HOW TO CREATE A
Complex Object Value Drawing
HOW TO CREATE A COMPLEX OBJECT VALUE DRAWING
By Jesse S.
T00LS
NEEDED
A range of SOFT and HARD leads mechanical pencils make nice thin lines An ERASER the erasers on the back of pencils are helpful for making fine marks A BLENDING DEVICE not required but useful for dissolving rough graphite marks A STRAIGHT EDGE of some kind
OPTIONAL
STEPS
Draw a 5 point VALUE SCALE for reference if you’d like, feel free to make a 10 point value scale in order to have a wider range of values to work from
Use the RULER to make a BORDER around your composition this will help to make your drawing look cleaner and more professional
STEP 1 Make proportion BOXES and draw the basic SHAPES Make sure to keep your pencil marks as LIGHT as possible you will be erasing many of these preliminary lines as you work Feel free to go BEYOND the boxes and place rough guidelines for the complex shapes and areas, such as in the leaves on the top left corner In the visual guide on the left, the skull is made up of MULTIPLE proportion boxes and and features a CYLINDRICAL shape that opens up at it’s snout Dont worry too much about the proportions at this point the nice thing about still lifes is that there is some room for mistakes that would otherwise be noticable in a figure or portrait work
STEP 2 Work within the BOXES and begin to define the SHAPES and CONTOURS Find the contours of individual parts of an object such as in the plant leaves see how they begin to take on more individual forms instead of the previous fan shape Look for more complicated shapes within the objects themselves, including shadows and reflections these abstract shapes found in reflective surfaces, such as the two cups from the example, may look strange at this stage, but will become more realized as you progress to shading. Stick to LINEWORK and dont worry about filling anything in yet this stage will lay the foundation for what you fill in with tone later
STEP 3 Start to SHADE in the areas that will be in shadow no need to get too detailed here if you dont want to this step just helps to dillineate the light and dark At this point, working from LEFT to RIGHT may help to keep your paper clean just shade carefully and methodically, paying attention to the linework you established if you do run into unwanted smudging, go over the area with an eraser
STEP 4 Start to define a wider range of blended VALUES, bringing out the darkest darks Developing strong contrast will add DEPTH to your work and the hard lead will come in handy you should also work on smoothing things out, either with your finger, a tissue or blending stump a fine tipped blending stump is ideal for smoothing out or darkening tiny areas without bleeding over If you want a more realistic look to your drawing, consider using an eraser to gently remove any linework that feels out of place, such as lines that flow through light areas or outlines around cast shadows
FINAL
TIPS
Depending on what you want to acheive for your finished product, you may decide to finish after STEP 4 Everyone has a different style and this guide is based around my methods if you prefer to work more loosely, more meticulously or abstactly, go for it The key things to remember are to make proportion boxes, then linework, followed by basic value placement and lastly, establish depth through contrast Good luck on your drawing and I hope that this was helpful
THANKS FOR READING
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