Still Life Drawing (Objects and Composition)
The still life question tests arrangement as much as rendering: can you group real objects into one balanced composition, give them a single consistent light, and show different materials convincingly?
Setting up the group
- Use an odd number of objects (three or five), varied in height, width and texture, with one dominant object and the rest supporting it.
- Overlap objects to create depth, and avoid tangents where two edges just touch or run parallel without meeting.
- Keep the group off-centre, with the largest mass near a third of the sheet, and leave a clear route for the eye into the composition.
- Fix one eye level and obey it everywhere: the table edge, the ellipse of every round object and the horizon of the backdrop all depend on it.
- Choose one light direction, usually upper left or upper right, and let every form shadow, cast shadow and highlight follow it.
Rendering materials
- Metal: sharp highlight and a very dark reflected band.
- Glass: transparency, a bright edge line and the refracted line of what lies behind.
- Cloth: few but decisive fold shadows, soft half-tones between them.
- Ceramic: broad smooth half-tone with a soft highlight.
Worked example
A pot, a draped cloth and two onions. A small thumbnail is made first, about 4 by 5 cm. The pot is the largest mass and sits left of centre; a main fold of cloth leads the eye from the pot to the onions on the right; light comes from the upper left. The pot's ellipses are matched to the eye level. The onion shadows are joined to the pot's shadow so that all objects sit on the same surface under the same light. The reasoning: shared light and shared shadow is what turns separate drawings into one composition.
Traps
Each object lit from a different side, objects floating above the surface, equal spacing that destroys grouping, a table edge that contradicts the ellipses, overworked background detail, and cast shadows omitted at the contact points.