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Kerstin Atash-Krupinski 31 Oct 06 10:20 PM MST
When I first started sketching, I remember picking a point on the object and working my way out. For example, when drawing the human face, I would start at an eye and fill everything in around it. What resulted was often a disfigured subject that lacked depth and proportion. I never realized what I did wrong. Why did the drawing seem off? The answer is simple; I didn’t know how to address complex and irregular shapes. I never took the time to simplify the drawing- to take these shapes and break them down into their simple forms. I didn’t know how to enhance the drawings through the use of techniques to depict depth. I didn’t understand the rules of perspective.

A complex or irregular object is an object that is not a simple shape such as a cube, cylinder, cone or sphere. However, when analyzing these objects, it becomes apparent that they can be broken down into a combination of these simpler shapes. In fact, everything we see either falls into one of these four shapes, or is a series of these shapes grouped together. I took four photographs of random complex subjects and attempted to find their simple components see attached jpg. I found that everything in the photo fell into one of these four shapes, and I realized it also takes some work training the eye to make this distinction. We are so used to looking at objects as a whole and processing them as one unit, that attempting to break them into their varying components can be challenging.

I found that the elfwood website portrayed the effectiveness of drawing complex shapes in this manner. To see the object as a series of smaller parts strung together to form such complex creatures is a beautiful and successful transformation. Previously, I would have been intimidated using such an approach, but now I see its importance in creating accurate drawings.

The website goes on to reiterate the steps involved in completing a successful illustration. The first step in sketching a complex shape is to break it into its components. Then, the drawing needs to be improved using techniques of shading and texturing. This creates a believable 3 dimensional portrayal of the subject. The book states that “shading enhances a subject’s sense of depth by emphasizing its volume.” In other words, you are creating the illusion that the subject is able to hold space- that it is 3 dimensional. When observing the world around me, I notice that everything has a light source and thus creates shadows. In order to make these complex and irregular shapes real, we have to add this element to our drawings. To create the shadows, we again tackle each of the simplified shapes and apply the rules of shading to each one.

The “rules” of perspective are applied to all shapes and objects, whether simple or complex. It is important to analyze the subject to find its core components, its simple shapes. From there you can work out its intricate angles, shading, and composition. Once you are able to view these shapes in such a way, you can move on to creating a complete drawing by uniting believable and accurate elements. Through a series of steps, from initially simplifying the elements, to “building” complex structures, adding shading and using the canvas space to generate accurate composition, any artist can manifest a successful and convincing creation.