Welcome to DRAWING 101. The objective here is to help you build a solid and everlasting drawing foundation.
It will also give you the confidence, personal satisfaction, and appreciation needed to make your drawing experience more enjoyable. -TAo!
 

Lesson 2- GEOMETRIC SHAPES

As a draftsman, we should always be constantly looking for a ways to break down an object or an image whenever we draw.
We need to be thinking about simple GEOMETRIC SHAPES whenever starting out.
Don't overwhelm yourself and take it one section at a time. Get in the habit of training yourself to break things down.
Geometric shapes are the building blocks and starting point of many good drawing.
 
I suggest you take time to learn these simple, but very important shapes that's very practical in the drawing world.
Here are FIVE very helpful shapes to use whenever starting out a drawing:

CIRCLE-BALL-SPHERE


SQUARE-CUBE-BOX

TRIANGLE-PYRAMID-CONE



CYLINDER



Not only do these shapes make it easier to draw out an object,
but they add the illusion of DEMENSION.
This enables us to see HEIGHT, WIDTH, and DEPTH
on a flat surface.

You can always combine a number of shapes to make up an object.
Like a car for an example: the shapes are 4 cirlces and a box.

As a beginner, you must get in the habit
of breaking things down into simple shapes and
always remember to CONSTRUCT out your drawings!


Final notes and comments:
It was my freshman year at Cal-Arts where I attended my first figure drawing class ever and this is how it went: The teacher walked in, introduced himself and told us a quick story. He said that his first day on the job at a major comic studio, they made him draw only circles for the entire day. Imagine that- drawing circles all day long for 8 hrs and getting paid for it! I laughed at the notion at first, but when I saw how he demonstrated drawing the human figure with graceful strokes and lots of circular motions, I quickly sat up straight. I got a taste of my real first art lesson in drawing. Believe it or not- To this very day, I'm still drawing circles in my spare time.

EXCERCISE:
Beginners should practice drawing these simple shapes daily. Start out with the circles- draw big ones, small ones, circles within circles, fill up the entire page and most importantly- stay loose and IN CONTROL! Once you feel comfortable with circles, move onto the next shape- like a square or box. Take your time in learning these shapes- if you can't draw simple shapes, then there's no point in moving on! Once you feel condfident that you can draw any shape at ease, try constructing ordinary household items, like a TV, or a chair, a table, computer, radio, etc. Remembe- sometimes you have to go back to the basics just to move ahead! -TAo!

Well, that's it for Lesson 2.