Free-hand Drawing and Sketching of Natural and Man-made Objects
This domain tests observational accuracy and speed: how quickly and honestly you can convert a real object into a constructed drawing.
Working order
Go broad to specific: envelope, block-in, large planes, then detail. Gesture first for a pose or a moving form; structural construction second; contour last. Check shapes by drawing the negative space - the gaps between forms - rather than the forms themselves.
Measuring
Sight with a locked elbow and one eye closed. Use a plumb line for vertical alignment, a horizontal for level, and a clock-face angle for sloped edges. Compare every length to one chosen unit.
Man-made objects
Built forms are geometric and symmetrical, so set the central axis first. Ellipses on the same cylinder squash consistently: an ellipse appears rounder near eye level and flatter as it moves away from it. On an upright bottle viewed from above, the bottom ellipse is flatter than the shoulder ellipse.
Natural objects
Organic forms have an axis of growth and usually bilateral symmetry. A leaf is a curve plus two mirrored arcs; a tree is a mass, not a scribble of individual leaves. In drapery, start from tension points and follow pipe, spiral and diaper folds.
Worked example
Sketching a glass tumbler: draw the vertical axis, mark the height, halve it, then build the top and bottom ellipses with the same minor-axis direction. Compare width to height - a tumbler is usually about twice as tall as it is wide. Add the far rim as a full ellipse seen through the glass, and darken only where refraction and shadow occur.
Traps
Tapering a cylinder that is straight; pointed ellipse ends; unequal halves on a symmetrical object; erasing construction lines before the drawing has been checked; overworking a sketch until it goes dead.