Follow this guide to learn how to create complex forms by combining simple, geometric shapes.
Breaking any process down into small chunks is a great way to tackle what can seem like a daunting task. If you're struggling to figure out how to draw something, breaking the subject down into simple shapes can help you begin to describe its overall structure.
In the opening stages of a drawing you should be looking to describe your subject and its environment in very simple terms: always avoid details too early on. By drawing with simple shapes we can focus on proportions, composition, planes and the relationships between forms. It's all about working big down to small; simple to complex; basic shapes to crafted details.
There are three basic shape archetypes that any form can be fitted into; the cube, the cylinder and the sphere. At the heart of these form shapes are two simple geometric shapes; the square and the ellipse.
Learning to accurately draw and combine these will help you to construct any object, observed or imagined. In walking you through this process we will have to deal with concepts like perspective and foreshortening, so we'll take a very brief, practical look at them.
We'll start with drawing the square, leading onto the cube – the most articulate shape when it comes to describing geometry in a drawing that has perspective.
Having six basic planar faces, the cube's proportions help to echo their relationship within 3D space. This aids further description of more complex rectilinear, cylindrical and curvilinear forms.
You might think that drawing simple shapes is... well, simple. But don't be fooled. It takes immense skill to perfect drawing freehand shapes like a simple circle.
How to draw a square
Drawing a basic square is the simple connection of four straight lines, two along the horizontal axis and two to describe the vertical axis. Drawing these lines is all about living in the future: pinpoint your start point; imagine the end point.
Place your pencil on the start point, relax and focus on the end point. Pull your mark along the imagined path removing the pencil once it reaches the end point. Pull your lines towards their goal: this uses more adept muscle groups.
01. Squared exercise
The grip shown above is one we're all accustomed to using when writing. Grip using the thumb, index and middle finger. The barrel of the pencil should rest naturally in your hand's web space. Avoid closing the web space as this forces the barrel to rest on the knuckle of the index finger and promotes strokes using finger gestures only. Avoid grasping at the tip of the pencil, as this can limit line length and lead to less fluid lines.
02. Beginnings of a cube
Using the simple square as a starting point [A], begin to describe a box in 3D space. Draw another square that overlaps the first [B]. Connect all the corners of one square to the adjacent corners of the other, using 45-degree lines [C].
This process of showing all six sides of the cube is known as 'drawing through', and here it highlights a problem with this oblique drawing of a cube: it's an impossible shape in nature. For a cube seen in nature we need to apply perspective...
03. How to draw more natural cubes
When you first start drawing cubes, it helps to study with an object in front of you. The first line to go down is the vertical line closest to you [A]. The next two lines are for the inside edges [B]. These start at the top of our first stroke as we're looking down at our cube and the top plane is visible.
The degree at which the inside edge lines are drawn depends on how much top plane we can see: if it's a lot, the lines are drawn at an acute angle, for less, a more obtuse angle.
04. Finishing your cube
The length and angle of the inside edges depends on how much of the front and side is on show. If both are equal, the angle and length of the inside edge lines are also equal. Turn the front face more towards you and the line gets longer, the angle more horizontal. This turning creates the opposite; the line is more vertical, shorter. To finish, go to the end of each line and join the remaining edges with converging lines.
05. Cube exercise
Draw a horizontal line across your surface, this will act as your eye line or imaginary horizon line. Draw a square directly in the centre (note no sides should be visible). Now, above the horizon line and off to the right, draw a cube as if you'd picked up the centre square and moved it up and to the right. Your goal is to populate the paper with 3D cubes as seen from various angles.
01. Draw an accurate circle
Measure out a square using a ruler. From the top left corner, draw a line [A] to the bottom right. Draw a second from top right to lower left [B]. Add two centre lines, [C] and [D]. On the eight short lines going out from the centre, plot dots at incremental thirds [E]. Now draw your circle tangent to the sides of the square and using the plot points placed two thirds from the centre. 'Ghost draft' this to practice first.
02. Master an ellipse
To draw a circle that appears tilted in perspective (an ellipse) repeat step 6 but this time start with a square drawn on an imaginary angled plane. You can simplify this process by drawing two lines dissecting each other, one short and vertical [A], the other horizontal and longer [B]. Now plot end points. Those on the horizontal line should be equal in distance from the centre.
03. Complete your ellipse
Once again it's about connecting these points with a curvilinear path. But this time the upper semi-circle [A] is more foreshortened than the lower arc [B]. Practise this process small at first, just to build up your confidence – then move onto larger ellipses, which require more gestural arm and shoulder movements. It takes a lot of training to draw accurate ellipses.
04. How to draw a cylinder
You first need to determine your cylinder's size and orientation in 3D space. Draw an angled line measured to express its length in depth [A]. Introduce a line that runs parallel to it to determine the cylinder's width [B]. These two lines should be tapering to an imagined far off point to express any foreshortening that's occurring. The shape of both end ellipses depends on your viewing angle; in both cases the angle of each is perpendicular to the established sides.
05. Complete your cylinder
Your ellipses should run perpendicular to your edge lines; knowing this helps you avoid 'squished' cylinders, a common issue when using horizontal ellipses to cap the ends of angled cylinders. Applying this rule will also help you describe cross contour lines accurately. When you need to add a cross contour line to a cylinder, lightly 'draw through' the entire ellipse in question, this helps maintain the curved ends found when the visible line connects to the form edges.
06. Cylinder exercise
Establish a horizon line, then draw a plumb line directly down the centre of your paper. From the converging centre point, draw a set of diagonal lines reaching outwards mimicking the length and width lines [A & B] from step 9, and cap it off with an ellipse. As this first cylinder started life at a single point (the vanishing point) we've actually drawn a tiny cone. Now continue to draw more cylinders, continuing along the established perspective plane.
07. How to draw a sphere
We can express spherical form using cross contour lines. Repeat step 6, but take it further by creating an ellipse within the circle. Starting at [A], lightly draw a curve with a trajectory that passes through the first third-from-centre plot point [B] then follows around to the opposite edge [C], continuing through to the next third-from-centre [D] point, ending where it began [A]. Erase the upper or lower arc.
