How to Draw a Mug

Step by step

1. Step 1

   Kufunga pamusoro pezera rako rekuona uye nyora.

   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.

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

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

2. Step 2

   Dzokera bhokisi seimwe ellipse, munzira imwe chete yakapusa.

   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.

   Tarira Building it out of short careful arcs.

   Check It should be symmetrical about its own long axis.

3. Step 3

   Draw maviri mativi rakatarisana pasi, taper mu zvishoma.

   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.

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

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

4. Step 4

   Tinya pasi ne ellipse yakasviba, yakasviba kupfuura pamusoro.

   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.

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

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

5. Step 5

   Add imwe yakati kureva chete mukati mechigaro.

   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.

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

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

6. Step 6

   Dzokera kumusoro

   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.

   Tarira Leaving a gap where the handle meets the mug.

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

7. Step 7

   Dzvanya pane iyo bhokisi rezvinyorwa kuti uwane ruzivo nezvekuisa iyo bhokisi.

   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.

   Tarira Drawing the handle as a single line.

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

8. Step 8

   Kutaura kuti mhepo iri kuuya kubva kupi.

   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.

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

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

9. Step 9

   Shade pedyo nechiuno chemukombe kure 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.

10. Step 10

    Idzikisa chivharo chekupisa panzvimbo yemufananidzo wechiedza.

    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.

    Tarira Running the shading right up to the outline.

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

11. Step 11

    Iva nechokwadi chekuti uine chiedza chakakwana.

    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.

    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.