Structure in Drawing

Prior to reading Drawing for the Absolute Beginner, by Mary and Mark Willenbrink, I would always jump into a drawing before sketching out an outline. This caused the structure of the final drawing to be off. In the book, the Willenbrinks suggest to draw the basic shapes of a drawing first because it allows you to keep the structure accurate (Willenbrink 65).

Although faint, you can see some of the rectangles that outline each individual shape

As the authors had suggested, in drawing this steam engine, I outlined the basic shapes before I started adding details. The outline consisted of multiple rectangles, each representing an individual element. I chiseled out the shapes of each element from their rectangle and finished the drawing by adding details and shading. Outlining the drawing before everything else especially helped with drawing ellipses (circles in perspective). To draw an accurate ellipse, you "first [sketch] a square in perspective. The lines of the square will be used as the boundaries for the ellipse, because both a circle and a square are eqaually as wide as they are tall" (Willenbrink 42). Using this method allowed me to make the wheels of the train more equally rounded.

When you draw, do you jump right into it, or do you first plan your drawing with an outline? Do you know of any other ways to keep the structure of your drawing accurate?

Willenbrink, Mark, and Mary Willenbrink. Drawing for the Absolute Beginner. Cincinnati, Ohio: North Light, 2006. Print.