How to Build a Still Life Drawing

Still life refers to drawing an arrangement of objects of interest. Still life drawing always reflects the temperament of the artist, in the choice of objects as well as the style of the drawing. The drawing can be very realistic or more expressive, like the style of Van Gogh. These are elements to consider as you begin to build a still life drawing.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Spray fixative

Compose the Objects

1. Choose objects that attract you in some way. Look at qualities like the shape, surface and texture of the objects. Think about traditional still life objects like fruits and vegetables in a basket. Keep the objects simple to start.

2. Arrange the objects on a surface in front of you. Create a focal point, or area of major interest in the arrangement. Distribute other objects around the focal point. Use a geometric pattern such as a triangle as a guide for the arrangement.

3. Sketch the arrangement lightly with the HB pencil in a loose and general way on your drawing paper. Consider that the paper is rectangular. Place the arrangement on the paper so that diagonal movements take the viewer through the picture plane. Create an interesting composition in your sketch.

Practice Shading

4. Practice shading on the newsprint paper before trying it on your drawing. Create a progression of steps from white to light gray to black for each pencil side by side. This is called a value scale.

5. Blend the edges where one step meets another with a tortillion. Practice creating seamless transitions in shading with the tortillion.

6. Look for the patterns of lights and darks on your objects. Find a pattern in which the raised areas are lighter and those lower on the object are darker. Try to recreate them on your newsprint. Shade in the direction of the outline of the object.

7. Use your eraser to draw light areas on dark grounds.

8. Practice the still life once, putting the parts of your study together, on the newsprint.

Complete the Drawing

9. Add the shades you have found in your study to the light outline on your drawing paper. Refine the contours, or outlines, of your objects as you add your values.

10. Think about the lights and darks leading the viewer through the drawing. Try to lead the viewer around the drawing in a circular fashion through your distribution of darks.

11. Start shading with the HB pencil for light areas. Move to the 2B for darker middle tones. End with the use of the 6B pencil to add the darkest values.

12. Cut in strong highlights with the eraser. Include the entire value scale from white to black to complete the drawing.

13. Spray the drawing with a fixative when you've finished to prevent smudging.

Tips & Warnings

• Place fabric beneath the arrangement and arrange the folds in an interesting way.