How To Draw EXACTLY What You See V1.4
How To Draw EXACTLY What You See V1.4
How To Draw EXACTLY What You See V1.4
by Dan Duhrkoop
Published by EmptyEasel.com
© 2019 EmptyEasel
Introduction .............................................................................. 4
pg. 4
1. Supply list Drawing pad or drawing paper
You can use any paper you have on hand (regular printer paper
Each of the items below will be of use to you while going through will work if needed) but drawing paper is stronger, stands up to
the lessons in this guide. You can find most of them at local art erasers better, and holds more graphite than cheap printer paper
supply stores, or online at Blick Art Materials.
Strathmore is a good yet fairly inexpensive option, but if you’d
Please note: if you use any of the links below to make a purchase, rather start out with a really cheap pad of newsprint or sketching
EmptyEasel will receive a small percentage of the sale. This al- paper for your first attempts, that’s fine too.
lows us keep the costs of our art courses affordable for all artists.
Tortillon/blending stick
**** For blending small areas, this will make it easier. You can either
buy these or make them yourself. The one I use in this tutorial is
Pencils – 6b through 6h from Caran d’Ache, it’s thick enough to hold comfortably, and it
You don’t really need every pencil from darkest to lightest, but works great.
they’re often cheap enough to buy that it’s not a big deal. At least
have a 6h to draw your initial outline, a 4H and 2H for light val- Paper towel or napkin
ues, and an HB, 2B, 4B, and 6B for shading. You can use clean swatches of paper towels for larger areas that
need blending, like a background.
Good pencil sharpener
Hand-held pencil sharpeners work best—they won’t break the tips White vinyl eraser
of your pencils as often, which means less waste of good pencil White artist erasers are a must-have (anytime you make a mistake,
lead. you’ll want to be able to erase without damaging the paper or
leaving an eraser mark).
Value chart
You’ll use your value chart during the shading process to make Some artists also like stretchy/kneadable erasers. These can be
sure that you’re getting a full range of values in your drawing. shaped for delicate graphite removal, and kneaded to keep clean.
The best drawings go from white (blank paper) to full black (6B
or charcoal dust) and have ranges of gray in between. You can buy Scrap paper
a pre-made value chart, or it can also be a good practice to make Having scrap paper on hand is always a good idea. You can use
your own. it to protect your drawing from smudges (place it between your
palm and the paper) or just have it handy to test things out.
pg. 5
Flat surface or drawing board scatter light in a strange way, but generally speaking, a bare bulb
You can draw on a kitchen table, any other flat surface, or a draw- will work just fine.
ing board. The drawing board that I use in this tutorial is inexpen-
sive and has a clip and a rubber band to hold your paper. The thing to avoid is overhead light, or a room with several win-
dows, since that will create multiple shadows in your still life.
NOTE: It may be helpful to tape down your drawing paper with
masking tape on the corners to keep it in place. I’ve used cheap $5 work lights bought at a local hardware store
(some have a tension clip attached, which makes moving it around
Straight edge or ruler to different locations nice and easy) as well as photography light-
Some still life drawings won’t need this, but in most cases, a ing purchased on Amazon. Those are what I used for this tutorial,
straight edge or ruler is very helpful for drawing any straight lines and they’re actually more affordable than you’d think (around $50
in your composition. I did not have a ruler when I sat down to do for a nice set).
this tutorial, and a few minutes in I wished I did!
You may also be able to re-purpose an existing light in your own
Viewfinder/Composition tool home—ideally one that casts clean, strong shadows, and is ma-
This is a must-have if you’re just starting out. You can make one neuverable so that you can place it wherever you want in relation
yourself with a few scrap pieces of sturdy card stock, cardboard, to your still life scene.
or plastic, or buy one at any art store.
Camera
For this tutorial I used a store-bought viewfinder from Blick called This is optional (and a smart phone camera would work just fine
a “ViewCatcher” to plan my composition, and then created my in most cases). It just depends on if you can leave your still life
own viewfinder out of scrap paper so I wouldn’t have to keep up where it won’t be disturbed for a few days while you do your
holding it up as I drew. drawing. If that isn’t an option for you, then it’s probably best to
set up your still life, take a photo, and work from that photo. You
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with doing this, and it’ll make it can also work from one of our photos in this guide if you’d like.
much, much easier if you’re just starting out!
You may find occasion to use the overhand grip even when you’re
seated, however. By angling your elbow up and away from your
paper, you can press the side of the pencil tip onto the paper, and
draw with a much wider area of the pencil lead. This makes it
easy to shade in larger areas of your paper quickly.
pg. 7
You start by drawing one set of lines at a particular angle, and Pressure
then go over them with another set of lines going a different angle As long as you have a range of pencils to draw with (6H - 6B) you
(and repeat again as-necessary to make it increasingly darker). shouldn’t need to use much pressure while drawing. If your marks
aren’t dark enough, just switch to another pencil.
Scribbling is another way to fill in a section of a drawing. By
moving your pencil tip somewhat randomly, and varying up your While you draw, you may see lots of extra graphite dust on your
line direction, you can fill in sections quickly, in a way that’s a bit paper. If that’s the case, you may be pressing too hard while you
more “natural-looking” than with cross-hatching. You can also use draw. There will always be some dust, but you don’t want to be
circular scribbles. bearing down on your pencil tip to the point where it’s grinding
away into dust in front of you. :)
Blending
Blending is where the fun happens! :)
Lastly, side-shading is simply angling your pencil so that more of It’s very easy to blend pencil marks, so much so that you might
the pencil tip touches the paper at once. You can use a version of find yourself blending (or smudging) your drawing by accident—
the overhand grip to draw like this. It tends to speed up shading in usually with the heel of your drawing hand.
areas, as well as give a slightly different visual texture.
Still, one of the reasons graphite is so versatile is that you can
choose whether to leave the pencil strokes visible, or blend them
into smooth, photo-realistic gradients.
You can blend with the strokes of the pencil to enhance the direc-
tionality of the strokes, or circular (or perpendicular) to disguise
the direction of your pencil strokes. If you plan to blend an area
later on, it’s smart to use scribble or side-shading strokes to vary
the direction ahead of time.
As you blend, it’s smart to move from light to dark areas, so that
you don’t “contaminate” lighter areas with the darker graphite
dust. You can also clean your blending tool (sandpaper works for
that) or use a new scrap of paper towel to avoid those kinds of
mistakes.
pg. 9
3. Setting up your still life white or beige, or black/gray. Here are some suggestions:
With still life drawings, preparation is half the battle. This is espe- Eggs
cially true if you’re just starting out, and are still learning to train Bowls
your eyes to see the subtle differences in value, tone, and angles. Vases
Cups (not transparent)
In short, the way you set up your still life will either make life Paper towel roll
easier or harder for you. Candles (unlit)
Hardback books (take dust jacket off)
So with that in mind, ignore your pencils and drawing paper for a Blocks of wood
bit, and let’s talk about setting up your first still life.
If you feel like starting with something a bit more adventurous,
NOTE: If you don’t have space to set up a still life, or you’d just you can add more complex items:
rather draw from a photograph, that’s totally fine. You can either
follow along and create a drawing from the exact same photo I’m Figurines or decorations
using in the lessons, or you can pick out any still life photograph Toys (alphabet blocks, plastic duckies, etc)
from the end of this guide to use for your own drawing. Tools or utensils
Fruit or veggies
Choose a room where you can close the blinds or draw the cur- Flowers in a vase
tains and make a dim environment. Bonus if no one else will use Staplers, tape dispensers, etc
the room while you’re not in it—kids especially!
However, if this is your first time setting up and drawing from a
You can probably create a good first still life from objects you still life, I’d highly encourage you to keep it simple and use items
find around the house. The ideal still life for a beginning artist is 3 from the first list only. You’ll find that even simple items offer
items, without much color variation or complex shapes. Look for plenty of chance for complexity!
a square shaped object, a round- or tube-shaped object and some-
thing like a vase, or some other slightly more variation for the I recommend laying down a white tablecloth or sheet first, so that
third object. your still life has a simple, clean base to it. Depending on what’s
behind your still life, you may also want to create a solid-colored
If at all possible, the objects should be fairly neutral colors—like background for your drawing by hanging a dark sheet or blanket
behind your objects.
pg. 10
For example, in my own drawing I didn’t bother with a back- Have you got your objects, and set the stage? Excellent!
ground. There was plenty of white sheet behind my objects. But if
it had been a busy background, I would have. It’s now time to set up your light source. Whatever light you’re
using, place it to one side of the still life—most likely you’ll want
to keep it within a few feet, so the shadows are clearly delineated.
Place the light so that it shines down towards the stage you’ve
created at an angle. (You can move it later, if you like.)With the
lighting in place, go ahead and start to arrange your objects.
And that’s really the point of all of these steps. . . it may seem like
a lot of arbitrary requirements, but in reality what you’re doing is
simplifying and removing visual distractions. You’re controlling
every aspect of this scene, so that when the time comes to draw,
you can simply draw exactly what you see in front of you.
pg. 11
If you have several objects, then try to make them interact in some You an also swap in a dark-colored object if you feel like ev-
way. Allow two of them to touch, or make sure they overlap, or erything’s a bit TOO white, or use a dark tablecloth for the base
are grouped so that the tallest is centered between two other dis- instead of a light tablecloth. It’s up to you!
similar-height objects.
When you’re satisfied, then settle in with your drawing paper, a
Also, notice the shadows being cast by your objects as you set up light pencil (6h to start with), your viewfinder, and a straight edge.
your still life. Shadows are as much a part of a still life drawing as The next step is to choose your drawing’s composition.
the objects themselves—not only do they help create visual depth,
and contrast in a work of art, but they’ll give you interesting lines What, you thought that’s what we were doing already? Not a
and angles to draw, no matter how bland and boring it might feel chance! :)
like your three items are.
PS. Want to share your still life? Click here! I’m also available to
For those of you drawing multiple items, do try to mix and match answer questions (if you have any so far) and you can see other
your objects so that you have something with square edges, some- artist’s still life creations too!
thing with a rounded edge, and something with a mix of both. It’s
not imperative, but it will give you a chance to experiment with
drawing different three-dimensional shapes.
Once you feel confident about your still life scene, step back and
take a seat wherever you’ll be drawing from. Does each object
cast a single, crisp shadow?
If not, move the light closer, or change the angle of the light so
that you can see the cast shadows from where you’re sitting.
Is there a nice sense of dark and light, or contrast, within the still
life? If not, see if you can dim the room a bit more, turn off any
other lights in the space, or add a higher-wattage bulb to your light
source. (You may also need a reading lamp or light close to you,
to illuminate your own drawing if it gets too dark!)
pg. 12
4. Choosing a composition you, it’s OK to set up a temporary stand, or to tape the viewfinder
in place between you and the still life. You can even make a larger
From the same angle that you’ll be drawing from, pick up your viewfinder from cardboard or card stock if you’d like.
viewfinder and hold it between your eyes and the still life.
That’s what I did:
Scoot your seat closer (or hold your viewfinder further out) if you
can still see the entire still life scene through it—the goal is to use
the viewfinder to create a “cropped” view of the scene.
Note how the cast shadows become more important to the compo-
sition as soon as you use your viewfinder. In fact, the entire image
through your viewfinder may begin to feel more “abstract” as Setting up the viewfinder in front of you may take a little ingenui-
though it’s just shapes of dark and light—if so, that’s great! ty on your part. . . perhaps a camera tripod can work as a support,
or a wire hanger can be shaped and pressed into service if needed.
You’re beginning to “see like an artist”—instead of seeing and I just used some paper and tape, plus a few pieces of cardboard.
processing something as a “vase” or “egg” you’re starting to pro-
cess it as “curve of shadow, and “white angle moving diagonally.” It was quick and simple—the whole point is to free up your hands
If you find a pleasing composition with the viewfinder in front of to draw, and ensure that your viewfinder (and composition that
you’ve chosen) remain the same throughout your drawing.
pg. 13
To that end, I also recommend placing a light pencil mark on the NOTE: You won’t always need to use a viewfinder, or set up such
viewfinder itself, where a few of your objects leave the cropped elaborate still life scenes. As you flex your artistic muscles and
area. As you draw, your head may move slightly from side to side, train your eyes to see shadow and light and line more easily, you
changing your perspective—by adding these marks, you can reori- can skip these steps. However, it’s a fantastic way to help develop
ent yourself at any time. your skills as you start out!
pg. 14
5. Creating your drawing area You’ll note that as you multiply your viewfinder area, your draw-
ing may actually end up being larger than life. That’s a good
Use your ruler to measure the opening dimensions of your view- thing!
finder (height by width) and then draw a square or rectangle on
your paper that is some multiple of that opening. Drawing larger than life helps anytime you’re trying to achieve
realistic results. Any time you have a small highlight or finicky
For example, if your viewfinder is 2” by 3”, then the rectangle on bit of detail to draw, for example, it’s easier to that LARGER than
your drawing paper could be one of the following: life, rather than smaller than life.
4” x 6”
6” x 9” So don’t shy away from making a good-sized rectangle on your
8” x 12” paper—just make sure it’s the same rectangle as your viewfinder!
10” x 15”… and so on.
pg. 15
6. Marking your viewfinder edges TIP: Many artists find it helpful to close one eye at this stage,
since it helps to flatten out the scene (after all, using two eyes is
If you haven’t done this already, look through your viewfinder and what gives us depth perception). Just remember which eye you
draw a light pencil mark anywhere the outside edge of an object closed as you use your viewfinder—switching eyes will change
or shadow touches the viewfinder border, like this: your perspective drastically.
First, it’s so you can always view your composition the same
way, each time you look at it. As you draw, you’ll naturally move
around a little bit, hold your head differently, etc. To keep your
composition consistent, you just need to line up your viewfinder
marks each time you look through it.
These halfway marks will give you a closer point to look at, and
should make it simpler to say “Oh, this line leaves the viewfinder
just a little ways away from the midpoint” or “This mark should
go about halfway between the midpoint and the corner.”
pg. 17
7. Drawing negative shapes
Up until now, you’ve probably been thinking in terms of “drawing
a vase” or “drawing an egg.” You’ve also been thinking logically
and specifically about widths and heights.
As you read this next section, wait until you’re done to start draw-
ing, so you understand what the overall goal is. Then you can look
away from this book, and just focus on your drawing for a bit.
****
Your first step will be to draw the negative shapes in your still
life. Negative shapes are formed by the absence of an object or
shadow. Specifically, you’ll be drawing any negative shapes that
are on the outside of your composition.
To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, here’s the negative
shape that I’m about to draw. (I’ve outlined it and shaded it in
with red lines just for illustrative purposes.) First negative shape
pg. 18
You can see that I’m not drawing a block of wood, or a tin con- Once you’ve got the angle correct, move your straight edge in
tainer, or anything else. Just a funny shape. front of your drawing paper and use that as a guide, like this:
Even better, the top, left, and right side of this negative shape are
already formed by the edges of my composition. All I actually
need to draw is one angled line going across my still life.
Lastly, I had to draw a curve. I just started at the left point, and
drew short, sketchy lines that approximated a curve until I con-
nected to the line I’d been drawing.
Pretty simple, right? Take a minute to finish out your own first
negative space if you haven’t already. When you’re done with
yours, come back and continue reading.
****
No matter what your skill level, most people see instant drawing
improvement with this one trick—and I bet you will too!
OK, let’s move on to the next negative shape. I’ve picked out an- Second negative shape
other one in my composition. This one is a lot smaller.
pg. 21
Go ahead and pick another negative space in your own drawing, All right! How does your drawing look now? (Here’s mine.) At
and use the same trick with the ruler to measure the correct angle,
then draw it on your paper. Ready? Go!
****
When you see a mistake (and you might see several!) just erase
Yours probably looks similar—although depending on your com- and fix the drawing.
position, you may already be able to see the beginnings of objects.
It might be a wrong angle, or a line too long. . . no matter what it
If you can’t, don’t worry. . . it’ll all come together shortly. Let’s is, if you notice a mistake, fix it. It’s simple to do at this stage, and
keep moving forward. Go ahead and draw the rest of the negative it will make your finished drawing look so much better!
spaces around the edges of your still life. Just remember to keep
checking back and forth between your paper and the still life to On my own drawing, I adjusted things in each of my negative
make sure that your lines are as close as possible to the real thing. spaces before deciding they were good. Erasing is always a part of
the drawing process!
****
pg. 22
8. Drawing internal shapes I’m going to start in the lower-right corner of my drawing, and
connect the two parts of my onion together with a single line.
If you’re at the same place I am, all of the outside negative spaces
are finished in your drawing. Now, it’s time to draw the “internal” First, I checked my still life and saw that the base of my onion
lines and shapes of your composition in exactly the same way as comes just a bit further down towards the bottom of my drawing,
you did your first negative shapes. so I drew that part first:
pg. 23
And then it’s just one simple curve up to meet the line I already Look for a few of these simpler “connecting lines” in your own
drew for my second negative space (see image below). drawing—do the easiest ones first, and eventually even the tricky
shapes will be mostly done for you.
NOTE: I could see that the onion in my still life was nice and
symmetrical around its central axis, so as I drew this line in, I Again, don’t worry about drawing actual objects—just look for
tried to make it a mirror-image of the onion’s other side. internal lines that you see in your still life, and add them.
pg. 24
Here are a few more of my internal lines that should be simple: That top-right diagonal line was very easy. I already had the cor-
rect angle (because of the line I’d drawn earlier for my first nega-
tive shape) so I just extended it to the edge of my border:
I also used my eraser to create the little “gap” that I saw in the still
life. Having a new-ish eraser helped a lot, because I could use that
sharp edge to get a thin, precise erasure line.
I’ll go bit by bit and show you what I’m doing along the way—
take your time and do the same with your own drawing!
pg. 25
Next I finished out the curve on the tall canister. Sketching that short curved line just required checking the compo-
sition in my viewfinder and extending the existing curve to match.
I checked my still life through the viewfinder, and visually mea-
sured to see how far it extended. (I decided it ended not-quite- After I’d drawn it (and it looked correct compared to the still life)
halfway across the diagonal line above it.) I used my straight edge to make a straight line down the paper.
pg. 26
I drew the line downward until I got close to where the canister existed on the other side. This works for many, many objects.
met the onion. At that point I stopped and connected the two lines
with a curve created by the left side of the onion. NOTE: At times like this, you may find it helpful to use your
straight edge and draw a light, straight line along an object’s cen-
Again, the fact that the onion was symmetrical helped a lot. Any tral axis. Then, if you’re in doubt, you can literally measure the
curve I drew just needed to be a mirror image to the curve that distance from each side of the object to that central line.
pg. 27
Once my curve extended past the line of the canister, I had ev- the other side. The third line (that went from top-left to bot-
erything I needed to finish the little triangle shape in between my tom-right) just needed to match up with the line under my wrist.
canister, onion, and wood block.
I could have used a straight edge, but in this case I just eyeballed
It was another case of just using an angle I’d already drawn. The it and drew another line at the same angle. Adding in this one line
canister made one side of the triangle, and the onion curve made completed the base of my wood block.
pg. 28
Finally, my objects were starting to take shape! fix the angle with a new line. Then, I just erase the first line. And
if you’re doing this correctly, you’ll probably be erasing a lot too!
After a quick glance around, I saw my next target: the top of the
canister. Just like the onion, the opening of the canister is symmet- (Just remember to keep your pencil lines light as you go, and
rical, so I used that to my advantage—I just drew in a lower curve you’ll be fine—anything too dark or heavy may show up later).
that matched the upper one which already existed.
To finish up the rest of my easy lines, I added in the final diagonal
of my wood block (again, this was just a third line at the same
angle as two others, so it was pretty easy to figure out). . .
Hopefully it’s clear that all I’m doing is finding a single line that
needs to be drawn, and either mimicking an existing line (this
works great for any symmetrical object) or I’m visually measuring
WHERE the ending point of the new line should be, and then just . . . and then I moved to the last and “toughest” shape of the com-
drawing it with my straight edge. position: the onion stem.
The only part of my process that you can’t see is that I always You might have an object like this in your still life as well. It’s not
check my still life after drawing any line, to make sure it’s run- symmetrical, and (in my case) it’s kind of obscured by all the little
ning at the same angle as it is in the still life. papery tendrils of onion stem which make it hard to really SEE
what’s going on.
If it’s not, I try to spot the place where I went wrong—usually it’s
either my starting point or my ending point was a little off—and I Here’s how to draw these more complex objects. . .
pg. 29
First, I started by visually measuring and placing a line where I It turns out I was a bit generous with my original mark which
thought the tip of the onion stem would go: showed where the onion stem ended. So I moved it inward and
down, and adjusted the dog-leg lines accordingly.
Then, I ignored all the onion-skin tendrils and just drew lines for
the overall shape. (Do this any time you have very intricate de-
tails instead of a crisp line—you can always go back in later and
add those details, but the important part is to get the angle of the
object correct first.) For details like this, remember to look back and forth between
your drawing and your still life as often as possible. You’re doing
The shape of the onion stem is sort of two dog-leg lines, the top the same things you’ve done before (visually measuring, drawing
one slightly wider than the bottom one. So I held up my straight lines, and checking them) just on a smaller scale.
edge in front of me, and got the angles from the still life, then
drew those same angled lines on my drawing. When I was done, I erased the solid dog-leg lines as much as
possible and looked around my still life for any lines I’d missed.
There were just a few:
Do the shapes look correct? If not, you know the drill. . . Fix it!
Everything after this point will depend on your line drawing being
accurate, so take your time and check it thoroughly.
You may even want to hold your drawing up in a mirror, and see if
anything looks “off” to you. If everything looks good, then you’re
ready to move on to the next section. . .
. . . but wait! Before you do that, I’d love to see your progress!
You can also ask me questions, and see some line drawings from
other artists using this guide as well!
Now, if you’re ready, pick up your pencils and let’s get shading!
****
If you haven’t done so yet, go ahead and finish up your own line
drawing as well. Then, take a short break. (You earned it!)
pg. 31
9. Shading your still life drawing Then keep looking around your composition. Are there any other
dark spots like that? If so, put them in now, with your 6b pencil.
Take a look at your composition and locate the darkest point that Just scribble and fill them in. I found about 4 places:
you see. Hold up your value scale if you’re not sure—most likely
it’s where one of your objects casts a shadow.
Did you find it? Here’s mine, although the camera makes some
other spots look almost as dark:
Wherever your darkest spot is, use your 6B pencil to shade in that
area on your drawing.
****
Now that you’ve put in your darkest darks and outlined your light-
est highlights, pick up your value scale and find any spot with a
middle value—something about halfway between black and white.
****
pg. 33
At this point you should now have white values (the blank paper), cil and doing all of the very lightest sections first. Then, use your
middle values, and the darkest values on your page. Here’s mine: 2H to fill in all the slighter darker areas.
Check your value scale as often as you like during this process.
Work your way around your own drawing, shading in any light Most of my lightest values were found in the tablecloth behind
sections as you see them. I recommend starting with your 4H pen- and in front of my still life, but I also had some in my canister. I
pg. 34
used slightly darker pencils for areas on top of my wood block Start wherever you like. I filled in this middle-value section first:
and the middle values of my onion. I prefer to work from light to
dark, at least until I get several values down on the paper.
As you work on your own light values, keep in mind that you can
always go back and darken them later. So if you’re not sure how
dark a particular section should be, just leave it lighter for now.
****
Are your light sections are done? (Or, have you done as much of
them as you feel comfortable with at the moment?)
NOTE: I suggest avoiding your darkest pencil (your 6B) until
If so, now it’s time to switch to your HB or 2B and start shading you’ve shaded in everything between HB and 6B (just to be sure
in your middle-dark values. Get ready, because this is where your you’re not making things too dark). You may not even use your 6B
still life drawing will really start to take shape! much at all, since you’ve already marked out the darkest areas.
pg. 35
Use your value scale and work your way around your drawing. As you go, you’ll always find spots you’ve missed—that’s OK.
Since you’re adding in middle-dark values, you’ll probably be Just switch pencils (if needed) and shade those in properly as well.
filling in cast shadows and the darker sides of objects—personally,
I think it’s the “easiest” stage of the entire drawing process. The great part is, you should be seeing your objects jumping out
into three-dimensions with every shadow you fill in. Take, for ex-
Use your eraser if you go too dark, or if you shaded where you ample, the moment when I added some simple scribbled shadows
shouldn’t have—otherwise, just have fun! beneath the base of my onion. . .
pg. 36
. . . or, when I shaded in the onion’s right side with my 2B pencil. through my viewfinder and figured I’d sort out the details later.
Then, with my wood block and onion looking somewhat solid, I
It feels like instant three-dimensionality, even though it’s not—the moved up to the canister to give it some much-needed depth.
hard work was done earlier when I made sure my lines were cor-
rect. In many ways, this is just like filling in a coloring book!
Take a few minutes to get to this stage in your own drawing too.
Once you’ve filled in a decent amount of your drawing, and you
can see your shapes emerging, it’s time to start blending!
****
To get the onion the rest of the way there, I also added some of With most of my dark values filled in, my drawing is certainly
the darker areas I could see on its stem. As before, I ignored the taking shape. But, it looks a bit rough for my taste. . . and you
onion-skin tendrils—I just filled in the dark shapes I could see might be thinking exactly the same thing about your drawing.
pg. 37
Luckily, there’s something we can do about that. :) I started by blending the inside shadow of my metal canister. In
order for my canister to look realistically empty, it needed a dis-
Let’s get blending! tinct interior shadow that ended abruptly at the canister’s lip. That
contrast (between smooth dark shadow and bright white edge)
My blending tool of choice for this drawing is a blending stick. was what I was aiming for.
A tortillon or scrap of paper towel works too, but I recommend
trying a blending stick if you haven’t ever used one before. After a few minutes of blending, it looked much, much better.
pg. 38
Next, I moved to the exterior of my metal canister. With its same gradual transition of shadow that I saw in real life. In this
smooth, curved exterior, the shadows made a gradual transition case, I also worked from dark to light to intentionally spread some
from dark to light around its cylindrical form. of the darker graphite around the canister.
By moving my blending stick vertically up and down (the same NOTE: In any other situation, you may want to switch your blend-
direction as my original pencil strokes) I was able to mimic the ing tool or wipe it clean before moving to a lighter area.
pg. 39
A blending stick is a fantastic tool for lots of reasons, but one of Whichever blending tool you prefer, give it a try, if you haven’t
the main things I like about it is that it functions almost like a already—just pick a section and start blending to smooth away
marker when you have plenty of graphite on the paper. those pencil strokes!
As the graphite gets smeared into the paper, you get a more com- NOTE: There is such a thing as OVER blending. This is where you
plete coverage of graphite that really helps to solidify your shapes. lose the difference in values between two different areas. Unless
In fact, once you’ve gotten the hang of smudging and blending you’re blending a curved object like the canister in my still life,
your pencil strokes with these things, it’s a little addicting! try to leave crisp edges between sections with different values.
That said, if you don’t have a blending stick or tortillon (or you ****
just prefer not to use one) you can also use small pieces of paper
towel to blend without leaving specific marks or strokes. I realize that the slow process of learning to draw realistically can
be a little bit draining—especially the early stages when you’re
measuring, erasing, and re-drawing. But I sincerely hope you’re
having fun as you see your drawing take shape in front of you!
If you’re at the same place I am, your shapes are all drawn, you
have a range of values in place, and you can actually SEE the
objects you’ve been looking at in your still life.
pg. 40
For example, the next thing I did was use my eraser to clean up Something caught my eye at the top of the wood block, so I
the top lip of the canister. . . moved up there and blended those areas as well.
NOTE: There’s no right or wrong order at this point. Just let your
eyes lead you!
And then I jumped right back into blending, starting with the dark
cast shadow from the canister (the one landing on top of the wood
block) followed by a quick blend of the side of the onion.
pg. 41
Then I went back in with a pencil and added a bit more contrast to
the top of the block.
The shadow of the onion was sketchy and allowed a lot of paper
to show through. So I cleaned it up and filled it in more by blend-
ing it with my blending stick.
pg. 44
After using my 6B pencil to make sure the shadow area directly
under the onion was as dark as possible. . .
Next, I saw that the base of the canister left a thin, dark shadow
(because of its rolled metal edge) so I drew that in carefully with a
4B pencil, and then used my eraser to clean up any stray marks on
the white tablecloth or canister’s base.
With a 4B pencil I scribbled it in, and then used my blending stick At that point, I could see that the curve of the onion in front of the
to smooth it and fill in any gaps left by the texture of the pencil. canister was fairly sketchy, and needed to be cleaned up as well.
pg. 45
This is typical as you move through your drawing. “Finishing” Then, I finished with a quick “scrub” of my blending stick on the
one section makes it obvious that another section needs work too! canister behind it, smoothing and filling in those values to ensure
consistent contrast with the onion all the way around the curve.
I used the corner of my eraser to re-define the onion’s shape, giv-
ing it a smooth, bright white curve.
While the outline of my onion was looking good now (and really
“popping!” away from the canister behind it due to its crisp, clean
lines) the interior details were a bit sad still.
pg. 46
So I jumped in with a pencil and my eraser to make that white NOTE: When you’re dealing with highlights like this, any stray
highlight stand out. I just added another layer of light shading. . . lines from your original outline will make it look messy and unfin-
ished. So while it’s important to add those lines in early on, by the
time you’re at this stage you want to make sure ONLY the white
highlight shows—which usually means carefully shading the light
values around it and then erasing the outlines thoroughly.
My next stop was the stem. Since I was cleaning things up on the
onion itself, I figured I could do the same there. I noticed a few
small adjustments I could make to the stem outline just by filling
in some of darker wood-block areas behind it, and spent a few
minutes carefully shading those sections in:
. . . and then used my eraser to pick out the white highlight again.
Then stopped and really looked at the onion. There was actually
quite a bit left to do—of all the objects in my still life, it was the
most complex, both in shape and details. But there’s no “trick”
to drawing increasingly complex objects. . . you just have to take
pg. 47
your time and keep filling in the details. In a way, you’re just der: first with a correct line drawing, then negative shapes, and so
“zooming in” as you work, to smaller and smaller areas. on. Hopefully you can see that from your own drawing!
At first you’re looking at the whole drawing, creating your border, In a few minutes, go ahead and look for the final details in your
and then the largest shapes inside of it. Then the smaller shapes still life and start adding them in. But first, here’s how I ended up
inside those, then smaller ones, then shading, and so on. finishing mine:
If you’ve followed along with this tutorial, then your overall To start with, I spent a few minutes drawing in some of the lines
shapes and values are going to be close to correct, if not dead of the papery onion-skin.
on—so you won’t have to worry about major issues while you’re
adding these final, finicky details.
In fact, I’d bet that your eyes are already picking out small details
in your objects that you’d never have seen before you started.
So to finish out my onion, I just let my eyes flick back and forth
between the real object in front of me, and my drawing of it so far.
When I saw lines or details on the real thing, I located where they
should start on my drawing, and visually measured where they
should end.
My eyes picked out the faint highlight circling the base of the
onion, and I noted that the lines of shadow didn’t quite go all the
way to the edge. To make sure that came through in my drawing, I
actually over-emphasized the darkness of those marks.
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I also went back into my stem and used my eraser to re-shape it With that done, I added more of the fringy tendrils in light pencil
slightly, a little closer to what I saw in front of me. (Yes, I’m still to give it texture and dimensionality. You’ll note that I am not
fixing mistakes and improving things—even at this stage!) blending any of these details—I want them crisp!
This re-shaping did a lot to clean up the interior of the stem. I’d NOTE: Once you’re really in the flow, you’ll notice other things
had some lines left over, as well as some slightly “off” shapes, too. Don’t fight it—move to that spot and fix it right away. Even
but after a few minutes of checking my still life and erasing, I felt though I was working on the onion, I saw that the base of my can-
better about the structure of the stem. ister was too clean and crisp compared to my actual still life, so I
used my blending stick to quickly make those lines softer.
If you have an object like this in your own still life, and you’re
getting frustrated trying to make it look realistic, I recommend After that short interruption, I took my blending stick into the far
one of two things: either take a break—OR—work on another sec- right side of my onion, where I’d left it fairly unfinished. I knew
tion for a bit. Fresh eyes often pick out correct details more easily, there were subtle reflected highlights in that back curve, but they
but “getting in the zone” by working on another area can help too! were tough to pick out with my eyes early on.
pg. 50
Now that the onion was closer to being finished, I could see where Next, I spotted a slight bruise, or mark, on the onion—I drew that
the shadows and reflected light were hitting on the right side. in after carefully checking its placement on my still life.
I started in the reflected highlight section and simply used some NOTE: Adding in these layers of detail over time is what makes a
of the graphite already on my blending stick to blur and darken it drawing look realistic. You’ll almost never finish a drawing in one
slightly. I wanted it to be bright, but not too bright! pass—usually it will take two, three, or even more layers to finish.
pg. 51
Something else jumped out to me then. I could see that the papery NOTE: Finding that balance between blending or placing crisp
outer layer of the onion had a sort of “bent” look anywhere the lines is what allows you to reproduce a wide variety of textures.
skin changed direction sharply.
Lastly, I erased and re-drew the base of my stem, then used a 2B
I emphasized this aspect by carefully added a few strokes of dark, pencil to lightly blend the onion’s shadow side and mid-tones.
crisp pencil lines to the edges of the crinkled shadow areas at the
front of the onion—it’s subtle, but it firmed up those sections im-
mediately, and added to the realism of the drawing immensely.
This helped round out the onion, and make it feel all of one piece,
rather than a collection of light, medium, and dark areas.
pg. 52
With my onion fully three-dimensional, there were just a few last . . . and then, checking my still life in front of me, I used my 4B to
details I wanted to add to the drawing. shape the reflection to what I saw in real life.
In this case, a tall thin reflection gave the canister that final “push”
it needed to be a realistic cylindrical shape.
After drawing in a few final age marks on the base of the canister,
I was pretty satisfied—and I put my pencils down.
****
Even now, I’m not exactly sure what object the canister was re-
flecting. Perhaps the wood block? Other objects in the room? Or
the onion, distorted and stretched vertically?
pg. 54
10. Final touches
At this point, it’s probably a good idea to take a break for at least
an hour, then come back and look at your drawing again. Fix any
minor issues that you can see, then step away for a full day.
These breaks just give your eyes a chance to relax and reset. After
all, you’ve been studying this drawing very closely for a while
now, and there’s no way to view it with a clear, unbiased frame of
mind unless you spend a little time away from it.
Come back the next day and fix any small errors you notice. Look
at it as an “artist” AND as a “viewer.”
As an artist, what’s different about that specific area from the still
life in front of you? Is the shadow not dark enough? Is it too rough
or too smooth?
This is a great time to ask for critiques and share your drawing,
too. Click here to upload your finished drawing, ask me questions,
and see other artists’ drawings too!
You can make small changes as long as you want to. . . there are
always more details to discover. But when you’re happy with it,
sign it if you feel like it, and walk away.
pg. 55
Next steps Does this really work for any drawing? YES!
I hope you’ve had a fantastic experience drawing a realistic still Let me give you an example.
life using this guide. But there’s always more to learn, right?
Below is a still life photograph of a wine glass and chess pieces. It
In fact, right now you might be saying, “That’s all fine and good, has a fairly good light source and a dark background, so it satisfies
but what about something really tricky, like glass?” Or, “How do I the first two steps of your process (and of course, you could al-
draw ______________? Or _________?” ways set up your own using the same type of objects).
You already have all the steps you need to draw anything.
NOTE: If you’re working from a photograph like this one, any Now that your lines are in place, it’s a simple matter to mark out
kind of photo-editing program makes it simple to create these any place on your drawing where objects cross a line. Then, draw
lines and then print off a reference photo. This also allows you to your negative shapes, just like you did before. . . and continue
use white lines (for dark still life scenes) or colored lines to make down the list with shading, blending, and so on.
it more easy to see.
In the end, there’s no secret to drawing complex objects. Once
Each quadrant is like a still life of its own. . . can you start to see you’ve broken your still life down into parts, and started drawing
the negative shapes appearing in that image above? What about negative shapes, you’ll see that it doesn’t matter WHAT the object
the places where objects cross the lines? is at all—it’s the same thing, every time!
pg. 57
Feel free to use any still life images included in this guide to draw
from. The following pages contain 20 still life images organized
from simple to complex so you can jump in wherever you feel
most comfortable, and work your way up.
If you’re making your own still life scenes, that’s great too!
If you follow the steps outlined above and start a regular drawing
practice, I guarantee you’ll see your skills grow with each draw-
ing you make.
Dan Duhrkoop
Artist & Founder, EmptyEasel.com
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Drawing Resources
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