Light still lifes. How to draw a vase? How to draw a vase of flowers and fruits with a pencil step by step? Examples of color solutions

How to draw a still life - let's start with a simple one, say, from the preparatory stage and gradually approach drawing the still life itself. At this stage, for a better understanding of what we are doing, I suggest the following few exercises. You're not the only one who draws still life, and especially not at speed? You need good knowledge that can provide a good practical basis, right? Then let's look at the topic - how to draw a still life using these exercises.

Development of proportional vision abilities through comparative analysis of volumes:

Find either bottles or cans - it doesn’t matter what, just not very complicated ones. You line them up maybe four or six times and train your eyes. Try to analyze the height and width of each object and their relationship to each other. At first, you can only draw outlines. We draw all objects on the object plane. Like this:

Another task:

Make a drawing of a crumpled sheet of paper, cardboard, with an analysis of the fracture planes. Notice that each face resembles the face of a cube. When you understand this, the task does not seem difficult. This exercise is very useful for developing the eye. Like this:

More difficult task:

How to draw a still life

So we smoothly moved on to drawing the still life itself. But now you are more prepared to perceive the material well. We draw a still life taking into account the placement of the composition in the sheet (see composition in the figure). We catch the character of the still life - whether it is elongated in length or in width. It is necessary to take into account the object plane, because all objects lie on it and do not hang in the air. We find the boundaries of the still life in the sheet, retreating 10 centimeters from the top of the sheet, 7 centimeters on the sides, and 3 cm from the bottom. Don’t rush, the main thing is to start correctly so as not to “screw up” all the work later. Don’t rush, because now we are finding the basic proportional relationships of a still life:

When, taking into account the proportions, you have determined the boundaries of the still life on the sheet, it’s time to find the boundaries and proportional relationships of each object separately. We establish proportions based on three points. Under no circumstances should you start drawing out the details of the still life or adding shading. If later you notice that somewhere you didn’t catch the proportions, you will have to erase everything that you drew there. As a result, the work at the very beginning will be overwritten and it is unknown what it will be like at the end:

If you did everything correctly, rest, drink tea, in a word, do something so as not to look at work and give your eyes a rest. Believe me, in 20-30 minutes you will see something that you have not seen before. If you find an error somewhere, correct it, it’s not too late. If everything is in order, we move on.

When you have found a place on the sheet for each object of your still life, look at the composition: each object contains geometric shapes or a combination of them. Draw each object more clearly, understanding that each object contains the basis of some geometric shape. Draw with perspective. There is no need to overdo it with pencil pressure. Draw with a graphite pencil T, TM so that the drawing is transparent and clean.

Lay out the shading:

Next, let's start shading. Let's determine where we have light and shadow in our still life. Now we don't need halftones. We do not touch the light, but shade the shadow with all the halftones with a pencil. Don't ink, otherwise you won't have enough pencil strength for the last darkest falling shadows.

Once we've defined light and shadow, it's time to review all the exercises we learned in the drawing basics section. We place shading on the object, where the chiaroscuro will be distributed according to the shape of the object. Objects moving into perspective will be drawn softer. The foreground is highlighted. If it’s difficult, then return to the drawing basics page and repeat everything again. Basically, you should end up with something like this:

Still life - great choice to study the basics of drawing and painting. There are a few important rules, which will tell you how to draw a still life. These rules are simple and quite feasible, but few places write or talk about them. Experienced artists use these rules intuitively. Beginners guess and rejoice at a successfully created picture, or vice versa - they worry about a bad experience in creating a simple plot.

The following tips will help you create various harmonious still lifes, using almost any technique, and avoid annoying mistakes.

How to draw a still life - rules for beginners

Naturally, still lifes are very different, they carry different goals and execute them in a variety of styles. Today we will talk about the basic rules for depicting inanimate objects on canvas or paper.

To create a harmonious picture, you need to know at least the basics of composition and color.

How to draw a daffodil flower

What should a beginner do who wants to create something beautiful with his own hands right now? Will you delve into reading books on painting and drawing?

It will be enough for you to know a few important rules to avoid mistakes and get an excellent result.

Location of items

Still life always looks more beautiful, harmonious and interesting, three-dimensional:

It’s good to combine these two types of arrangement: overlap and distance.

Examples of item placement

All objects overlap each other, or are located at a great distance from one another.

Vector illustration. Here, too, all objects intersect, overlap, or are located at a great distance.

Boring and non-boring arrangement of objects

Even rectangles can be arranged in interesting ways.

Composition with rectangles

When you place one object behind another, overlapping parts of it, you create a certain depth in your work. The more shapes intersect, the more “deep and voluminous” your still life will appear.

Space

If you are just drawing a vase of flowers and there seems to be nothing to cover it with, think about it!

Perhaps some leaf fell in front of the vase, or maybe a flower, perhaps you should lay a napkin or tablecloth, or maybe scatter berries on the table.

For example, the work of Alexander Sergeev:

In the foreground are leaves and a flower. These seemingly insignificant elements lead the viewer's eye from the very foreground of the shot, first to the fallen flower, then to the glass and vase, creating space and making the work more interesting.

Coloristics

When creating a still life, it is important simply not to overdo it with the number of colors used.

Rule of 2-3 colors

Choose 2-3 primary colors, feel free to use shades close to them and don’t worry about having problems with the color. I usually use 2 main colors- and a little extra color.

Examples of color solutions

Here I used only yellow-orange (warm) and blue (cool) shades. Green is optional.

"Boots" by Van Gogh. Two colors predominate here too.

Green and white clearly dominate here; strokes of blue and pink complement the work.

Still life with fish. The main shades are red-brown (warm), and blue (cool).

The rule of 2-3 colors is not always possible. Frequent heroes of still lifes - flowers or fruits come in a variety of colors and shades. In such cases, you should use the following advice: The picture should not have all the colors equally

Color ratio

Even in a variegated picture there are one or two dominant colors.

For example, if your bouquet contains flowers of red, blue, white and yellow flowers, and plus more green foliage. Some flowers and colors should prevail, others should be in the minority.

Here are examples:

Painting by A. Sergeev. The bouquet is dominated by white and red flowers. Blue, green, yellow are additional.

Still life by Vincent Van Gogh. Red poppies dominate.

Let's highlight the main thing

Having a certain idea, when drawing a still life from life or from an idea (from the head), you must:

highlight what is most important in this plot, what subject dominates?

This rule is not always used, but your work will only benefit from its application.

Ask yourself a question: on what subject would you like to keep the focus, the viewer’s attention?

The main item should stand out in some way: shape, size, color, position relative to others.

Work by A. Sergeev. The “main” flowers are identified unmistakably.

Even at the sketching stage, when you look at the sketch, you must clearly determine - What is the most important thing in your work?

If intuitively it is possible to determine the main thing is excellent.
If the look moves from one to another, not knowing what to grab onto- this means you still need to work on your composition. reduce something or enlarge, rotate, rearrange etc. Choose what suits you best.

Many people probably have a question now: What if I draw one vase of flowers?

Here, this rule does not need to be applied? After all, our most important and main character is “a vase of flowers”?

And here it is necessary and quite possible to apply this rule.

There is always a main flower in a bouquet of flowers.

If this is a bouquet of many flowers, it is worth highlighting a small group of flowers that are most successful illuminated, or most look expressively to the viewer, differ by color, size or form.

Description of the presentation by individual slides:

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STILL LIFE is a motionless, “dead nature” (this is how this word is translated), it consists of objects that are part of the living reality that surrounds us. The things we use in a still life form their own environment, as if transferred to another dimension. Their significance in the composition, their semantic load increases. Combinations of simple objects can express very different and complex feelings.

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STILL LIFE IN GRAPHICS Drawing is the main type of graphics. All artists are involved in graphics, be they painters or sculptors; they need drawing as a stage of their work. However, a drawing can be an independent graphic work. For a graphic artist, simple tools are enough - pencil, felt-tip pen, ink, gel pen to create a wonderful graphic composition.

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Drawing a still life with a pencil (step by step). Before drawing a still life with a pencil, we will gradually place objects next to each other, not forgetting about the light source. Objects can be located at some distance, but it will be more interesting if they slightly overlap each other's edges. The flow of light from the lamp will allow you to more expressively emphasize the contrast of shades and highlights. It's better if it falls from the side. Relying not on artificial, but on sunlight, you must remember that the luminary does not stand still, so the angles of light and shadow will change. Pencil drawings have their own specifics - to master the technique you will need to draw more than one sketch or still life. Line, dot, stroke, spot.

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Exists special kind graphics – PRINTED GRAPHICS. In this case, from one drawing made with special cutters on a board made of wood, metal or linoleum, you can make several author's prints - impressions. This type of graphics is called ENGRAVING. Engraving can be different: on wood - woodcut, on metal - etching, on linoleum - linocut... In these cases, the graphic artist uses such complex devices for his work as a printing press, special cutters (stiches), metal plates for etching them with acid and many others. All this is needed to create printed graphics. engraving, woodcut, printmaking, ancient still life, Old Riga XYLOGRAPHY - one of the types of engraving, woodcut. linocut

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Scratch technique The scratch technique is also called “tsap-scratch” or “graffito”. The drawing is highlighted by scratching with a pen or sharp instrument on paper or cardboard filled with ink (to prevent it from spreading, you need to add a little detergent or shampoo, just a few drops). The word comes from the French gratter - to scrape, scratch, so another name for the technique is the scratching technique. I usually use thick paper and paint it with gouache. You can take colored cardboard with a ready-made colorful pattern, then you can limit yourself to the usual wax candle(not color). Then, using a wide brush or sponge, apply a layer of mascara to the surface. When it dries, use a sharp object - a plastic fork, a toothpick - to scratch a pattern of thin white or colored lines onto the finished background.

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Drawings using the grattage technique are made with a sharp object (a pen, a special cutter, a pointed stick, etc.) on a previously prepared surface. Before you begin engraving, a layer of wax or paraffin is applied to the cardboard (you can use a candle), and then ink or paint. Mascara has to be applied in several layers, drying each one, as it spreads on the wax and initially lies unevenly. Mascara is applied with a wide brush, sponge or cotton swab.

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Artists have always loved to paint still lifes. On their canvases they depicted luxurious bouquets of flowers, exotic fruits, game, fresh vegetables and very intricate dishes. Nowadays, still lifes are still popular, but drawing them is not so easy. It is best to start with simple compositions consisting of three or four different objects.

First you need to prepare:

Paper;
- pencil;
- eraser;
- bright colored pencils. For example, watercolors work well.

After this, you can start working on the still life:

1. Mark the edge of the table with a pencil, and then draw the outlines of two apples, a pear and a mug;

2. Draw the fruit in more detail. Draw a sprig of strawberries standing in a circle;

5. Apply another layer of shading to the apple, gradually making its color more saturated and expressive. Remember that the apple, like the pear, must have a highlight, because in this case the light falls on the objects from one side. Darken the shadow areas additionally with brown and swamp green;

The still life is completely ready. You can gradually complicate the composition by adding more and more new objects. You can color a still life not only with colored pencils, but also with oil, acrylic or watercolor paints.

Everyone who draws from life necessarily goes through different stages of increasing the complexity of the work. The process of learning to draw at a certain stage is associated with drawing a still life (from the French nature morte - dead nature).

The world of nature and things surrounding man in Everyday life, is an inexhaustible treasury of shapes and color shades. The simplicity and plastic perfection of everyday objects, the sophistication and delicacy of flowers, the unique structure and juiciness of fruits and vegetables, and much more have always been the objects of attention of artists. Drawings and paintings in which household objects, tools, vegetables, fruits, food, game, bouquets of flowers, etc. are embodied in figurative form are called still lifes.

Still lifes can be “seen” directly in life and “staged” specifically to solve various visual problems. Both of them attract attention, which is why still life is given so much space in fine art that it has rightfully become an independent genre. A “seen” still life is a natural grouping of objects depicted by the artist, and a “staged” one is composed of deliberately selected objects necessary to realize the author’s specific plan.

The image of a still life has its own certain pattern and methodological sequence. It is completely impermissible, for example, just after starting a drawing, to start working on minor details in detail, if the main form has not yet been determined and the tonal idea of the production has not been decided. This immediately leads to fragmentation of the drawing, which is then incredibly difficult and sometimes impossible for an inexperienced draftsman to correct. In addition, such haste leads to errors in proportional relationships, and hence to failure, lack of self-confidence and disappointment.

Remember that in visual practice there is a proven method of sequential work on drawings, based on the principle: from the general to the specific and from the specific again to the general enriched with details.

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Work on a still life begins with the selection and placement of certain objects: in our task - a plaster model of a prism and a wooden vase for pencils, brushes, etc. (Fig. 21). The selection of components for a full-scale production must be logically justified and filled with semantic connections. It is advisable to choose things that are expressive in shape and volume.

After the still life is staged, you choose a specific place from where the setting is clearly visible (we have already talked about the most optimal distance from the artist to the full-scale object: it should be approximately three times the size of the life itself).

The expressiveness and truthfulness of a still life image depend on your ability to observe, compose, construct a drawing, model it with tone, etc.

Before actually working on the drawing, it is advisable to make one or two sketches of the production to find a rational and effective layout of the image on paper. It is advisable to complete sketches quickly, based on the first, still very fresh impression of the production, trying to convey in them characteristics nature, the relationship and proportions of the shape of each object, the ratio of the image area to the area of the sheet format.

Once you have determined the composition of the image in the sketch, you can proceed to direct work on the format. Given the nature of the production, you have already chosen the format - horizontal or vertical.

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Now you are faced with the task of going through several stages of drawing a still life. Such stages, i.e. individual moments - stages or steps in the development of something; in working on a drawing there are usually no more than four.

Of course, the initial stage of any image is its compositional placement on a sheet of paper. You already have a sketch, use it in a non-mechanical way.

Here the main place is given to determining the entire width and entire height of objects at once to limit the field of the image; the positions of each of the bodies relative to each other and the plane on which they are placed are immediately outlined with light lines.

At the next stage of drawing a still life, you must clarify the place of each of the two objects in the image and determine their proportional relationships. During this period of work, also identify the constructive basis of the form. Here, base the solution to all problems at this stage of the image on a careful analysis of the production. For now, build the form with just lines, seeing your drawing as a “framework”, but follow a certain measure so that they do not look the same thickness everywhere (Fig. 22).

Carry out the third stage of work as a further refinement of the shape of bodies that have volume and relief. These signs of objects are perceived only under conditions of light and shade. Therefore, you must not only outline big light and a large shadow, but also to define with light strokes all the main gradations (gradual arrangements) of chiaroscuro. These patterns of distribution of light, halftones, own and falling shadows have been discussed in the textbook more than once, and you know about them. You just need to carefully monitor in situ and compare on paper how much one object is darker or lighter than another. In addition, do not forget about the differences in the drawing techniques of working with a pencil, so that already at this stage of drawing you can identify the difference in the textures of objects. Everything taken together and considered from the standpoint of perspective construction, volume and relief of forms, tone solutions, materiality leads you to the last stage of work on the still life drawing (Fig. 23).

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The final stage involves the process of completing the work - a generalization of the entire linear and tonal structure of the image. If the foreground and background are drawn in detail, both bodies of the production destroy the integral perception of the picture, there is no softness of transitions in the modeling of the form with tone, then such an image needs to be improved, which is a generalization. In this case, it is necessary to soften the background, destroy clear boundaries in it (to create the impression of depth), “bring closer” one object to the foreground and “move away” another, highlight somewhere in the right place, in another, on the contrary, thicken the tone and so in this way to achieve the integrity of the drawing (Fig. 24).

All stages of working on a still life drawing are not stages of the image separated from each other. Here a sequential process takes place, logically conditioned by unity and indivisibility, the result of which should be a correctly composed, correctly constructed, moderately worked out tone, expressive educational drawing of a still life.

Now let’s look in great detail at how the process of creating a still life drawing, composed of a plaster geometric body - a hexagonal prism and a wooden vase for storing drawing tools, proceeds.

After the format is chosen, it is determined what size the image will be printed on paper, especially since in preliminary sketches you are looking for proportional relationships between the image and the format. Proportions are woven into visual perception in accordance with the structure of the eye and the principles of its operation. Each person who draws determines the ratios of quantities and, do not be surprised, distinguishes among them the ratio of the “golden section”. You see in the setting that a vase standing vertically looks more preferable than a prism lying at an angle to it. This means that in your drawing you will pay attention to the vase. Special attention, and you will begin to associate the placement of the image on paper with it. It will be located in the drawing no other way than in relation to the proportions of the “golden section”.

This nature of visual perception is confirmed by numerous experiments conducted in different time in a number of countries around the world.

The German psychologist Gustav Fechner in 1876 conducted a series of experiments, showing men and women, boys and girls, as well as children, figures of various rectangles drawn on paper, asking them to choose only one of them, but making the most pleasant impression on each subject. Everyone chose a rectangle showing the ratio of its two sides in the proportion of the “golden ratio” (Fig. 25). Experiments of a different kind were demonstrated to students by neurophysiologist from the United States Warren McCulloch in the 40s of our century, when he asked several volunteers from among future specialists to bring an oblong object to the preferred shape. The students worked for a while and then returned the items to the professor. On almost all of them the marks were made exactly in the area of the “golden ratio” ratio, although the young people knew absolutely nothing about this “divine proportion”. McCulloch spent two years confirming this phenomenon, since he personally did not believe that all people choose this proportion or establish it in amateur work on making all kinds of crafts.

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An interesting phenomenon is observed when viewers visit museums and fine art exhibitions. Many people who have not drawn themselves can perceive with amazing accuracy even the slightest inaccuracies in the depiction of objects in graphic images and paintings. These are probably signs of a person’s aesthetic sense, which “does not agree” with the destruction of the harmony of form and proportions. Is it not with such a requirement for a sense of beauty that the phenomenon of the “golden proportion” is associated (as soon as this proportion is not called “divine”, “golden”, “golden section”, “golden number”)? It is not for nothing, apparently, that in all centuries of human civilization the “golden proportion” has been elevated to the rank of the main aesthetic principle.

For you, the compositional principles of constructing a still life drawing should not be a stumbling block, because a person is endowed with the ability to clearly see the surrounding environment within a field of clear vision (at an angle of 36°). It is the proportional values within the field of clear vision that are clearly distinguished by the eyes, and your task is to recognize them in order to correctly construct the drawing. The fact is that a person who draws sees the objective world in the same way as someone who does not draw. However, if you take an arbitrary point of view to construct a drawing, distortion will occur. You need to remember that in constructing an image everything is interdependent: point of view, field of clear vision and distance to the objects in the image. This means that in the process of composing the image, you need to select such a part of the enclosed space (sheet of paper), which would include still life objects and part environment(background). The objects in the image should be neither too big nor too small. Otherwise, the large image “comes out” of the format, and the small one “sinks” in it. To prevent this from happening, try to consider the sheet of paper and the dimensions of the image as a single whole of the compositional solution of the still life drawing.

After organizing the plane of the paper, objects need to be drawn as the eye sees them and as they exist in reality. To do this, you clarify the perspective changes in the shape of the vase and prism and at the same time try to immediately understand their objective structure, design, and analyze the lighting conditions. Chiaroscuro on objects is distributed according to the same laws that you became familiar with when drawing plaster models of geometric bodies.

Each drawing is at the same time a new knowledge of the objective world, which is accompanied by the mastery of knowledge, the acquisition of experience, new skills and motor skills of hand movements. Having placed the drawing on a plane and, for now, conveying the boundaries of the shape of each of the two objects in light lines and outlining the volume of the vase and prism with the same light strokes, you continue your work, moving on to the next stage. Now you continue to further refine the characteristic features of the form, all the time comparing the drawing with nature. Then you begin to work with relationships that involve determining the correct proportions, the relationship between spatial plans, details and the whole.

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The method of working through relationships allows the draftsman to acquire knowledge and skills to the extent that they influence the development of a person as a professional artist.

So, the first stages of your drawing: solve the problems of layout, outline the general silhouette of the still life, highlight both objects and show the proportions, at the same time feel the connection of the forms, their correspondence to the general structure of the image. When working with relationships, the drawing is clarified by comparing and contrasting, i.e. comparing the image with the whole and the parts with each other. At the same stage of drawing, you should begin to identify the volume and relief of the shapes of the objects in the image, working through them according to the principle - from the general to the specific. This is the only way you will always see the whole - in structure, and in proportions, and in tone.

When you have confidence in the fidelity of the drawing and the correctness of the intended light-tonal relationships, you can safely move on to modeling the shape with a tone gradually saturated with density.

At this important stage of work - conveying a true image of a still life, as our eye sees it and how it exists in space - you need to see the whole nature all the time, i.e., touching this or that place in the drawing with a pencil, do not lose sight the whole production and the whole drawing as a whole. Always remember that you are accumulating knowledge, skills and abilities gradually and consistently and work on the still life accordingly. Tonal relationships in nature cannot be accurately conveyed in a drawing due to the discrepancy between the original light and the whiteness of the paper. They can be conveyed only by following light and shadow relationships that are proportional to nature, and you know that the quality of the tonal pattern depends on such transmission.

During the modeling of the drawing in tone, when you carry out all the work from the general to the specific, a moment inevitably comes associated with a great desire to take on the final elaboration of one or another part of the image, which is very attractive in production. This is where you get to the specifics, following the principles of drawing.

In the practice of both educational and creative drawing, there are two often intertwined technical methods of laying out tones on paper with a pencil - shading and shading.

Hatching, unlike shading, has its own distinct features. An experienced draftsman can only achieve the transfer of all the tonal and material properties of nature. At the same time, he uses a variety of strokes along the trace of a pencil on paper - straight and curved, short and long, overlapping each other in several layers. Consequently, shading should be understood as techniques for applying tone with strokes. The direction of shading in a drawing is very important. By using strokes directed according to the shape of the object, one can achieve volume, and, conversely, by haphazardly applied strokes, the form is destroyed, the image is covered with shapeless spots.

Masters of drawing often used shading - a technique of rubbing a pencil layer, applied flat with a lead, over the surface of the paper to obtain a soft solid tone using either shading or paper swabs and, very often, cotton wool. This technique was used very often and effectively by Ilya Efimovich Repin.

In the process of work related to the transfer of light and shadow relationships, the lightest and darkest places in the full-scale setting are determined and, adhering to them as tonal guidelines, the necessary aperture is gradually gained. And all the time you need to compare and compare the drawing with nature again. To do this, you can even move a short distance away from the drawing so that you can see your work from a somewhat distant point of view. There is another technique for comparison - look at the drawing in the mirror, being half-turned towards the image. The mirror should also reflect the natural object. Such a comparison can help you see mistakes in tone and eliminate them. The mirror technique is also effective because it allows you to see your work from an unexpected angle. Each painter not only gets used to his image, but often, due to inexperience and still lack of skill, ceases to notice serious mistakes in the drawing, not to mention the tone. Such an unexpected look will help you immediately see this or that flaw, which turned out to be difficult to pay attention to due to the inability to critically look at your own drawing.

The last stage of working on a still life drawing is related to the draftsman’s ability to complete the image, i.e. bring the image into line with the general visual impression with a seamless perception of the full-scale production.

Control questions

What is still life?
How many stages of painting a still life do you need to go through?
What do you understand by the term "layout"? What role does layout play in a drawing?
Why should a full-scale production be perceived not in parts, but as a whole?
What does it mean to apply strokes to a form?
What is the methodological sequence of working on a still life?
How do we understand the term “generalization of a drawing”?

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