Shape Up!

The key to successful drawing is to learn to draw things as you SEE them.  If they're round, draw them round--square draw them square.  If they're light, make them light.  Dark make them dark.  They once you learn the "craft" of drawing you can be creative and express yourself as an artist.  But there are some basics to learn first, and I can't emphasize enough the fact that learning to draw begins with learning to SEE.

Every object you see has a structure based either on the cube, the cylinder, the cone, or the sphere.  Any object is one or a combination of these four geometric solids, a solid being something with three dimensions:  height, width, and depth.

Even though all objects are based on these four solids, the shape is modified in various ways that depart from the strict geometrical form.  This fact, to me, simplifies drawing because I can determine which shape the object resembles and draw that shape, then modify it with whatever details I want to include.  The cube, for example, can be elongated to form an object resembling a quarter pound of butter.  Or, if you cut it into thirds, and it looks like a box you might wrap a gift inside.

Now take a box from your pantry and place it on a table.  Cubic shapes will vary but they all have a top, a bottom, and four sides.  The top will usually catch the most light.  The side closest to the light will be a medium in color or value, and the side away from the light will be the darkest.

Sit low in a chair and draw the box at eye level.  Then sit up straighter and straighter to draw it, and you’ll see more and more of the top of the box.  Notice how the corner of the object closest to you seems taller, and the sides and corners further from you seem shorter.  This phenomenon is what we call perspective—it’s what makes your drawings appear realistic, because things seem shorter as they vanish away from you.

Now draw one of your tables.  Start with a basic cube, then fill in the details, making certain that the leg closest to you is the longest, and those on the sides appear shorter.  As you concentrate on the perspective of an object, you will be able to draw it in such a way that it appears real.  Now practice, practice, practice!