DigBsics:
26 F BgiDawig Tchiqu toLa How to Daw
PresenTs
T
he cube, the cylinder, and thesphere are the fundamentalshapes an artist must absorb toachieve a deeper understanding of allforms. The cylinder—a combination of the cube and the sphere—exists in themiddle of these three. Many forms canbe built out of a cube, and the cylinderis the most logical geometric form totackle next. Drawing cylinders well isimportant, particularly in a still life—inwhich the artist is continually confront-ed with ellipses found in items such asa plate, a bowl of fruit, a glass of wine,or any cylindrical man-made form—and in figure drawing, which is nearlyimpossible without the use of cylinders.
Cicles d Ellipses: TheFudtis f Cylides
Before you can draw a cylinder well,you must first learn how to draw anellipse, but let’s begin with drawing acircle. A circle is a curved line in whichall points are the same distance fromthe center. (See Illustration 1.) It is saidthat Giotto could draw a perfect circlewithout any mechanical aids. But wedon’t hear about his mistakes, so in themeantime we must practice. To begin,
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part 1:
The Cylide
Udestdig h t cectly depict cylide ill getly esed ehce the edeig f mst tul bjects.by J deMti
Drawing Basics:
26 Free Beginner Drawing techniques
Thi pmium ha b publihd by Itwav P, 201 e. Fouth st.,Lovlad, CO 80537-5655; (970) 669-7672. Copyight © 2010by Itwav P, a diviio of Api Mdia, all ight vd.Th cott of thi publicatio may ot b poducd ith i wholo i pat without cot of th copyight ow.
Illustration 1
by Jo dMati, 2008, chacoal owpit, 18 x 24. All atwok thiaticl collctio th atit ulothwi idicatd.
draw a 4-inch square and add intersect-ing lines from corner to corner to findthe midpoint, then draw lines throughthe center at right angles to each other.Then try drawing a freehand circle so ittouches the square’s middle extremitiesat the top, bottom, left, and right. Onceyou become proficient at drawing cir-cles it’s time to try ellipses. For materi-als I’d recommend a drawing board, abond or smooth sketch paper pad, andcharcoal or graphite pencils.A circle, which exists on a flat plane,becomes an ellipse when the plane istipped. When flat on a table, your 4-inchcircle forms an ellipse because it’s inperspective, tilted away from you. (SeeIllustration 2.) Notice that because of perspective, the true horizontal middle—called the “perspective center”—appearsfarther back. To draw a successful ellipsewithout distortion you must consider theconcept of the minor and major axes. Theminor axis is the shortest diameter of theellipse, and the major axis is the longestdiameter. Both are always centered and at
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Drawing Basics:
26 Free Beginner Drawing techniques
LeFt
Illustration 2
by Jo dMati,2008, chacoal owpit, 24 x 18.
BeLow
Illustration 4
by Jo dMati, 2008,chacoal o wpit,18 x 24.
Bottom
Illustration 5
by Jo dMati, 2008,chacoal o wpit,18 x 24.
Mi xisMj xis wgright
right angles (perpendicular) to each other.In Illustration 3, when we move the majoraxis in front of the perspective center (dot-ted line) to the exact middle of the minoraxis and draw by relating to the new mid-points, the ellipse appears correct.In the left half of Illustration 4, theaxes are incorrect because the major axisis not at a right angle to the minor axis.Illustration 5 shows the proper orientationof the major and minor axes running atright angles to one another and therefore“spinning” correctly, like the wheel of acar on its axle. In Illustration 4, the leftwheel appears broken.
Dig Cylides
The eye cannot see halfway around acylinder, just as it cannot see the hori-
PespectiveCete f Squed CicleEds f Mj axis f Ellipsed actul CeteLie f Ellipse
Illustration 3
by Jo dMati, 1990,chacoal o wpit,18 x 24.
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| Upload Date: | 04/27/2011 |
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