Doing Form Studies So That You Can Rotate Objects And Figures In Three Dimensions

Introduction

Practicing drawing primitive forms like boxes, spheres, cylinders, and cones in any orientation is useful if you want to become good at drawing things in any orientation from your imagination. (3D models for primitive forms can be found here.)

primitive forms

These primitive forms can also be manipulated; they can be twisted, bent, squeezed, stretched, added, or subtracted from each other. Shapes can be traced along a line to create new forms. 3D models for organic forms can be found here , and models for combined forms here .

primitive forms

More on that below.

These simplified forms can be combined into more complex forms, creating real-world objects and figures. You can then start to draw the object rotated from imagination by rotating the simplified form representation of it.

constructing a chess pawn
Demonstration: Chess pawn broken down into simple forms an rotated.

You can practice this without any photo reference! It is fun to construct imaginary cartoon characters from primitive forms.

form studies

You can practice this using the 3D models on the Practice Drawing This website . These 3D models can be viewed online in most browsers, including ones on mobile phones.

Form studies are an excellent exercise for learning how to place things accurately in a three-dimensional space. It is way more fun to position these forms in a three-dimensional space without first working out a perspective grid, and it’s fun to do it by eye. For drawing, I prefer this over studying the math behind perspective. The drawing from memory exercise trains you to see when things are off. Combined with form studies, this will train you to place believable, perspective-correct forms in a three-dimensional space in any orientation.

form studies

You can use the forms in two ways:

1) Create more complex forms from simpler primitive forms, deformed or not. You can create imaginary constructions this way, but you can also look at photo references and, as an exercise, try to work out the underlying form of the thing in the picture. As starting points, these primitive forms can be used as approximations of more complex forms. After deforming the form, details can be added to it.

2) Another use is to be able to place objects in boxes. An exercise can be to draw boxes in several different orientations and then place an object or human in those boxes in their different orientations.

Form studies help practice placing things believably in a three-dimensional space and can help place details accurately.

The exercises mentioned in the Dexterity guide are useful precursors to doing form studies: they help you practice drawing straight lines, circles, and ellipses accurately and starting and stopping lines exactly at other lines, which is invaluable when drawing forms.

Primitive Forms

Start by practicing the primitive forms like boxes, spheres, cylinders, cones, and pyramids. They are the base building blocks and approximations of parts of the forms you see everywhere around you. (3D models for primitive forms can be found here.)

primitive forms

These primitive forms can be manipulated further to obtain better approximations.

Stretching And Squeezing

A form can be stretched and squeezed. Try to imagine that the forms have a fixed volume. When you stretch them, they become narrower in the middle, and when you squeeze them, they become fatter in the middle. (3D model for stretched/squeezed form can be found here.)

form studies

Twisting, Bending, And Wrapping

Boxes can be twisted: (3D model for twisted box can be found here.)

form studies

And longer forms like cylinders and long boxes can be bent: (3D model for bent cylinder.)

form studies

Forms can also be wrapped around other forms, which is a form of bending. (3D model for box wrapped around cylinder.)

form studies

Tracing Shapes Along A Path

A fun way to create forms is to draw a curved line and a shape at one side and trace that shape along the path created by the curved line. The shape can be a circle, a square, or any shape. 3d model of an ellipse traced along a path.)

circle traced alondg a path

Bending A Form Along a Path

You can also bend a cone or pyramid along a path. (3D model of cone bent along a path.)

form studies

Adding

Forms can be added to each other by studying interlocking forms: primitive forms that overlap each other in space, forming a new, combined form. (3D models of added forms.)

form studies

To find the intersecting line between the two forms, it is useful to draw many contour lines lightly on both forms to figure out where they touch.

The Bridgman anatomy illustrations make heavy use of interlocking (added) forms as this simplified arm demo shows. bridgman arm demo) {P

Subtracting

Similarly, forms can be subtracted from other forms. Parts can be cut away along a plane, or forms like boxes and cylinders can be cut out of other boxes and cylinders: (3D models of subtracted forms.)

form studies

Tips

Contour Lines

When drawing forms, it is useful to draw the contour lines on the forms—lines around the object that show how their surface bends in space. It helps you understand the underlying form.

Draw Through

Draw through the forms; draw the contour lines lightly on the back of the forms where you don’t see them. This helps you understand the form better and relate it to other objects better.

Also, draw the parts of forms hidden behind other forms to place them better relative to each other.

The Blob Method

The idea for the blob method comes from Proko: first, draw a blob-like form and then turn it into a primitive, like a box. Drawing a blob as an approximation of the final form first allows you to place the final form in the right place and proportions.

Accuracy

We’re talking about approximating complex forms using simplified forms. You don’t need to be deadly precise with the primitive and manipulated forms. Have fun with it!

 

Related Resources

Practice drawing the primitive and manipulated forms by using the 3D models on Practice Drawing This:

 
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3D Models To Use For Drawing Practice
Lots of 3D models you can use for drawing exercises.
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Then try to create simplified forms of reference images in the flashcards section:

 
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Reference Images For Memory Drawing
Lots of images you can use for memory drawing exercises.
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