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How to Draw - Basic Shapes
11 years ago
Here I will talk about basic shapes. I was thinking about drawing this chapter, but seeing that i need to write a lot and dont have to draw anything past few basic shapes, I think a journal would fit here better ^^ So, without furhter ado, lets begin :D
Line
Line is the one of the most basic shapes around - and as such, you will use it a lot in construction and design, so be prepeared to befriend it soon enough ^^ People almost always tell me "I cant even draw a straight line!", and no, hardly anyone can, but you dont need to draw it straight at all :D It should only be more of an direction giver and frame work. But, if you want to draw the straightest line you can without using any tools, just put your pencil down and quickly draw a line in one direction - the faster you do this, the straighter the line will be, the slower you are, the more inclined you are to stray away. Its also important to draw a line in one go, since putting a pencil down for another time will hardly ever continue the line straight.
Circle and Ellipse
Circle is also one of the most basic shapes you will need to work. As with line, the secret in good circle is drawing it fast and in one go - this will give you sumwhat eliptical circle, but it will do for most of your needs, since you will need it mostly for the construction of the pic itself ^^ In nature, there is hardly ever a perfect sphere or circle, so you dont have to be perfect either ;3 Even a ball will change a bit when flying around. You will use this form mostly to construct head and torso of your character, but you can also use the elipse to show the thickness of a certain object or body part, like fingertips and such.
Square, Rectangle and Triangle
These three are more advanced forms of the line, and as such are drawn the same - quick and without too much thought put into it. You will use these less for the construction of the body (altho some people use upturned triangle for torso) and more for the construction of the objects - furniture, clothing, weapons and such. Due to their nature, they are more of a framework than a real construction drawing, but you will meet them when drawing technical objects.
These would be the basic shapes - everything else builds up upon these, seeing that even the last group is just an closed off version of the simple line. Word of warning - you can use tools like ruler or shape tools in the program of your choice, but only for construction drawings. Never, NEVER use these for lineart or finished drawing! The perfect, straight line will stick out like a sore thumb in your free hand drawing, due to the fact that a) it will be way to perfect for human hand to do on their own and b) the line will look more thicker and longer than the ones you use in the rest of the drawing. Ive seen some people doing this - found it mostly in older comics and pictures that include an architecture in background, where people would draw characters free hand and everything else with tools - DONT. DO. THIS!!! It will let your picture look all wrong! Either draw the whole thing with free hand OR whole picture with tools - you shouldnt mix these together! Some people manage to pull it off, but you can still clearly see where there is tool involved. There are ways where you can mask this, but i will come to those later if there is a chance.
Also, if you want to add sum actual work in your doodling, aside of practicing your hand, you can draw these shapes. Draw a circle and make a smiley out of it. Draw a rectangle and make an cereal box out of it - the things you can do are endless and you can get familiar with these shapes from early on :3
Line
Line is the one of the most basic shapes around - and as such, you will use it a lot in construction and design, so be prepeared to befriend it soon enough ^^ People almost always tell me "I cant even draw a straight line!", and no, hardly anyone can, but you dont need to draw it straight at all :D It should only be more of an direction giver and frame work. But, if you want to draw the straightest line you can without using any tools, just put your pencil down and quickly draw a line in one direction - the faster you do this, the straighter the line will be, the slower you are, the more inclined you are to stray away. Its also important to draw a line in one go, since putting a pencil down for another time will hardly ever continue the line straight.
Circle and Ellipse
Circle is also one of the most basic shapes you will need to work. As with line, the secret in good circle is drawing it fast and in one go - this will give you sumwhat eliptical circle, but it will do for most of your needs, since you will need it mostly for the construction of the pic itself ^^ In nature, there is hardly ever a perfect sphere or circle, so you dont have to be perfect either ;3 Even a ball will change a bit when flying around. You will use this form mostly to construct head and torso of your character, but you can also use the elipse to show the thickness of a certain object or body part, like fingertips and such.
Square, Rectangle and Triangle
These three are more advanced forms of the line, and as such are drawn the same - quick and without too much thought put into it. You will use these less for the construction of the body (altho some people use upturned triangle for torso) and more for the construction of the objects - furniture, clothing, weapons and such. Due to their nature, they are more of a framework than a real construction drawing, but you will meet them when drawing technical objects.
These would be the basic shapes - everything else builds up upon these, seeing that even the last group is just an closed off version of the simple line. Word of warning - you can use tools like ruler or shape tools in the program of your choice, but only for construction drawings. Never, NEVER use these for lineart or finished drawing! The perfect, straight line will stick out like a sore thumb in your free hand drawing, due to the fact that a) it will be way to perfect for human hand to do on their own and b) the line will look more thicker and longer than the ones you use in the rest of the drawing. Ive seen some people doing this - found it mostly in older comics and pictures that include an architecture in background, where people would draw characters free hand and everything else with tools - DONT. DO. THIS!!! It will let your picture look all wrong! Either draw the whole thing with free hand OR whole picture with tools - you shouldnt mix these together! Some people manage to pull it off, but you can still clearly see where there is tool involved. There are ways where you can mask this, but i will come to those later if there is a chance.
Also, if you want to add sum actual work in your doodling, aside of practicing your hand, you can draw these shapes. Draw a circle and make a smiley out of it. Draw a rectangle and make an cereal box out of it - the things you can do are endless and you can get familiar with these shapes from early on :3
areoch
~areoch
Hey thanks for your recent series of how to draw posts. They have been fun and informative reads so far! Keep them up!
