How to Draw a Ball

This is from my new guide on how to draw a ball

A ball is quite a unique shape.
While all objects are subject to foreshortening, the shape of a ball always stays a circle!

The foreshortening happens within a ball.
If you imagine a ball (or a sphere) that is built from planes, then the center plane is in front of the observer, and therefore NOT foreshortened.
As the other planes are closer to the sides, they are more in the direction of sight, and therefore become foreshortened.

In the next example, pay attention to the circle surrounding the number 8.
Because it is on the side of the ball, it is foreshortened, and becomes an ellipse.

Something to consider:
When two areas share the same brightness value, there is no visible edge between them.
That is called lost edge.

In the example below, the value of the ball is the same as the value of the cast shadow, therefore you can not see the edge between them, hence lost edge.

Ball drawing basics

The contour of a ball is a circle.
You can draw that by drawing two equal lines that meet at the center of each other, and are perpendicular to one another.

A circle looks flat.
To give it volume (and direction), use cross contour.

To shade a ball, imagine where the highlight is (the lightest part of the ball), and gradually draw darker as you draw away from it.

A cast shadow of a ball is on the ground, and usually in the direction of our sight, and therefore foreshortened.
You can use two tangent lines in the direction of light, and draw an ellipse for the cast shadow.

A cast shadow usually has a soft edge, while a ball usually has a hard edge.

In the cast shadow area, there is a part between the ball and the cast shadow that is blocked from ambient light (scattered light).
This area is called ambient occlusion.

Last thing to pay attention to is core shadow.
When the ball is in the air, it has a light and dark area. The dark area is the farthest from the light area.
But, when the ball is on the ground, it receives scattered light from the ground, so the darkest area is no longer the closest to the ground, but a bit above it.
This is called core shadow.

Texture

When drawing textures for a ball, the texture follows the same guidelines as mentioned above.
Meaning, any texture mark in the dark area is darker, and vice versa.

If you still struggle, you are welcome to visit my guide for drawing round objects, and my guide for drawing from imagination, which is a bit advanced, but I did my best to explain it as simple as possible.

Thanks for reading my guide.

Ran

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