How to Draw a Mug

Étape par étape

1. Étape 1

   Décidez de votre niveau d'oeil et marquez-le.

   Everything about the ellipses follows from this. If the mug is below your eye level you will see into it; if it is level you will not. Make the decision consciously now rather than letting it drift halfway through the drawing.

   Attention. Not deciding, then drawing a rim that contradicts the base.

   Vérification You should be able to say whether you are looking down into this mug or across at it.

2. Étape 2

   Dessinez la jante comme une ellipse, en un seul mouvement rapide.

   Go round three or four times without stopping and keep the best pass. Speed is what makes an ellipse smooth - drawn slowly it comes out lumpy on one side every single time, because your hand cannot hold a curve at low speed.

   Attention. Building it out of short careful arcs.

   Vérification It should be symmetrical about its own long axis.

3. Étape 3

   Dessinez les deux côtés droit vers le bas, en s'amenuisant légèrement.

   Start exactly at the ends of the ellipse's long axis. A slight taper inward looks more natural than perfectly parallel sides, and it is what most real mugs do.

   Attention. Starting the sides inside or outside the rim, which leaves a visible step.

   Vérification Each side should begin exactly at the widest point of the rim.

4. Étape 4

   Fermer le fond avec une ellipse légèrement plus ronde que le haut.

   The base is further from your eye level than the rim, so it is rounder. Same width, more curve. Getting this relationship right is the difference between a mug that sits on the table and one that appears to be sliding off it.

   Attention. Drawing the base flatter than the rim, or as a straight line.

   Vérification Rounder than the rim, and exactly the same width.

5. Étape 5

   Ajouter une seconde courbe juste à l'intérieur de la jante.

   This thin band is the thickness of the ceramic, and it is what makes the top read as an opening rather than a painted disc. One stroke, following the rim's curve.

   Attention. Drawing it parallel all the way round instead of following the ellipse.

   Vérification There should be a visible band between the two curves at the front.

6. Étape 6

   Dessinez la courbe extérieure de la poignée.

   Start just below the rim and end about two-thirds of the way down the side. Both ends must touch the mug - a handle that floats beside the body is the most common error here and it is instantly visible.

   Attention. Leaving a gap where the handle meets the mug.

   Vérification Both ends of the curve should touch the side of the mug.

7. Étape 7

   Donnez l'épaisseur de la poignée avec une seconde courbe à l'intérieur.

   A handle is a strap, not a wire. The inner curve runs parallel to the outer one and meets the mug slightly closer in at both ends. This is a small change that makes a large difference to how solid the mug looks.

   Attention. Drawing the handle as a single line.

   Vérification There should be a visible gap between the two handle curves.

8. Étape 8

   Marquez d'où vient la lumière.

   Pick a side and commit. A cylinder shades differently from a sphere - the darkest band sits just inside the edge on the shadow side, not at the very edge, because light bounces back up off the table onto the rim.

   Attention. Shading the very edge darkest, which makes the mug look flat.

   Vérification You should be able to say which side is lit.

9. Étape 9

   Éclacher le côté de la tasse loin de la lumière.

   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.

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

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

10. Étape 10

    Ajoutez une bande plus légère juste au bord de l'ombre.

    Light bouncing off the table catches the very edge of a cylinder, so the darkest band sits slightly INSIDE the outline. Leaving that thin lighter strip is what makes the mug read as round rather than as a shaded rectangle.

    Attention. Running the shading right up to the outline.

    Vérification There should be a thin lighter line between your shading and the edge.

11. Étape 11

    Ajoutez l'ombre en dessous.

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

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

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

12. Étape 12

    Passez par-dessus les lignes que vous voulez garder, et perdez les guides.

    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.

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

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