Sketching Shells

 

Advanced Drawing and Painting

Some of you may have been drawing consistently since the last time you were in drawing class...that probably isn't the case with everyone.  Let's take a couple of days  to sketch a shell.  Hold the shell of your choice in your hand You should be beging by feeling the texture of the shell. Notice the proportions of the shell. Place your shell on a white piece of paper.   How does the light source create highlights and shadows? Notice the varied values used in these drawings to create the illusion of depth and texture.

Study your shell.  Observing the object you are drawing is crucial.  Take your time, settle in.  There are many ways to begin a drawing.  You could very quickly draw a light sketch representing the "skeleton" of your shell using shapes.  You could choose to draw gesture-like lines to represent the overall shape of the shell.  Another option is to create a contour drawing of the shell.  What are you comfortable doing?  Try beginning in a variety of ways it is up to you.   You can start to add darker values after you feel you have the shape of your shell represented correctly on the paper.

In a couple of days you should have a few sketches of the same shell in your sketchbook.  You will be becoming familiar with drawing again.  If for some reason you are advserse to drawing a shell today I have brought a bin of other objects in to choose from.

All images were acquired from the internet for educational purposes.