Drawing Cylindrical Objects Using Spirals

One of the basics of drawing well is to understand how to break down objects into shapes. For example, a house is a cube, as is a box or a ball is a sphere, as is an apple.

This sounds easy, but simply put, it isn`t! For example, drawing a cylinder involves complex ellipses, which are connected to perspective.

In today`s lesson, I explained that using a spiral (basically a flexible slinky) is the easiest way to draw anything cylindrical. It is also very good for showing form.

  *  note the use of spirals in this students work; they have enabled the student to draw ellipses correctly and  easily, also to copy difficult shapes

  This method can also be used for shading, as demonstrated by 7 year old Maria.