Drawing and Sketching for Beginners

Step by Step: Drawing in 3D – Rotating Exercise

Learning to visualize
objects in 3d space is an
important skill for the
beginning artist.
Possessing the ability to
‘see’ how an object
would look when rotated
about its axis, enables
you to draw objects from
your imagination with
ease. An important skill,
when you don’t have that
physical object in front of
you to reference!

For this exercise, you should observe the ‘perspective-view’ of this object. It is composed of
a cylinder and a flattened cube. The cylinder is only partially intersecting the cube, on one
side. Using the reference image as a guide, you should aim to redraw this object from a front,
side and back angle. And if you feel up for the challenge, then try the top and bottom too.
If you are struggling with this exercise because the objects intersect, feel free to ‘draw-
through’ the objects. This will allow you to see where the lines need to go, and then you can
come back in and strengthen only the lines that would actually be visible.
Step 1: Back View
Lightly sketch a rectangle that
represents the box section.
Next, sketch a taller rectangle to
represent the cylinder.
Notice that you will not be able to see
the edges of the box through the
cylinder, so either ghost those lines in,
or add them whilst you are
constructing your image, and erase
them afterwards

Here, you can see the outlines of the

box, and the cylinder.
This should aid you in drawing this
object for yourself.
Due to the one-point perspective
effect, which we covered in the
lecture, you can just see the cylinder
top curving slightly.
Feel free to omit this, if you wish.
Step 2: Top View
Outline the edges of the shapes by
first drawing a square to represent
the cube.
Next, draw a circle to represent the
top of the cylinder.
In this rendering, you can see the
lights and darks from our ‘fake-sun’.
Feel free to add these in, they will add
believability to your image, and help
the view ‘read’ the object better.

Note, the outlines in this image are

intersecting (see orange arrow). Use
them as a guideline, then erase the
part of the blue line that bi-sects the
cylinder top.
Step 3: Side View
As you draw the side view, we can
see the ‘cube’ section, is not a true
cube.
Its height is less than its width. Only
draw the cube 2/3 up the height of
the cylinder, to keep the image
looking correct.

Again, notice the slight curve to the

top of the cylinder caused by
perspective.
Identifying this common trait when
drawing in three dimensions will help
you to progress with your spatial
renderings.
Step 4: Front View
The final angle presented here, is the
front view.
In this view, most of the cylinder is
being blocked by the cube, only the
top of it is visible above the front face
of the box.
By adding a lighter tone to one side
of the cylinder, you can show the
roundness of the form.

The cylinder is being blocked by the

cube, therefore, you will need to
erase the lines from your drawing.
The orange arrows in this image,
show which lines to remove.
Final Image
In this final image, you can see the construction lines used to get to this stage. Notice, that I
started with a cube that was too long, then ‘cut’ back into it to the desired length.
Also notice the line that goes through the cylinder, this is the back edge of the box, and was
used, to ensure both back-corners were on the same ‘plane’.
Notice, the shading. I have kept to the 3 major tones, one for the lighter area, or the faces
that are pointing up. One for the front faces, these are getting just a little less light. And a
third tone for the faces that are away from the light source (in this case its from top right of
the screen).
I have also ommited the ground plane and any cast shadows. These will come with practice.
For now, practice, constructing these primitive shapes and rotating them in your head.

Happy Drawing!