Still life drawings offer a great opportunity to learn and practice a variety of drawing skills, including developing form, applying shading, and using perspective. Still life compositions traditionally depict a carefully arranged grouping of a number of household objects, such as fruit, vegetables, glassware, or pottery—all of which offer a wide range of textures, sizes, and shapes. But you don't have to restrict yourself to traditional items; use your artistic license to get as creative as you want! The following lessons will guide you through the basics of drawing still lifes, from designing the composition to blocking in the basic. | Chapter 2 Introduction to Lifes Still life drawings offer a great opportunity to learn and practice a variety of drawing skills including developing form applying shading and using perspective. Still life compositions traditionally depict a carefully arranged grouping of a number of household objects such as fruit vegetables glassware or potter 7 all of which offer a wide range of textures sizes and shapes. But you don t have to restrict yourself to traditional items use your artistic license to get as creative as you want The following lessons will guide you through the basics of drawing still lifes from designing the composition to blocking in the basic shapes and adding the final details for depth and texture. 23 Fruit and Nuts by William F. Powell Study your subject closely and lightly sketch the simple shapes. Notice for example that the pear is made up of two circles one large and one small. Once the basic shapes are drawn begin shading with strokes that are consistent with the subjects rounded forms as shown in the final drawings. Peach Drawing the Pear Start with two circles for the pear next place the stem and the water drop. Begin shading with smooth curving lines leaving the highlighted areas untouched. Then finish shading and refine the details. Curves arc achieved hy connecting several shor t sketch lines. Drawing the Peach First draw the general shapes in step i. Then in step 2 place guidelines for the texture of the pit and the cavity on the slice. Begin shading the skin of the peach with long smooth strokes to bring out its curved surface in step 3. Use a sharp 2B pencil to create the dark grooves on the pit and the irregular texture on the slice. Finish with lines radiating outward from the seed and the top of the slice. 24 Drawing the Cherry To start the cherry lightly block in the round shape and the stem using a combination of short sketch lines. Smooth the sketch lines into curves and add the indentation for the stem. Then begin light shading .
