How to Draw the 4 Basic Forms (for Artists & Designers)

Timeline

• 00:11 How to draw basic forms in 3D is easy!
• 00:28 Sketching Workshop format for beginners
• 01:01 The 3 basic shapes of Squid Game (Square, Triangle, and Circle)
• 01:15 How to draw the four 3D forms (Cube, Pyramid, Cylinder, and Sphere)
• 02:05 Draw from 2d shapes into 3D volumes
• 02:31 Pyramid form with 4 faces
• 03:22 The top view of a cylinder is a circle
• 03:33 When a circle becomes an ellipse in perspective
• 04:58 Drawing contour lines on a sphere, the easy way
• 05:58 Add line weight to the cylinder
• 06:07 Special guest: Lucy!
• 06:29 The Master cube is the base of any form!
• 06:43 Download your Designer Starter Kit (Make your first steps in perspective)
• 06:54 Horizon line = Eye Level
• 07:27 Take an object to view in front of your eye level
• 08:09 The 5 primary positions of a product and the horizon line
• 10:24 How to duplicate a cube in perspective
• 12:57 How to draw a cube’s contour lines
• 15:20 Use a cube to draw a pyramid
• 19:36 With a cube, draw the pyramid from any angle
• 21:08 Draw a sphere fast and easily with contour lines
• 27:04 Draw a cylinder and its variations easily
• 28:26 Assemble basic shapes to create advanced 3d forms

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You want to draw your ideas from imagination,
but you can’t visualize anything in 3D volume?

Don’t worry, we can fix this. 🙂

It all starts from drawing these 4 basic volumes only!
These use simple geometry.

• The cube,
• The pyramid,
• The sphere
• And the cylinder.

The 4 Basic Forms to Learn How to Draw (in Art and Design)

1. Let’s start the sketching workshop (for beginners)

• I wanted to try this new video tutorial format.
  They are longer though but cover more of the topic.
• Let me know if you would like to get more of these video formats by email or in the comments! 🙂

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2. The 3 basic shapes: Square, Triangle, and Circle

• Basic sketching starts with these 3 simple forms only!:
  They are the cube, the pyramid, and the circle.

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• Complete this sketching mission today:
  Learn “How to draw 3-dimensional forms (from the three 2-dimensional shapes”).

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• Visualize the kid’s wooden toy.
• The 3D volumes have to go through a 2D cutout of the game.

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• The square becomes a cube
• The triangle becomes a pyramid
• The circle becomes a sphere or a cylinder

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3. Master these 4 Sketching tips! (I use them every day!)

TIP 1 How a circle becomes an ellipse in perspective.

• Take a cup (best if transparent)
• Observe the top of its cylindrical form.
• You get a perfect circle shape.

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• Tilt slowly the cylinder (the cup)
• The circle becomes visually an ellipse

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TIP 2 Draw “invisible lines” to create volumes fast

• You need a few seconds only to draw a sphere with this technique.
• Draw a horizontal ellipse and a vertical ellipse to your circle
• Spot the front and behind intersections
• Add a cross for each to show more clarity.
• Connect the intersections with an arrow.
• To practice more: How to draw a sphere with the XYZ axis?

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TIP 3 Use line weight to clarify your sketches

• TIP: Add line weight to your volumes to show more contrast.
• Remember to always start your sketches with a line pen pressure.
• To practice more: How to draw with line-weight?

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• Lucy is looking for attention 🙂
• Don’t get distracted, and keep sketching!

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TIP 4 The cube is the “Primary base” to draw anything! (Master it asap!)

• The cube is the base of any 3d volume.
• Study the cube till you master it in perspective.
• It is so essential, I call it the “Master Cube”!
• To learn more: How to draw a cube with a 2-point perspective

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• To learn how to draw a cube in perspective, get your free guide. It’s free!
• You learn step-by-step how to draw a cube from any angle.
• Plus many more sketching tips for beginner artists and designers!

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4. How to visualize the “Horizon line” (to start in perspective)

• Visualize the horizon line as a guide.
• It helps to decide the viewpoint.
• To practice more:
  How to spot the horizon and converging lines?

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• The horizon line is also called “eye level”.
• It is basically from the viewer’s position.

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• Take an object, and place it in front of your eye.
• That would be the frontal view of your product.

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• Move the object in 4 directions: Up, down, left, right
• Draw its position with the horizon line

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5. How to duplicate a cube in perspective (simple geometry)

• We cover a “duplicating tutorial of a square” in 2D first.
• Then we apply the same technique in perspective to duplicate the exact same cube.

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6. Divide a cube using simple geometry (and create advanced forms)

• Drawing is all about simple geometry.
• Divide the cube using diagonals to find the contour lines.
• To practice more: The cube Mania Challenge! (3 videos tutorial)

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7. Start drawing a pyramid (using the cube as a base)

• We use the cube as a base to draw a pyramid.
• The cube drawing becomes the “construction lines”.
• Make sure to draw it with light pen pressure.
  So you can draw the pyramid more boldly to create contrast.
• To learn more: 6 Tips to improve your quality of lines!

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• To find the “peak” of the pyramid, trace the diagonals of a face to find its center.
• Connect the peak to the 4 corners of the opposite face.
• Try different viewpoints using the exact same technique!
• It’s magic 🙂

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8. Draw a sphere (the easy way)

• Avoid time-consuming shading.
• In design sketching, you can draw a sphere super fast using the 2 ellipses.
• To practice more: How to draw spheres with easy shadow.

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9. Draw a cylinder and its variations

• Use this simple technique to draw a cylinder starting with its 2 ellipses.
• Create variations by twisting the profile.
• Make sure they are symmetrical.
• To practice more: How to draw bottles easily

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10. Assemble simple shapes to create advanced forms!

• Assemble random 2d basic shapes of your choice (square, triangle, and circle)
• Use the basic volumes (cube, pyramid, cylinder, and sphere) to draw them in perspective.
• Note: In perspective, a square could become a cube or a cylinder. It’s up to you!
• To practice more: How to draw with the “LEGO BLOCK technique”

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11. Level up your sense of 3D observation!

• Look around you
• Select simple products
• Visualize the basic forms they are composed.
• For example:
  My GoPro camera is made of a big box.
  The lens is made of a smaller box and a cylinder.
• To practice more: How to draw a GoPro camera? (Link below)

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• This pan and camera are different.
• However, they are both made of a cylinder and a box!
• They are more look-alike than it seems.

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12. SKETCHING ROUND UP

• Right-Click + Save as… to download the pictures for your notebook.

After completing this beginner sketching tutorial,

• you will see your quality of lines boosted
• your 3D vision will be much more accurate
• best of all, ready to build new and advanced product designs by yourself!

Have a wonderful sketching session!
Cheers,
Chou-Tac