How to Draw Bookshelves

For detail, add sketched books onto your shelves.

Whether for planning a comic book or sketching out your next furniture arrangement, drawing a bookshelf does not need to stump you. In fact, most people can draw a simple bookshelf as a sketch. When drawing bookshelves to scale, the task becomes a bit harder. Although you won't always need to accurately draw a bookshelf, doing so adds realism to your drawing or allows you to plan appropriate, rather than haphazard, furniture arrangements.

Things You'll Need

• Paper
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Protractor
• Measuring tape

Instructions

1. Draw a horizontal line at the bottom of one of your pieces of paper, using a pencil and a ruler.

2. Place the center point of your protractor on the left end of your horizontal line. Rotate the protractor so the curved part faces the top of your paper and the line marked 0 degrees/180 degrees runs along your horizontal line.

   Make a mark at the 90 degree line on your protractor.

3. Connect the left corner of your horizontal line with the 90 degree mark, using your ruler and pencil. Continue past the 90 degree mark so the vertical line continues to the top of the paper.

4. 

   Only measure the side of the bookshelf that your drawing portrays.

   Measure the bookshelf you wish to draw.

5. 

   When drawing an imaginary bookshelf, still use a real bookshelf for measurements.

   Measure 1 inch in the drawing to every foot in real life, starting at the corner of the vertical and horizontal lines. Make a mark at each measurement.

   For example, if you measured your bookshelf at 2 1/2 feet wide and 5 1/2 feet tall, then, on your horizontal line, mark a spot 2 1/2 inches from the corner; on your vertical line, mark a spot 5 1/2 inches up your vertical line.

6. Draw two lines, one horizontal line from your mark on the vertical line, and one vertical line from your mark on the horizontal line. Continue the lines until a rectangle forms.

   This rectangle serves as the frame of your bookshelf in the drawing.

7. Place a dot on the page to represent the viewer's eyeline.

   When choosing an eyeline, use the long horizontal line on the page to represent the floor. If the "viewer" of the bookshelf is 6 feet from the bookshelf and 6-feet tall, place a dot 6 inches to the right of the bookshelf and 6 inches up.

8. Draw, using your pencil, lines from the corners of your bookshelf to the dot representing the viewer.

9. Draw a vertical line, starting approximately 1/2 inch up the line connecting the top-right corner of the bookshelf to the dot representing the viewer, and moving down until it reaches the line connecting the bottom-right corner of the bookshelf to the dot representing the viewer.

10. Draw a horizontal line, starting at the top of the vertical line you last drew and ending at the diagonal line connecting the top-left corner of the bookshelf to the dot representing the viewer.

    You should see an outline of your bookshelf.

11. Erase all lines apart from your bookshelf outline and horizontal ground line.

12. Add, using your pencil, details to your bookshelf, using your actual bookshelf as a guide. If a shelf sits 3 feet above the floor, then measure 3 inches above your horizontal ground line for the shelf.

Tips & Warnings

• In certain cases, such as rough sketches, you may not need to use exact measurements. For these, start with a vertical rectangle and move directly into choosing the viewer's eyeline.

• Change the size of your drawing by adjusting the ratio of measurements. For example, make a larger drawing by making each foot on the actual bookshelf equal to 1 1/2 inches on your drawing.

References

• San Francisco State University: Drafting
• University of Minnesota: Interior Design Student Handbook Part Two