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 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

Growing up I had taught myself how to draw basic and simple things, but I was never very good at drawing. I always had the desire to become a better artist and use more complex techniques in my drawings, but I had never really put the effort into learning how to draw pictures with more complexity. This quarter, however, I hope to change that. I have made a goal that through reading about drawing techniques and practicing my skills and techniques in drawing, by the end of the quarter I will have improved my drawing skills and be able to use more perspective and realistic techniques in my drawings. I don't necessarily hope to be an amazing artist by the end of the quarter, but I mainly hope that I will develop new skills that will help me improve as an artist.

The book You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler teaches you not only the basic skills of drawing, but also the skills that are important in being able to draw more realistic pictures with more perspective. It gives step by step processes that use pictures along with written descriptions and explanations that are easy to follow and help you gain a better understanding of different drawing techniques.

For my first drawing, I chose to draw a human eye. Here is a picture of what my drawing looks like:

In this lesson in the book of how to draw the human eye, one of the main techniques that is used is shading. In this lesson, Kistler says "The next step is shading. This is the lesson step that really pops your eyeball right off the page! There are five specific areas to shade" (Kistler 231). He goes on to explain the different areas to shade and how to shade them. I have always struggled with shading when I would try to draw, but this lesson has helped me improve my skill of shading and has expanded my understanding of how to shade.

What do you think of this drawing? What areas should I focus on improving for my next drawing?


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