Drawing: Realistic Techniques Part 5

Hello everyone! For my last blog post, I decided to draw a hand. This is the last lesson in the book You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler. In this lesson, Kistler not only gives step by step procedures on how to draw a hand, but goes over the Nine Fundamental Laws of Drawing that were taught throughout the book. I know I didn't read every single lesson in the book, and that I only have attempted 5 of the lessons, but I like how Kistler went over all the important techniques for drawing in this lesson. Kistler says "In this lesson we will pull together all of the Nine Fundamental Laws of Drawing that we have learned so far and apply them to this drawing" (Kistler 234). Kistler goes on and explains each law and how they apply to this lesson. The nine laws that he mentioned were foreshortening, placement, size, overlapping, shading, shadow, contour, horizon, and density. I believe that all these laws are important when drawing a realistic picture because they help you add depth, perspective, and more realistic features to your picture. Here is a picture of my finished drawing of a hand:

In this drawing, I used the Nine Fundamental Laws of Drawing explained in the book to help create a realistic drawing with depth and perspective. I used foreshortening because the hand is tilted away from the point of view. I used placement because I placed the fingers and the thumb in a way that helps create a realistic depth to the picture. I used size because the fingers are all relative in size to each other, and I used overlapping because some of the fingers overlap each other. I used shading because I shaded parts of the hand to give it more depth and realistic qualities, and I used shadow because I shaded the shadows between the fingers which separates each finger and also adds to the depth. I used contour because I drew wrinkle lines on the palm and fingers to add shape, volume and depth, and I used horizon because the picture is drawn at eye-level. Each technique that I used to make this drawing helped create the illusion of depth in the finished picture.

I think that I definitely improved my drawing skills this quarter and added to my knowledge and understanding of the different drawing techniques. I learned how to use these drawing techniques to create a realistic image with depth and perspective. I hope to continue using these techniques in the future and that I can continue to develop new drawing skills and build on my knowledge.

What do you think of this drawing? Is there anything I could improve on? Do you believe that the Nine Fundamental Laws of Drawing are important when making a drawing look realistic? Is there any law that you think is the most important when adding depth and perspective to the picture?


Kistler, Mark. You Can Draw in 30 Days. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo, 2011. Print.

Drawing: Realistic Techniques Part 4

Welcome back everyone! For my fourth blog post I decided to focus on the techniques of drawing a human face. In this lesson in the book You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler, Kistler says "let's learn how to draw a face looking straight at you. For centuries, artists have divided the human figure into mathematical sections in order to transfer the image from the real world to their paper" (Kistler 222). Kistler gives step by step instructions on how to draw a human face and explains the techniques that are used to draw a face. Here is a picture of my finished drawing of a human face:

In this drawing, I used multiple techniques to help create a realistic image of the human face. I have always struggled with drawing a face so I never really gave it a try before. I always thought a face was complex and that there were many components to it, making it hard to draw. But after reading this lesson in the book and following the steps that were given, I learned that drawing a face actually wasn't so hard, and that it was easier than I thought it would be. I know that my drawing isn't perfect, but for my first time drawing a face, I think it turned out pretty nice, what do you think?

Is there anything that I could improve on to make my drawing more realistic?


Kistler, Mark. You Can Draw in 30 Days. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo, 2011. Print.

Drawing: Realistic Techniques Part 3

Hi everyone! For my third blog post, I decided to focus on the technique of using a two-point perspective. In my previous blog post, I showed how I used the one-point perspective technique by using a vanishing point to create a city where the buildings seem to vanish in the distance. I now want to show you how I used a two-point perspective to draw a picture. In this lesson in the book You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler, Kistler teaches step by step on how to create a castle in two-point perspective. Kistler defines two-point perspective as "using two guide dots on a horizon line to draw an object above and below your eye level" (Kistler 186). Here is a picture of my finished drawing of a castle in two-point perspective:

Like the one-point perspective drawing technique, the two-point perspective drawing technique can also give a picture depth and perspective. The only difference is that the two-point perspective has two vanishing points instead of one. This technique, similar to the one-point perspective technique, gives the drawing more realistic and complex qualities and features because it allows you to see the picture at an angle that you would normally see it at. In this drawing, the two point perspective makes you feel like you are looking directly at the middle of the castle and the castle seems to vanish or get farther away to the left and to the right. I also used some of the shading techniques I learned as well from previous posts that also helped give this picture a realistic feel to it. I believe that this two-point perspective technique, along with the one-point perspective and the shading techniques, can really make a picture stand out and can give it more depth. This lesson in the book has expanded on and added to my knowledge and understanding of a vanishing point by using two vanishing points instead of one to give a picture a different perspective and more realistic features and qualities to it.

So what do you think of this drawing? Do you think that it turned out better than my last drawing? Does the one-point perspective technique or the two-point perspective technique give a drawing more depth and perspective?


Kistler, Mark. You Can Draw in 30 Days. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo, 2011. Print.

Drawing: Realistic Techniques Part 2

Hello everyone! For my second post, I decided to focus on drawing in one-point perspective. In this lesson in the book You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler, Kistler teaches step by step on how to draw a city in one-point perspective. One of the main techniques that is taught in this lesson is using a vanishing point. Kistler defines a vanishing point as "a drawing technique involving alignment of all objects to a single focal point in a picture" (Kistler 172). A vanishing point is important when adding perspective and can help a drawing look more realistic. Here is a picture of my finished drawing of a city in one-point perspective:

In this drawing, the buildings and road appear to vanish in the far distance at a single point, which gives the picture depth. I never understood the concept of a vanishing point before and how to make a picture look like it disappears in the distance, but this lesson has really helped improve my understanding and skill of how to do that. I learned how to take a flat surface and add some depth and perspective to it by drawing and using the vanishing point technique. I believe this new technique that I learned can really give a drawing more realistic qualities and features and can help a drawing stand out more. This lesson of how to draw in a one point perspective has really expanded my knowledge of different drawing techniques and has helped me develop more realistic techniques in my own drawings.

What do you think of this drawing? What are some areas that I could improve on? Do you believe that a vanishing point can help add depth and perspective to a picture?


Kistler, Mark. You Can Draw in 30 Days. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo, 2011. Print.