How to Draw Ginger Cookies & Christmas Sweets
Drawing food is a common practice in many art classes. Food is readily available, meaning you can generally find samples of foods that are attractive. Learning to draw still life drawings, such as food arrangements, centers around seeing the objects as basic shapes, learning how to position them on the paper and practicing details and shadows to bring out the essence of the object. There is also a market for food drawings in recipe books and online with food websites.
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Things You'll Need
- Ginger cookies
- Christmas sweets
- Table
- Scarf
- Plate
- Fork
- Sketch pad
- Pencil
Instructions
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Assemble a collection of ginger cookies and Christmas treats. Try to find items in different shapes and sizes. Gingerbread men are common, and the cookies also can be shaped like stars or little houses. Christmas sweets range from nut rolls, cupcakes, pies and strudels to candies, tarts, logs and many others.
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Set up a table in an area that's unlikely to be disturbed while you are drawing. Place a scarf, a plate and a fork on the table. Arrange the cookies and sweets on the plate. Select a cake or pie and place a slice on the plate. Cut the item with the fork as if someone is eating it.
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3
Place your table under good light or near a lamp and place your drawing table in a position where you are comfortable and relaxed. You should be able to see the food clearly.
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Note that your food objects are basic shapes: the pie slice is a triangle, the top of the cup cake is an oval, the candies may be small circles and the strudel might look like a soft rectangle. Lightly sketch these basic shapes on your sketch pad until you like the position and relationship of the shapes.
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Select your focal point. If you choose the plate, fork and half-eaten pie, sketch in the size of the pie slice in relationship with the plate and the fork and include crumbs. Once you like how the focus objects look together, gradually sketch the objects immediately next to them. Work your way around the plate, filling in all of the cookies and sweets.
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6
Add the table scarf and edges of the table last. Once those are penciled in, add shadows and details to the plate. You will notice that one object casts shadows on another, and the position of one will block part of your view of others. Some shadows will be darker than others. As you add in these details, treats should look almost edible.
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Tips & Warnings
Small candies often are wrapped in transparent plastic. Indicate this type of wrapping by drawing the lines of the wrapping shape after you have sketched in the candy. This will make it look like the candy is inside the wrapper.
References
- Photo Credit mince pies for christmas image by think jesters from Fotolia.com
