Still Life Drawing of a Doorway Arch Decoration with Process Drawings!

Hi everyone, today I would like to share a still life drawing I did combining some of the exercises that I have learned so far. It was part of a decoration on a door way arc that fell off and I thought it would make an interesting and challenging subject to draw.

I start by drawing all the vertical contours of the shape. Where the form goes back on itself and away from me I press down harder with the pencil, where they go out and towards me I press down lighter with my pencil. It takes a little practice at first to visualize the overall contours of the object, you can get lost in the small details.

I then do the same thing but for all the horizontal contours in the object. By the end of this the drawing the general from of the object should be quite clear. Notice I am not going up and down the object as if I was shading it I am trying to follow the form of the figure as if I was passing my hand over it. You may need to go over some parts again for a darker contours or use a rubber in the same way as you would use a pencil to get the lighter contours.

I finish off by adding the details in the object and going over any final parts of the drawing. It is important to draw from life as that is the only way to accurately grasp the three dimensions of the object compared to drawing from an image.

Thanks for reading my post and hope you liked it! :)

Ian,