How to Draw Still Life

Still life drawing is great practice for learning to draw from nature and for learning to draw difficult subjects like people and complicated items. You can choose whatever objects you want to draw that seem simple, and then as time goes on, you can add items that are more complicated to your still life and then move on to other subjects.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Begin your still life drawings by choosing simple items to draw. Make an arrangement of books, bowls, vases, boxes and bottles. For your first still life, stick to 1 to 3 items. Your items should be arranged on a simple surface that will not add a lot of details to your drawing. Also, give your arrangement a light source to help define lines and shadows.

2. Spend some time examining your subjects. Pay attention to smoothness or roughness of surfaces and of the different simple shapes in your items.

3. Draw the outline of your objects. If you are having trouble capturing the shape of the objects, draw the simple shapes of the items, then draw the objects. Do not worry about getting the items perfect, you can make small adjustments as you work on the drawing.

4. Begin adding details to your objects using shading and lines. Concentrate on one item at a time. When shading the objects, make short, light strokes and gradually build up the shading until the item begins to form dimensions.

5. Keep adding details. Shading is very important and must be done properly. Use your pencil lightly when shading and continue overlapping that one part. Don't get impatient and start pressing harder, because a dent will appear in the paper and it will be harder to erase.

6. Continue shading and drawing in details from the objects. Pay attention to how the light makes shadows and highlights. Also, pay attention to how one item casts shadows on the next item. This process is time consuming, so you may want to set up your display somewhere where it will not be disturbed for a few days so that you can draw for a while and come back later. Another benefit of drawing your still life in stages is that you will have a fresh eye later and be able to see errors and make adjustments.

7. Know when to stop. It is unwise to keep drawing until everything is perfect. After three or four sessions, if you are still not happy, start over. When you look back at your imperfect drawing later, you will surely see a certain charm in the imperfections.

Tips & Warnings

• Use your eraser to emphasize highlights where the light hits the objects.