How to Draw Tables

Whether you want to amuse yourself by drawing items from your home or want to seriously pursue an art career, being able to draw tables realistically is important. WIth few exceptions, an unrealistic setting in a work of art can hurt the overall image as well as discredit the artist. This is why being able to draw a table is crucially important to any artist.

Things You'll Need

• Paper, either plain or graph
• Pencils of varying lead types
• Ruler
• Eraser

Instructions

1. Select the vantage point from where you'll be viewing the table. Are you looking at it head-on? From above? Maybe from the ground? For this article, we will draw a regular rectangular table from a top to 3/4 side view.

2. Draw a regular rectangle, using your ruler for guidance. Make the top side of the table longer than the bottom side and have the two sides slanting left, toward the side. This will create the illusion of depth.

3. Draw the legs of your table. First, draw the front leg of the table near the lower left corner of the table. Draw two parallel lines down the page, roughly about the length of the second line of the rectangle. Close off the bottom of the table leg with a quick stroke. Repeat that same step with the bottom right corner and then lightly draw the back table legs. Start a little from the corner of the top left corner, draw the two lines and then draw one right at the corner of the top right part of the table.

4. Add some more depth to the table. Draw a smaller rectangle, starting from the bottom left of the table. Have it end at the bottom right corner. Draw it lightly, since you'll be erasing some parts. From the end of that rectangle, draw one along the right side and end it at the top right corner.

5. Draw a line next to each of the table legs and then close the space with a short line. Do the same for the back legs.

6. Clean up the lines. Erase any lines that are are in the original rectangle itself and in the small rectangles alongside it. You can even add some shadowing if you like. Then, sign your drawing. You've drawn a table.

Tips & Warnings

• Observe angles of tables in your own house. Imagine a dot in the center of any wall from where you standing. This will be the perspective point. Make sure that your tables hew to those perspective points, otherwise they will seem to be floating if you are also trying to draw a room with the table in it.

• Practice. Don't be afraid to mess up. That is what the eraser is there for.

Resources

• How to draw a table
• Drawing a table from one-point perspective