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After doing so many drawings with straight lines, I'm sure that you can now do them with ease and confidence. They'll become still easier as you continue with future projects. But if you're to draw objects based on the cylinder, the cone, or the sphere, you must also practice drawing the curved lines that form them.
Drawing Curved Lines: Again hold the pencil (still the ordinary "office" kind) in whatever position you prefer. Swing your arm from the elbow, and even from the shoulder, if you work big. It may feel awkward at first, but persevere until you feel comfortable. If you hamper your rendering now by working from the wrist - because it "feels more natural" - the beautiful sweep of a fluid line will never be yours. My only concern in this first section of this series is to convey the principles of good drawing. Later we'll explore the line and its expressive power. Here, let me repeat, the only purpose of your lines is to establish the optical correctness or "reality" of everything you draw. Observing Cylindrical Forms: No matter what the cylindrical object, you must first see the cylinder itself, underlying whatever detail the object might have. In the beginning stages it's a good idea to draw the geometric cylinder first, and then make the required modifications, as I've done with the pots in the last illustration in this lesson. Later you can dispense with the drawing of the geometric cylinder and begin straightway with the cylindrical object itself. |
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Rendering Cylindrical Objects:
My personal approach to drawing a cylinder is to rough in the entire ellipse (the circle that forms a cylinder's top and bottom) in a counter-clockwise direction. Then I refine the ellipse's visible side by accentuating the correct curvature with heavier strokes. You may find it easier to rotate your pencil in a clockwise manner. Practice both and stay with your preference; the better result is what counts, not the way the result is achieved. Be sure that you check the angle of departure - any indents and bulges - of the object's sides from the vertical of the geometric cylinder. |
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Ellipses and Perspective:
When drawing the cylinder remember that at eye level its ellipse appears to be a straight line. As the ellipse rises above eye level, or the horizon, its edge nearest you curves up in an arc. As the ellipse descends below eye level, the arc is reversed and the angle nearest you curves down. Get a glass from your cabinet and draw it as many times as necessary to get the ellipses correct. Before you draw the glass, raise it to exactly eye level, so that its top makes a perfectly straight line (the eye level line in Fig. C); notice that the bottom of the glass, being below eye level, forms an ellipse. Now lower your arm gradually and notice the top of the glass becomes an ellipse that gets wider and wider as you lower the glass more and more. Finally, when the top of the glass is directly below you, the ellipse becomes the full circle that it actually is. It doesn't matter if the glass you draw doesn't resemble mine. The purpose of this project is simply to train your eye and hand to observe and render whatever modifications and departures there may be from the rigid cylinder that underlies the shape of the object you're drawing. The correct placement of a handle on a cup, the height of a stem on a glass and the different depths of the upper and lower ellipses of a glass are factors that must be considered when observing and drawing these cylindrical objects. Remember that as an ellipse nears the eye level, or horizon, it gets shallower, and that as the ellipse gets father away, it gets deeper. |
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Next time; Drawing Spherical Objects. See you then... |