3 Step Method For Drawing Anything

In this video I'm going to share with you a three-step process for ensuring accuracy in your drawings and sketches. Hello there everyone, Matt here with virtualinstructor.com and in this video I'm going to share with you a simple three-step approach to drawing and sketching that improves your accuracy and probably will improve your speed as well. When most of us first start drawing we usually start with drawing the outlines and these are often referred to as contour lines. The problem with this approach Which is that it... It's a little bit harder to be accurate with your drawing. You might find a place to start on your drawing, and then when you come back and connect the contour line, sometimes it doesn't always match up or you have distortion in this way of drawing. We're starting with the outside part of the subject and working our way to the inside. So we're working from the outside to the inside. But what if we switch that and reversed it and instead worked from the inside out? Well, in this three-step process, that's exactly what we're going to do. So let's take a look at two different subjects, one that's pretty simple and another one that's pretty complex, and see how this three-step process can be applied. So let's take a quick look at this three-step process before we go into the examples. The first step is to break our subject down into simplified shapes. Now, this works for simple subjects and also complex subjects, and we'll see this in just a minute. After we've broken down our subject into basic shapes, the second step is to draw the contour lines or the outlines. These are the lines that we normally begin with when we create a drawing, but in this case we're going to start with the simplified shapes then move on to the contour lines. And then the third step in the process is to develop the value. Value is the darkness or lightness of a color. It's one of the seven elements of art, and it's perhaps one of the most important elements of art. When we develop the value, a lot of times people refer to this as shading. We are creating the illusion of form. We're creating the illusion of a light source, and we're making our object or subject appear more three-dimensional. So let's take a look at our first example. For our first subject, we'll draw this wonderful dolphin. Our first step of the process is to break the subject down into basic shapes. You see here I'm starting with the upper part of the body and I'm just drawing a simple oval. You'll notice that I'm making multiple lines when I draw this oval. We don't have to worry about drawing a controlled shape here. We just want a generalized idea of the shape. I'm drawing loosely and quickly before moving on to the next shape that I see. In this case, it's somewhat a novel again, but it's a little bit larger at the top since the body becomes slender as it works down towards the tail. Here again, I'm making multiple marks with a very light touch using the pencil. Now we'll move on to our next shape, and you can see it's just a simple elongated organic shape. Now, it's important to note that you may see different shapes in this subject or any other subject that you decide to draw, and that's completely fine. You just want to find shapes that are simple and easy for you to draw. And some subjects, it's going to be very easy to see these shapes, and for others, it will take a few minutes of thinking. But that's fine. You'll also note how loose this drawing is. We'll refine it later in the process. It's important to be loose at this point in the process and not be too stiff. Now we'll move on to a couple of shapes for the tail fins. Again, these lines are drawn loosely with a light touch. Now we'll add one of the flippers or one of the fins. And of course, this is already a pretty simplified shape. Now for the other one, again, a pretty simplified shape, but we can use the shapes that we've already drawn to make comparisons for where this particular shape needs to go. Now I'll add a shape for the dorsal fin. Again, a pretty simplified shape. And again, we can see where our first shape and our second shape intersect and see that this is a good place to start the overall shape for the dorsal fin. Now we'll draw a simplified shape for the nose and a shape and a line for the eye and the mouth. Now the next step of course is to draw the contour lines, but before we do so let's clean up our drawing a little bit by using a kneaded eraser to just lift up some of the graphite. This leaves us with a faint version of our original drawing. Of course we can still see what we drew, but it's faint enough that the lines aren't going to interfere with our contour line drawing. Now with a bit more pressure and a lot more refinement, we'll go ahead and draw the contour lines or the outlines. But since we have a faint version of our dolphin in place, we can draw these contour lines with a bit more conviction, meaning we can be a bit more confident with the marks that we make here, and we can concentrate on the quality of the line that we make. And of course, now it's time to develop the value. Value, of course, is the darkness or lightness of a color. And a lot of times we refer to this as shading. In this case, we're just adding darker values and we're leaving lighter areas using the white of the paper to create the tints. And of course, we're adding graphite in areas to create the shades. And of course, our goal is to create a full range of value. This, of course, leads to the illusion of form. And texture in our drawing. And this is the part that, of course, is the most time-consuming part of the process. Now we've seen how we can apply this simple three-step process to a simple subject. Let's take a look at applying this process to a more complex subject. This time, we'll draw this very complex drill. Now at first glance this drill might seem overwhelming and overly complex and it might actually be overly complex, but we can break this down into simplified shapes. Draw the simplified shapes first and then worry about the contour lines. So here I just decided to start at the largest shape that I see which is somewhat of a rectangle. It's a little bit shorter on the right side and you'll also note that the angle of this rectangle is not perfectly horizontal. It is slanted at a slight diagonal to the left. And then coming off this first shape we see a very simple rectangular shape. It's of course a little bit smaller at each end than our first rectangle. And then from there, it's pretty much another simple rectangular shape. So you can see after we drew that first shape, we can just simply build off of that first shape by adding more shapes. And as we do so, we can make comparisons with the other shapes that we've already got on the surface. Now here for the end of the drill, I'm just going to do a simple triangle. Of course, these are shapes anyone can draw. Now for the handle, again, just an elongated rectangle with a little bit of a slant. We're not going to worry about all the little subtle changes that happen in the actual contour, not at this stage anyway. And just like we did with our first example, I'm drawing pretty loosely and drawing lots of lines, trying to find the correct shape. Now, another simplified shape off of our rectangular shape that we've made for the handle and then a smaller one right above it. Now of course just like with our first example I mentioned that you may see different shapes and that's completely okay. We're all going to see things differently. What's most important is that you just find shapes that you feel are easy for you to draw. Here at the bottom I see another rectangle, then coming off this rectangle another triangle, and then a square. And now we have all the basic shapes in place for our drill. Now it's time to move on to the contour lines but again before we do that we'll just lightly lift up the loose lines that we've drawn with a kneaded eraser. Now we can start with the contour lines and this is a pretty complex subject as we've already mentioned but now we have a better idea of where these contour lines need to go. Now since this subject is so complex this did take me a while to draw the contour lines so I'm speeding it up just to save time. But drawing these contour lines is so much easier now that we have a map in place, the map we created with basic shapes. Now, of course, my goal is to be as accurate as possible with these contour lines, but as is the case with any drawing or painting, I'm allowing myself to be a little bit more free with my drawing. So if my drawing's a little bit different from the subject, that's completely okay with me. You can also notice that these lines of course are a little bit more bold and more distinct than our original sketch because of course we're more confident with these contour lines thanks to our shape drawing. And then of course, after our contour lines are in place, it's time to develop the value, the darkness or lightness of color. And of course, a lot of times we refer to this as shading. So again, this is a very time intensive part of the process. It's a slow process, but it's also not that difficult. All we have to do is match the values that we see or match them to the best of our ability in order to create the illusion of form and light on our subject. And here again, since this was the most lengthy part of the process, I've sped it up. Of course, you can take your drawing to whatever level you prefer. In this case, I'm working fairly quickly just using the pressure that I place on the pencil to create a variety of different values. I'm using a 2B graphite in my lead holder, so I can go fairly dark with this 2B graphite pencil. And I can also Reduce the amount of pressure that I place on the pencil to create some light values Of course, you can refine your drawing a bit more if you prefer You could use a blending stump or different grades of graphite to refine your drawing to a higher level here Of course, but what's most important is that you just take your time and create that full range of value Of course, there are other techniques out there for ensuring accuracy in your drawings. Of course, there's the grid technique. There's also sighting and mapping. But this three-step approach is great for creating quick drawings and sketches. And it ensures accuracy like we have seen, and it also will improve your speed as well. I hope you enjoyed this video. 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