Lines That Speak: The Practice and Power of Drawing & Sketching

By Hansheng Lee – Lee Hansheng Studios | Art Collective International

Before there is color, before there is composition~ there is the line.

Drawing and sketching are at the core of almost everything I create. It’s where ideas take root, where movement begins, and where truth is often revealed in the simplest way. Whether I’m preparing for a watercolor painting, building a stained glass pattern, or just sketching late at night with tea and my dogs nearby, drawing has always felt like home.

This post is both a love letter and a guide~ to the process, the tools, the intention, and the quiet rituals behind the act of drawing.

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✏️ What Is Drawing, Really?

At its essence, drawing is mark-making: the act of recording an idea, form, motion, or feeling using line, shape, texture, and value. While some people treat it as a means to an end, such as planning for a painting~ I believe drawing is a standalone art form. A finished sketch can be just as raw and powerful as a polished piece.

And more importantly: drawing teaches you to see.

It trains the eye to observe details, proportions, light, emotion, and structure. It creates a dialogue between mind, hand, and medium.

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🧠 The Mindset: Drawing As Practice, Not Perfection

Too often, people get discouraged with drawing because they expect mastery before curiosity. But drawing is not about being perfect~ it’s about showing up. 

Each sketch is a conversation. Sometimes it’s messy. Sometimes it’s clean. But every line teaches you something.

My golden rule:
Draw first for yourself. The refinement comes later.

Give yourself permission to draw ugly. To experiment. To be slow. To make “mistakes.” (They’re really just pathways.)

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🧰 Tools of the Trade

I use a range of tools depending on the feel I want. Here's a breakdown of my favorites:

✏️ Pencils

• Graphite pencils – Ranging from 6H (very light) to 8B (very dark).

  • Harder pencils (H) for technical lines, blueprints, or light structure.

  • Softer pencils (B) for expressive shading and depth.

• Mechanical pencils – Great for precise line work or on-the-go sketching.

• Colored pencils – For tone sketches or layering under ink or watercolor.

✒️ Pens & Ink

• Micron pens – Archival, waterproof, and ideal for clean lines.

• Brush pens – Perfect for expressive lines or calligraphic sketching.

• Dip pens & ink – A little more involved, but beautiful for traditional linework and illustrative styles.

• Fountain Pens – I also really enjoy fountain pens for sketches, it's all in one, refillable and easy to use. There's so many nibs and tips for them as well as a wide range of colors too. (Especially if you get the ones that you can use to fill yourself) 

🎨 Other Tools

• Erasers – Kneaded for soft lifting, precision erasers for details.

• Blending stumps – For smoothing graphite or charcoal.

• White gel pens or chalk pencils – For highlights and negative space work.

• Sketchbooks – My favorites are mid- to heavy-weight paper with a light texture, so they handle everything from pencil to ink wash.

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✍️ Types of Sketching I Practice

Depending on the day and the purpose, I shift between several sketching styles:

🔹 Gesture Drawing

• Fast, loose sketches that capture motion and rhythm—great for figure drawing or animal studies.

• I use this to warm up or break out of overthinking mode.

🔹 Contour Drawing

• Focusing on the outline or visible edges of a subject.

• Blind contour (no looking at the paper) is a fantastic exercise in presence and observation.

🔹 Value Studies

• Sketches focused on light, dark, and mid-tones.

• Helpful when planning lighting or mood in more complex compositions.

🔹 Thumbnail Sketches

• Tiny, simplified versions of a bigger idea—great for layout planning.

• I use these a lot before committing to a final painting or layout for a print.

🔹 Illustrative or Narrative Drawing

• More detailed work that combines line, form, and storytelling.

• This includes temple concepts, character designs, and mixed media.

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💡 Tips from My Sketchbook

1. Start small. Don’t feel like every drawing has to fill a page. A sketch in the margin counts.

2. Use references. Not to copy—but to understand. I sketch from life, photos, anatomy books, and my own environment.

3. Draw things that make you feel something. You’ll always put more energy into work that resonates.

4. Carry a sketchbook. Always. You never know when something will strike.

5. Repeat subjects. Draw the same hand, tree, or skyline 20 times—it builds visual memory.

6. Layer intention. Sometimes I sketch to study. Sometimes to unwind. Sometimes to speak. All are valid.

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🖋️ Drawing as Meditation & Memory

Drawing slows me down. It asks me to look longer, to engage with texture, and to notice things I might otherwise pass by. In a world of scrolls and speed, sketching pulls me into the present.

Many of my sketches are never shown. They stay in my notebooks, smeared and half-finished, tucked between tea stains and thoughts. And yet, those are the pieces that tell my story the clearest.

Because drawing isn't always about showing~ it's often about knowing.

Knowing what your hand feels like in motion.
Knowing how shadows sit on a curve.
Knowing how to express something with just one line.

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🧾 Final Thoughts: Draw to Remember, to Process, to Be

Drawing is the most democratic of art forms. Anyone can start with a pencil and paper. It costs almost nothing. But it gives you everything~ observation, expression, ritual, discipline, softness, and confidence.

It’s not just where most art begins. It’s often where we, as artists, return to when we need grounding.

So whether you draw daily or haven't picked up a pencil in years~ try again. Start with a leaf, a hand, your dog’s ear, your tea cup. Don’t judge. Just notice.

You don’t have to be great to start. But if you start, you’ll become something even better: connected~ to your vision, your body, your voice, and your own evolving story.