4 Drawing Exercises To Help You Transition From 2D To 3D

The four exercises described below are part of this website's warm-up drills in the Art Flashcards system. They were inspired by this gem of a YouTube video: 25 Essential Drawing Exercises: Unlock your Imagination by brokendraw .

1. Ribbons

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Following are three methods for drawing a ribbon in space. I urge you to learn to do it in all three ways.

Method 1:

This is the easiest way to do it.

Start by drawing a curve in a two-dimensional plane. Then, draw lines moving away from that curve into the third dimension and toward a second plane, all going to the same vanishing point. Lastly, draw the same shape in the second plane.

Method 2:

This method is a bit harder, but it allows you to practice drawing parallel curved lines.

Start again with a curved line in a plane. This time, the second step is different: draw the same curve in a different plane parallel to the first plane, and only then draw the lines that connect similar points on the curved lines.

Method 3:

This approach is the most versatile because it allows you to work with stronger perspective effects and is an easy way to practice placing things in rotated boxes. For this approach, draw a box first, then draw a curved line on one side of the box, draw the same curved line on the opposite side of the box, and connect points between the lines.

2. Extrusion

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Following are three methods for drawing an extruded shape in space. I urge you to learn to do it in all three ways.

This exercise is similar to the ribbon exercise , with the difference being that you are now starting with a closed line.

Method 1:

This is the easiest way to do it.

Start by drawing a closed curved line in a two-dimensional plane. Then, draw lines moving away from that curve into the third dimension and toward a second plane, all going to the same vanishing point. Lastly, draw the same shape in the second plane.

Method 2:

This method is a bit harder, but it allows you to practice drawing parallel curved lines.

Start again with a curved line in a plane. This time, the second step is different: draw the same curve in a different plane parallel to the first plane, and only then draw the lines that connect similar points on the curved lines.

Method 3:

This approach is the most versatile because it allows you to work with stronger perspective effects and is an easy way to practice placing things in rotated boxes. For this approach, draw a box first, then draw a curved line on one side of the box, draw the same curved line on the opposite side of the box, and connect points between the lines.

3. Flattening Planes

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It is helpful to practice drawing one square rotated in space before practicing drawing a box rotated in space. Similarly, it helps to practice rotating a circle in space before drawing a cylinder rotated in space first. This exercise is about that.

Imagine a cross created from the lines to the corners. The point where these diagonals cross is the center of the square. Imagine a vertical line through that point. We are going to rotate the square around that line.

You can do the same for a circle, turning it into an ellipse by drawing the circle inside the square we just practiced.

After you get a feel for it, you can start drawing a series of squares, each rotated a bit more, and you can do the same with a circle.

4. Organic Blobs

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This exercise really is from Peter Han's excellent Dynamic Sketching course. Here, you start by drawing a two-dimensional shape first:

Then, you define a central line that goes through the object, defining a three-dimensional direction.

Then, you draw contour lines centered around the through line you put down first, which are lines that describe the three-dimensionality of the surface.

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