How to Draw a Curtain Rod

Curtain rods are essentially cylinders, which appear as rectangles when seen in front view.

The basic shape of common curtain rods is typically a slender cylinder, and the component two dimensional shapes of cylinders are lines and ellipses. However, curtain rods can be customized well beyond this fundamental shape. Customizations can make drawing curtain rods a challenge, which is especially true when the rod is drawn in an oblique view. (An oblique view is any view that doesn't depict the strictly front, left, right, top or bottom views of an object.) Whichever approach you take to drawing a curtain rod, use a ruler to draw the rod's sides.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil and paper

Instructions

1. Begin drawing the front view of a curtain rod: Draw two lines, each parallel to the other and both parallel to the horizontal edge of the page. Make the lines at least 7 inches long and ensure the space between the lines is 1/32 of the lines' length.

2. Begin drawing the decorative end pieces: At both ends of the parallel lines, draw small ovals that are slightly wider than the space between the lines. Make the oval widths roughly one third of the length of the ovals.

3. Draw circles attached to both ovals. Make the circle diameters the same length as the oval's longest sides.

4. Verify that the circles are aligned with the main cylinder of the curtain rod: With minimal pressure on your pencil, extend the rod's parallel lines enough so that they pass through the circle. Ensure the distance between the circle's center and one of the lines is the same as the distance between the center and the other line.

5. Add shading, which lends a sense of three dimensional depth to the endpieces: Draw a small, filled crescent inside both circles, near their bottoms. Ensure the crescents bow downward.

6. Shade the rod itself by drawing a darkened rectangle inside the rod's two parallel lines. Ensure the rectangle is the same length as the lines and that its bottom edge is the lower of the rod's parallel lines.

7. Hang rings on the rod: Draw a series of 10 to 20 narrow ovals, each of whose long axis is perpendicular to the rod's parallel lines. Ensure the tops of the ovals reach just up to the rod's top line.

8. Erase either the left or right curve of each oval, to make it appear that the rod is passing through the rings.

9. Draw small "J"s at the bottom of each ring to represent the hook that attaches to the curtain.

References

• "How to Draw What You See"; Rudy De Reyna; 1996