Free You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less by Mark Kistler Page B

artist’s eye. This exercise will help you become aware of how important S lines are to our aesthetic world.
     
     
    1. Begin the first lily with a graceful S curve.

    2. Tuck another smaller S curve behind the first one.

    3. Transferring what you learned from drawing all those foreshortened cylinders in the earlier lesson, draw an open foreshortened circle to create a petal.

    4. Draw the pointed lip of the petal. Draw the bell of the flower by tapering the sides down. Tapering is another one of those very important ideas that you will start to notice everywhere now that you are aware of it. Your child’s arm tapers from the shoulder to the elbow and from the elbow to the wrist. A tree trunk tapers from its base to its branches. Your goldfish’s fins, your living room furniture, that martini glass in your hand, all consist of tapered lines.

    5. Draw the curved bottom of the bell. Here we’re using the concept of contour. Curving contour lines define the shape and give it volume (contour lines will be described in greater detail in the next chapter).The near part of the bell is curved lower on the paper. Draw the seed pod in the center of the bell.

    6. Draw more S curves to create the tops of the leaves.

    7. Draw the bottom of the leaves with slightly more exaggerated S curves. Notice how I used a bit of curl from the rose lesson to tuck the tip of the leaves behind. Determine the placement of your light source, and darken the nook and cranny shadows. This is the moment when the drawing really pops off the page in the third dimension.

    8. To complete the shading, use your blending Stomp to gradually blend the shading from dark to light across the curved smooth surface of the flower.
     
     
    9. Add a few more lilies to create a delightful bouquet! Hey, here’s a fun idea: Scan your drawing of these lilies, and e-mail the flowers to all your friends! E-mail me a copy too ( www.markkistler.com ).

Lesson 14: Bonus Challenge
    Take a look at this simple variation of the rose and the lily. Draw a few of these, and then create a dozen of your very own unique variations.
    Note: A book that you must get your hands on is Freaky Flora by Michel Gagné. Incredible drawings, inspiring creativity, wonderful shading, I absolutely love this artist’s work. Also take a look at the amazing flowers in Graeme Base’s Animalia . They’re just phenomenal.

Lesson 14: Bonus Challenge 2
    Take a stroll around your home, garden, or office with your sketchbook, and note/sketch where you see S curves and tapered lines in at least six places/objects.

Student examples
    I enjoyed these student examples so much. Take a look and keep inspired to draw, draw, draw every day!

LESSON 15
    CONTOUR TUBES

    T o effectively draw curving tubular objects, such as trains, planes, automobiles, trees, people, or even clouds, you need to master contour lines. Contour lines are especially important when you are drawing the human figure. Arms, legs, fingers, toes, and, well, just about every part of the human figure involves the use of contour lines.
    Contour lines wrap around a curved object. They give an object volume and depth and define an object’s position. Is the object moving away from or toward your eye? Is the object bending up or twisting down? Does the object have wrinkles, cracks, or a specific texture? Contour lines will answer these questions and many more by giving your eye visual clues regarding how to perceive the object as a three-dimensional shape on your paper. In this lesson we will practice controlling the direction of a tube with contour lines.

    1. Draw a Drawing Direction Reference Cube.

    2. Using the drawing compass direction NE as a reference, draw a light guide line in direction NE.

    3. Draw a guide dot to position the foreshortened circle end of the tube.

    4. Draw the vertical foreshortened circle end of the tube.

    5. Using the line you have already drawn in direction NE as reference, draw the thickness of the tube. Draw