Tips for How To Draw a Still Life, Free Printable Worksheet.

The free worksheet at the bottom of this page and the project notes below may be printed by highlighting it with your curser and sending to your printer or saving to your device to print later.

Parents, teachers, and home school families may print this for personal or class use. It is very a simple summery of a still life drawing and is a good as an introduction to the subject.

BEGINNINGS
Start slow. For your first project select three or four items that share a theme. In our example we have glass jars but it could be four cups, or four apples, or four tools, etc. Arrange the subject. Do not get too tidy; put some things in front and some in back. Leave a little space between so things are not too crowded. The things in front will be lower on the page.
Look it over and decide if it is interesting. Avoid items that create barriers to the eye like something with long lines that dominate the arrangement. The eye should rove around the subject.

PRE-SKETCH
Do a rough draft of the drawing loosely. Don't try to be perfect just get things in place on the paper. Look for the shapes of objects and use the basic shapes of squares, rectangles, ovals etc. to compose the parts of the drawing.

MAPPING
Our still life is of glass jars. We want to catch the shiny spots, so we draw them early as outlines, that way when we are shading we don't shade over them. The darkest areas are determined and the first layer of shading is applied.

DEVELOPING DETAIL
Sketch in the details like the far sides seen through the glass or the raised edges.

SHADING
Use the side of the pencil shade in areas. Do all the light areas first then go over the darker areas. Look for reflected shadows and shadows inside shadows. Remember to not shade over the highlights that you mapped out before. Use a blending stub or a tissue to blend the shadows and give the glassy effect.
Shading is the biggest job in the drawing so take your time and take a few breaks.

Tips for Drawing a Still Life With Jars Worksheet

If your still life drawing does not turn out the way you wanted it to do not get discouraged you are learning. No one is more critical and demanding than an artist who is looking at his own work if you are discouraged it suggests you may have a talent and are trying to develop it. Learning to draw takes practice so come back every day and print another worksheet and give it a try. Some people have a gift for flowers and others have a gift for portrait so try different subjects and soon you will find your gift.
(c) Adron