• If you have done some practice work, drawing triangles and turning them into prisms, and feel you can now draw prisms, then Squares, Cubes and Boxes should be quite easy for you. Like the triangle, a square is made from points connected by lines. You don’t have to be accurate! All four sides should be of equal length and each corner should be 90 degrees, but this isn’t a geometry lesson – just draw something that feels square to you. boxes1To draw a cube, start drawing a second square with one corner placed in the middle of the first. Then join up the corners of both the squares. This is called a wireframe diagram. WireframesTwo wireframe drawings, alongside each other, both look the same. But if you erase the lines that you wouldn’t be able to see, if it were a solid object, you’ll see one cube appears to go up and the other appears to go down. Some people find it hard to see one cube when their eye has locked onto the other. Keep drawing and playing with wireframes to help your eye and brain get used to “seeing” the different aspects of 3D in the one drawing. We are tricking and teaching the eye into believing it is a 3D representation. The eye wants to be fooled, so we need to learn the tricks that are the vocabulary of drawing that the eye can read and understand. Task: Practice drawing wireframe cubes this way. One corner of the second square will be in the middle of the first square. Then join the four corners together to make a wireframe drawing of a cube. The index for this course is here.

  • This is sort of based on a Sopwith Pup, because I drew the airframe of one earlier this year – see my sketchbook – https://youtu.be/sUii48gMaHA

    This tutorial shows you the structure of a biplane and how to draw your own. See more WWI WWI Drawing videos here:

    Tip: you can use the space bar to stop and start the video to keep up with the drawing. You can always watch through again if you find it a bit complicated.

  • prismspdf On the Pdf sheet you will find a plan to make a model prism. Print it, carefully cut it out and glue it together to make a model prism. Now take some time to look at your model prism carefully – see where the shadows lie. This is easier if you have a single light source. Take your time. This is what obsvervational drawing is all about. Look and really understand what is going on – then transfer your observations to the drawing. You may have seen artists measuring by eye with a thumb on their pencil. You can measure like this too, so you can convince yourself that your drawing has the same proportions and angles as the thing that you are looking at. Remember, 3D representation is about tricking the eye into believing it is seeing something that is not real. There will be more about measuring like this later. Task: Here are two everyday objects that are made from prisms – a tent and a slice of cake. Watch the video and see how they are drawn then draw your own version. If you don’t get it quite right the first time, don’t worry. Just do it again! Now, can you think of any other objects that are constructed from a simple prism shape?

    The index for this course is at http://www.shooraynerdrawing.com/..