This document outlines a four-step drawing process designed to enhance artistic skills, focusing on structure, geometric shapes, light and shadow, and detailing. The steps include creating a 'stick still life' for composition, identifying geometric forms, blocking in large lights and darks, and refining with details and tones. Emphasis is placed on the importance of practice and timing at each stage to develop drawing proficiency.

1. 4-Step Process
An approach to Drawing
Marsha Devine
© 2007

2. 4 Step Drawing Process
 Stick Still Life
 Sets up structure for drawing / composition
 Skeleton – no details
 Quick line strokes
 Geometric Shapes & Platonic forms
 Compare shapes in relation to other objects
 Angles
 Size
 Position
 Positive/negative spaces
 Big Lights / Big Darks
 Block out deepest darks and brightest lights
 Details & Softened Lights/Darks
 Full range of tones from black to white (having at least 7 steps from black to white
gives depth to the drawing)
 Details & features to refine drawing

3. Step 1
Step 1 - The “Stick Still Life”
This is the first step of the drawing process. The “Stick Still Life” describes the
relative positions, direction, and proportions of the subject matter. It sets up the
essential structure and balance of your drawing. Spending time training your
eye to create a basic structure for every drawing you make, will greatly
enhance your ability. In this step, you are composing your drawing, deciding
what elements will be shown, your point of view, and the relationships of the
objects to one another.
•light quick line strokes
•indicate the position and size of each object,
•indicate the surface the objects are laying on,
•indicate the background

4. Step 2
Step 2 - Geometric Shapes and Platonic Form
This will be the next step in describing each part of the still life. Take a close
look at each element in your still life and lightly sketch in its closest
geometric shape. Observe angles, size and position of the shapes in
relation to one another. Use the sighting technique described in Drawing on
the Right Side of the Brain pp.146 – 152 to measure and sketch in
proportions and angles of the objects.
•Angles, size, position
•Relationships
•Sighting tools

5. Step 3
Step 3 - Big Lights/Big Darks
Next, you will indicate the large dark and light areas of the drawing, including the
background and surface it is sitting on. You are looking for BIG shapes of dark
and light. The objects do not need to be recognizable at this point.
If using pencil, use your soft 6B or 8B pencils to lightly shade in the dark areas.
Use 2B or 4B to add some shading for the medium dark areas, and leave the
highlights the white of the paper.
If using charcoal, add charcoal to the shadow areas to darken them. Use your
kneaded eraser or chamois to erase the highlight areas. The middle tone areas
will remain the medium gray of the paper.
•Block in Big lights, Big darks
•Use variety of pencil grades (B, HB, H) and charcoal
•Erase highlights

6. Step 4
Step 4 - Details, Softened Lights/Darks
This is the final step of your drawing. You can now add the details and features
unique to your subject matter. Now you soften the lights and darks and go in for
as much detail as you like. It is the point where you put the leaves on the trees,
features on the face, or highlights on the still-life.
•Use a full range of value/tone
•Use seven or eight shades of gray from darkest
black to lightest white.
•You may use compressed charcoal or conte for
the darkest areas, and a white pastel or white
charcoal pencil for the lightest areas.
•If using pencil, add cross contour lines to
delineate light and shadow.
•Observe carefully and draw the true contours of
each shape.
•Draw more detail in the objects you wish to
emphasize, and less detail on the less important
elements.
•Know when to stop. (this takes practice!)

7. Timing & Practice
Timing:
An experienced artist can go through steps 1-3 in as little time as 30 seconds-
2 minutes. That is a completed "gesture" drawing or quick sketch which has all
the essential components of the drawing ready for final rendering. Your long-
term goal is to train your hand/eye to speed up to see these elements quickly
in order to go through these steps simultaneously..
However, in the beginning, it is
important to go through the process
step-by-step Therefore, take
between 1 – 3 minutes for each of
the first three steps.
Step 4 should take considerably
longer. Depending on the desired
level of detail, it might take 30
minutes to hours, days or even
months!!

8. Overview
4 Step Drawing Process
•Stick Still Life
Sets up structure for drawing / composition
Skeleton – no details
Quick line strokes
•Geometric Shapes & Platonic forms
Compare shapes in relation to other objects
Angles
Size
Position
Positive/negative spaces
•Big Lights / Big Darks
Block out deepest darks and brightest lights
•Details & Softened Lights/Darks
Full range of tones from black to white (at least 7 steps from black to white
gives depth to the drawing)
Details & features to refine drawing

9. Basic Forms
When you look at an
object, no matter how
complicated it may seem,
the first step is to reduce it
to its basic shape.
Once this "seeing" of the
shape is established, you
will be able to draw the
object correctly.
Basic shapes, forms or
"models" are cubes,
cylinders, spheres,
hexagons, cones,
hemispheres, and
pyramids.

10. Basic Shapes of the Figure
http://www.artcluster.com/whiteboard/tips/tip5.html

11. Work in progress
This is a drawing in
progress of the
hallway in an Art
wing of our local
Community College.
Approx. 12” x 16” Note the range of
values used to
add dimension
and form.

12. Other Resources
From Start to Finish, “Crow’s Trick”
http://delusionstudio.com/ref/crow/index.html
Duey’s Drawings, Tutorial for Still Life
http://www.dueysdrawings.com/still_life_tutorial.html