How to Draw a Book

一步

1. 步 1

   将脊椎画成中间的短线。

   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.

   小心 Starting with a page and adding the spine afterwards.

   检查支票 It should be vertical and near the middle of your page.

2. 步 2

   绘制每页的顶端, 稍微向上倾斜 。

   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.

   小心 Drawing them parallel, or worse, diverging.

   检查支票 Extended, the two lines should eventually meet.

3. 步 3

   关闭每页 外缘会回到你身边

   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.

   小心 Making one cover visibly longer than the other.

   检查支票 Both outer edges should be about the same length.

4. 步 4

   将外缘连到脊椎底部

   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.

   小心 Stopping just short, leaving four small gaps.

   检查支票 Every corner should be closed or slightly crossed.

5. 步 5

   绘制厚度: 从每个外角下下行短线。

   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.

   小心 Making the three drop lines different lengths.

   检查支票 All three verticals should measure the same.

6. 步 6

   加入这些线底的底部 关闭底部。

   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.

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

   检查支票 Each bottom edge should run parallel to the one above it.

7. 步 7

   每个边缘添加两三条短线页面堆叠。

   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.

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

   检查支票 You should see distinct layers, not a filled band.

8. 步 8

   向脊椎附近的每页绘制略微的曲线。

   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.

   小心 Leaving the pages perfectly flat.

   检查支票 Each page should dip slightly as it approaches the spine.

9. 步 9

   添加文字行,在页面角度后。

   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.

   小心 Drawing the text lines horizontally.

   检查支票 The text lines should lean the same way as the page's top edge.

10. 步 10

    将书的一面遮蔽 远离光线

    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.

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

    检查支票 The dark side should be clearly darker than the mid tone, not slightly.

11. 步 11

    将阴影加在下面的表面

    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.

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

    检查支票 It should touch the object and be darkest at that contact point.

12. 步 12

    越过你想保持的线条 失去导游

    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.

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

    检查支票 The outline should be clearly darker than the smallest details.