherently interesting.

4. It’s really fun! It might be cheating to say this, but thumbnailing is arguably the most fun part of being an artist. Whipping out stress-free doodles, knowing that it’s not the final project, takes a lot of the stress out of art. You can rapidly experiment and go with whatever crosses your mind!

Want to give thumbnailing a shot? Why not start with your entry for this month’s “Draw This in Your Style” Challenge over on my Community Page? I’ll be featuring entrants weekly on my Instagram & Email Newsletter, so you don’t want to miss out.

See you there!