Step-by-Step Drawing Demonstration:

➥
Approaches
to Drawing
DE MONS T RAT I ON: Patricia Watwood
Step 1
Step-by-Step Drawing
Demonstration:
Still Life
T
Still life drawing provides valuable
practice working from life and results
in beautiful finished works of art.
by Patricia Watwood
he best way to improve your drawing skills is to work from life. To
master basic drawing methods, many artists seek out live models
or work from casts of sculptures. However, many key drawing
concepts can also be learned through still life, which you can
create using everyday objects.
Drawing still lifes lets artists practice arranging a subject within a picture
plane, choosing a compelling view, distinguishing light and shadow, and
depicting three-dimensional form. It is also free of the time restrictions that
often impact drawing figures or landscapes from life.
For this exercise, I chose several objects with relatively simple forms. Eggs are
smoothly rounded but have a specific directional axis and constantly changing
Reference photo
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values. The egg coddler is a simple cylindrical form with several ellipses. The
napkin provides a good sample of fabric
folds, showing characteristic shapes of
drapery. The basket serves to show how
graphic line can sometimes be the best
way to communicate form. And these
objects have little or no color, which also
simplifies the exercise.
After putting together this arrangement of objects, I placed my easel about
four feet away from the setup. I drew a
rectangular compositional “frame” on
my paper to mark the field within which
the drawing would be composed. Doing
this gives you great flexibility regarding
how much you want to include in the
composition, and you can adjust this
rectangular frame later.
Be sure that your easel and still life
have very similar light conditions—the
light source for both the setup and my
easel was a north-facing window. Orient
the arrangement so that the light is
coming from the side, which causes
clear shadow shapes.
To complete a drawing, I follow a
process consisting of several general
steps: composition and blocking in
shapes; massing in general areas of
tone; refining shapes and the composition; rendering objects to finish; and
final adjustments and harmonization.
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My first step in drawing my still life
setup was a block-in, during which I
established the size and placement
of the objects. I noted the relative
size of objects and used diagonals to
orient their placement. My intention
was to compose the drawing to
focus on the main objects—the egg
coddler and the eggs.
I drew with an open and flexible line,
rather than with a single firm contour
line. This looseness provides a margin
of error, which allows for revision as
the drawing develops.
Step 2
I began blocking in the terminator
line, also called the line of shadow, on
several forms. I refined the contours
of the eggs, egg coddler, and lid. At
first I concerned myself only with
the height, width, and placement
of these objects, and after these
were established, I began to work
on their ellipses and contours.
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Step 3
I next massed in general areas of
tone across the drawing using 2B
and HB pencils. For this step, I drew
crosshatched lines layered over one
another, which I then blended with
a finger or stump to create a soft,
even, atmospheric tone. I worked
to create an overall pattern of light
and dark shapes. The contour lines
were still open and waiting for more
refinement—I wouldn’t resolve those
contours until much later, when I
shaped each object.
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Drawing: The Complete Course
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Approaches
to Drawing
Step 5
Drawing still lifes lets artists practice arranging
a subject within a picture plane, choosing
a compelling view, distinguishing light and
shadow, and depicting three-dimensional form.
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Now that all the objects were placed and values were beginning to be set, I was ready to
choose the exact rectangle I felt worked best.
After cropping the frame, though, I wasn’t
happy with the way the napkin runs up to the
edge of the composition at the top. When an
object touches an edge of the picture plane in
this way, it flattens the image and brings that
object forward, so I had to adjust the shapes
at the top of the drawing to keep the eye from
being pulled to that edge.
During any drawing, an artist usually
experiences some back-and-forth between
portraying the objects accurately and creating
the best possible composition. Ultimately, the
composition comes first; your viewer won’t
judge your artwork based on how accurately
you re-created the setup.
Step 6
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I added some darker accents, which helped
define the objects and expand the range
of light and dark. I used soft brushes to
darken and even the tone. Brushes are useful
to quickly tone areas during the early
stages of a piece, because they work well
for general masses. But they can make a
finished portion of a drawing look smudgy,
so in later stages I use only pencils and
erasers to model tone.
Step 7
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Step 4
At this point I wanted to determine the
overall value structure of the drawing,
so I located the lightest lights (which
would be the white of the paper) and
the darkest darks. The value of the
basket would be my darkest object,
and the highlight on the metal rim of
the cup would be my lightest point.
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In order for the highlights on the metal
and the china to read correctly, I had to
key the drawing accordingly and push the
value of all the other objects darker so
that the highlights would be the white of
the paper. In this sort of rendered drawing, layers of graphite will color almost
everything—even the white eggs and the
white napkin. By controlling the value
structure in this way, you can create a
three-dimensional spatial relationship of
objects and draw the viewer’s eye to the
areas of primary focus in the drawing.
This stage of a drawing also provides
a good opportunity to correct any
mistakes in the placement of objects, as
errors in proportion sometimes become
more obvious when you can compare
various light and dark shapes rather
than just looking at abstract lines.
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Now I was ready to start focusing on the
objects and “finishing” one area at a time.
I started with the egg coddler, one of the
drawing’s main focal points. By finishing it
first, I could then relate other subjects to
it. I clarified the terminator edge on the
ceramic cylinder and carefully drew the
several ellipses on the form.
I did not set my contours in place and
then “color in” the drawing with shades
of graphite. The contour was not tightly
resolved until the sculptural modeling
was finished—this is because the contour
is really just the final expression of the
sculptural volume of the objects.
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Approaches
to Drawing
Step 8
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Ellipses provide excellent drawing
practice. When drawing them, carefully
note the axes of each ellipse. Their
widest points are on their horizontal and
vertical axes, no matter what direction
the ellipse is tipped. In this drawing, the
ellipses on the coddler are parallel to the
tabletop, but the ellipses of the lid are
tipped. On each object, the ellipses are
“parallel” to one another.
I didn’t draw each ellipse with one single
line. The final contours were the result of
pushing and pulling many different lines
with pencil and eraser. Maybe Raphael
could draw a perfect circle free-handed,
but I sure can’t.
Step 9
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I darkened several areas of the egg
coddler to bring it into focus, which
allowed the highlights to pop out,
strengthening the illusion of volume.
Then, after the volume of the cup
was fully rendered, I drew the little
birds on the coddler. There’s no point
adding little details until the main
object is accurately established.
Step 10
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I rendered the eggs, which was an
exercise in careful modeling, as the tone
had to be carefully rendered to create a
smooth volume with a sense of light. All
eggs have a primary axis lengthwise in the
longest direction. Careful attention to the
direction of the axis in space helps you
accurately render the arcs of the contour.
Also, locate the highlight, and use that as
an anchor to find values on the rest of the
form. Do not model the shadow side too
darkly—eggs are actually subtly translucent, and an egg will look leaden if you
make its shadow too dark.
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Step 11
The basket lent itself to a different
sort of handling than the eggs.
The many lines of the twigs were
well-suited to distinct, linear marks,
so I was able to take a more linear
approach to this area and thus
communicate the feel of the object
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in a graphic way. I drew the most
easily observed landmarks on the
basket, then filled in details around
those key points. Although I wanted
to reconstruct some of the quality
and thickness of the different sticks,
I did not make a “portrait” of each
twig. Rather, I used graphic lines
to suggest the effect of the weave.
After defining the linear structure
of the basket I darkened the overall
tone and also erased out some small
spaces, which further helped to
suggest the structure of the form.
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Approaches
to Drawing
Step 12
The folds of drapery, like the
forms of the body, are never
parallel; they taper and overlap.
I blocked out the napkin into
segments and developed each
area. I drew terminator lines
and shadow shapes carefully.
The values on the form were
constantly changing, and I
used reflected light to show the
cylindrical form of the fabric
drapes. I drew the folds of the
fabric to be irregular and not
parallel—if drawn too evenly,
fabric looks unnatural.
Step 13
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Once I finished the rendering in
each area, it was time to step
back and re-evaluate the interrelationship of all the parts as a
whole composition. Did the objects have the focus I wanted?
Were the values balanced in
relation to one another? Did
my eye naturally travel where I
wanted it to?
Now that the drawing was
nearly complete, I added some
sharper linear elements, such
as a clean contour line, to add
focus and emphasize the depth
of field. I also added darker
accent shadows in places using
a dark 3B or 4B pencil, which
strengthened the contrast,
bringing out spatial depth and
giving the drawing more pop. I
also cleaned up leftover stray
marks and smears.
Still Life Demonstration
by Patricia Watwood, 2011, graphite, 18 x 24. Collection the artist.
Artist’s Materials
l
graphite pencils ranging
from 2H to 4B
l Strathmore Bristol, 18” x 24”
l kneaded eraser
l white rubber eraser
l knitting needle
l viewfinder
l sanding block
l razor knife
l calipers
l brushes
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The Completed Drawing
I hope this demonstration gives you a sense of the orderly process that exists
“underneath” a finished drawing. When we look at a completed drawing we
often dwell on the beautiful contour lines and elegant crosshatching that
create a beautiful, graphic work. However, a master draftsman has really
gone to great trouble to create the illusion of dazzling calligraphy—what
you don’t see are the orderly steps taken to organize the composition, accurately note the proportions and structures, and develop the volumes.
The principles are the same whether you are working on a still life, a figure
sketch, or a portrait. Train yourself to understand and follow an organized
process, and you will be well-positioned to capture the beauty of the
visual world.
Reprinted from Drawing: The Complete Course Copyright © 2011 by Interweave Press, LLC. All rights reserved.
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