Learning curves

I have been trying to help someone come to grips with some basic drawing skills. The individual wasn't good at following written directions and was at a distance, being online, so I tried a combination of illustrated steps to see if she could follow that way. I chose a simple circle to turn into a sphere as it would provide a number of techniques and would be satisfying.

Unfortunately, I started the demonstration at lunch, so grabbed the first thing to hand - lined paper. Kids - don't do this at home!

Here were the steps that were to be followed:

1. Lightly draw a circle freehand on your paper with a pencil of your choice.
2. Your light source is coming from the upper left of your paper.
3. Begin shading your circle lightly, just cover the surface with a layer of graphite.
4. Then start adding further layers to deepen the shading, remembering where your light source is coming from. Your sphere will be darker on the right than the left.
5. Continue to deepen shading, trying for a smooth transition from light to dark until you achieve the illusion of having a smooth, round ball on your paper.
6. Finally, you can 'ground' your ball by adding a shadow to the right, darkest closest to the ball and lighter as it gets further away.
7. Post your sphere online here at each level so we can help guide and correct you if required.
8. Have fun!






I had great fun drawing this sphere. Why don't you have a go at it and see what you produce? And see what unusual support you can draw it on? Telephone book page? Envelope? Newspaper? Be creative!