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[ Home: ArtSchool Online: Drawing: Drawing Ships: Lesson 4 ]

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Drawing Ships

Lesson #4

LOOKING BACKWARD: when within reach of a good public library - or better still, a marine museum - go in and study some ships of the past. You will profit from the experience. The lofty stern with windowed glass in quarter galleries, the bluff bow, and the heavily ornamented beak head forward - these are incidentals. The sturdy hull itself - as in wooden vessels of all ages - was built up from a massive timber, heavily reinforced, that extended the full length of the ship. This was called the keel or backbone. It curved into the stem forward and the sternpost aft. Between stem and sternpost were closely placed rib timbers, molded to form, to which the outer planking and inner ceiling were spiked. All nations followed the same trends in the art and mystery of shipbuilding simply because they had the same elements - wind and water - to contend with. Ships were the first functional designs, and of all man's handiwork they have had the most far-reaching results. Transportation, as someone has said, is civilization! And the waterway in early days was the easiest highway. A DUTCH FRIGATE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (ABOVE) ABOVE LEFT; The bow of a French three-decker, about 1820. ABOVE RIGHT; The stern of an English frigate, early Nineteeth Century. BOW OF THE "DUKE" - BRITISH TWO-DECKER (ABOVE) A CLIPPER SHIP (ABOVE) I hope you enjoyed this short foray into Ships! They are great fun to draw and paint.