How to Draw a Book

Step by step

1. Step 1

   Draw the spine as a short line down the middle.

   Everything hangs off this. The spine is the hinge, and both page halves are measured from it - which is why drawing it first stops the book coming out bent.

   Tarira Starting with a page and adding the spine afterwards.

   Check It should be vertical and near the middle of your page.

2. Step 2

   Draw pamusoro pekumashure kwepaIndaneti, kusvikira zvishoma kusvikira mumwe.

   These are the edges going away from you, so they converge. Not dramatically - a few degrees is enough. This single detail is what separates a box from a folded rectangle.

   Tarira Drawing them parallel, or worse, diverging.

   Check Extended, the two lines should eventually meet.

3. Step 3

   Shura pashure pazuva rimwe nerimwe nechimiro chekunze chinouyazve kumusoro.

   These are the short edges of the covers. Keep them roughly the same length as each other - the two halves of an open book are the same size, and any difference reads as a mistake rather than as perspective.

   Tarira Making one cover visibly longer than the other.

   Check Both outer edges should be about the same length.

4. Step 4

   Kuungana kunze mativizve kumusoro kumusoro kwechiuno.

   This closes the two page shapes. Corners must actually meet - overshoot slightly and let the lines cross rather than aiming to stop exactly on the point, because a crossed corner reads as closed and a gap does not.

   Tarira Stopping just short, leaving four small gaps.

   Check Every corner should be closed or slightly crossed.

5. Step 5

   Draw the thickness: zvishoma mativi pasi kubva pamwechete kunze corner.

   A book is a solid, not a sheet. These three short verticals turn the flat shape into a box, and they must all be the same length - unequal ones make the book look warped.

   Tarira Making the three drop lines different lengths.

   Check All three verticals should measure the same.

6. Step 6

   Join zvipfupi zvemamwe mativi kuti vadzivise underside.

   Now the box is complete. These lines run parallel to the edges directly above them - if they do not, the thickness of the book changes along its length, which is the classic wobbly-box look.

   Tarira Drawing these at a different angle from the edges above.

   Check Each bottom edge should run parallel to the one above it.

7. Step 7

   Add the page stack as two or three short lines on each edge.

   Pages read as a stack, not a slab. Two or three lines following the cover edge is enough for the eye to fill in hundreds - drawing more just makes it look hatched.

   Tarira Drawing one hard line, which reads as solid wood.

   Check You should see distinct layers, not a filled band.

8. Step 8

   Draw a zvishoma curve mukati pechimwe peji pedyo spine.

   Open pages are not flat - they dip toward the spine. Adding that curve is the difference between an open book and two flat cards taped together, and it takes one stroke each side.

   Tarira Leaving the pages perfectly flat.

   Check Each page should dip slightly as it approaches the spine.

9. Step 9

   Kuwedzera mitsara yezvinyorwa, zvichitevera angle yepeji.

   Text lines run parallel to the top edge of the page they sit on, which means they are NOT horizontal - they lean with the perspective. Drawing them level is the fastest way to flatten a book you have just built.

   Tarira Drawing the text lines horizontally.

   Check The text lines should lean the same way as the page's top edge.

10. Step 10

    Shade pedyo pedyo nebhuku kubva kuzuva.

    Work in one direction rather than scrubbing back and forth. Scrubbing gives an even grey, which is exactly the thing that makes a drawing look flat, so lay the strokes the same way and build the darkness in passes.

    Tarira Being too timid. Beginners routinely stop two or three steps short of dark enough.

    Check The dark side should be clearly darker than the mid tone, not slightly.

11. Step 11

    Iva nechokwadi chekuti uine chiedza chakakwana.

    The cast shadow is darkest where it touches the book and softens as it moves away. It also anchors the object to a surface - without it the book floats, however well you have shaded it.

    Tarira Drawing it as an even grey blob detached from the object.

    Check It should touch the object and be darkest at that contact point.

12. Step 12

    Gonga pamusoro pemitsara iwe uchida kuchengeta, uye bvisa zvinyorwa.

    This is the step that turns a construction drawing into a finished one, and it is the one most people skip. Press harder on the outline and the features; leave the small stuff light. That difference in weight is what makes a drawing look deliberate rather than traced, and it costs thirty seconds.

    Tarira Going over everything at the same weight, which flattens the drawing back out.

    Check The outline should be clearly darker than the smallest details.