I found a really interesting book in the local library, a sketching guide with almost 200 pages of exercises. The Finnish name is called “Näin piirrät maisemia ja muita aiheita” (Kustannus-Mäkelä 2018). The English name wasn’t included in the printing info page, but the original publisher was Walter Foster Publishing, Inc. The translation could probably go like this: How to draw landscapes and other nature themes.

I was immediately drawn to a fallen tree sketch exercise. For paper I opted Canson acid free 70 g sketching paper, that is lightly grained and rigid. For pencils I chose Derwent Academy Sketching pencils.

Fallen tree 1: basic shapes and composition.

Fallen tree 2: Tree trunk begins to form, more added details.

Fallen tree 3: Almost finished!

The book contains more really good basic exercises, for example how to draw animal textures, depth and distance in landscapes, how to draw clouds etc. I’ll probably draw and post more sketches from this book later.