How Many Straight Lines Does It Take To Draw A Sphere....

Graphite Pencil Sphere on Paper

not as many as you would think! I have never really drawn a sphere without some sort of crutch, ie grid lines, compass or masking tape roll. I honestly did not think would be so easy to get a relatively perfect sphere, ok so it is not perfectly round, but I think it is pretty close.

Basically I used four straight lines to form a box around the sphere and then filled in the spaces between the lines to form a circle, using smaller and smaller straight lines. It took shape much more quickly (well, that term is relative I guess) than I had expected.

The shading, using only a 2H and H pencil on the other hand, took much longer than I had expected. The pencil leads were sharpened with sandpaper to a lethally sharp point and the values were built up very slowly and methodically working from the terminator (point where the light no longer reaches) to the highlight. The idea is to work only in one area at a time, not jumping from one area to the next. The focus of the exercise is on feeling or conceptualizing the form of the sphere rather than thinking of values and just copying values. Once you get into it, it is a super relaxing exercise!

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Tracey Costescu Fine Art

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