Shape Up!

It can be overwhelming to learn how to draw. There’s  form, composition, shadow, perspective — it can get complicated really fast. But when your goal is to draw quickly on a flip chart, and connect with people by using icons and symbolic images, it gets a lot easier. The key thing to remember is this:

….And shapes are the building blocks of simple drawing. Here’s an exercise: rather than looking around your office and naming what you see — “There’s my computer screen, the door, a doorknob, a coffee mug” — I want you to instead practice naming the shapes of those things: that computer screen is a rectangle, and so is the doorway! The doorknob is a circle, the coffee mug is essentially a cylinder.

Drawing starts with seeing what’s actually in front of you. Naming the shapes you see is a way to practice how to reduce any object to its simplest form. If you look at a more complex object, like a table, a truck, an entryway — see if you can break that down in your mind, and register each of the component parts — the separate simple shapes that make up the whole. 

Next time you’re in line at the grocery store, or waiting at a stop light, look around — and practice your new way of seeing. This is a great way to build your skill at drawing, before you even pick up the pen!