How to Start a Still Life Drawing

In the beginning steps of Still Life Drawing, there are ways you can ensure a favorable outcome in your picture. It's important to follow these guidelines when you begin to draw a still life in order to prevent unwanted erasures and wasted time.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Blue pencil
• Eraser
• Drawing paper
• Still life subject matter

1. Position the most prominent part of the still life on your page. Starting with a pale blue pencil, draw a light outline of the object exactly where you want the item to appear. Step back from the page and look at it from a distance to ensure that the placement and scale are what you intended. If not, adjust as necessary.

2. Insert a rough outline of the item closest to the foreground of the picture. Scale the item to correspond appropriately to the first object. If your still life involves only one item or items equidistant from the foreground, skip this step.

3. Pencil in the next-closest item in the drawing. With the exception of the most prominent item (inserted in Step 1), you must add items in order of depth--from the foreground to the background.

4. Adjust the most prominent object so it falls in the correct depth within the picture.

5. Stand back from the drawing and compare it to your still life. Make any necessary adjustments to shape, scale and depth. When all rough outlines are satisfactory, you are ready to finalize your still life drawing with details and a darker medium, such as black pencil or ink.

Tips & Warnings

• Pale blue pencil is the best medium to use when you begin to draw a still life. It erases well and obscures easily with darker mediums.