Construction Drawing

Construction drawing is the method of building complex objects out of simple forms, the way a sculptor or an engineer would. It's how artists draw convincing objects from any angle, and even things that don't exist.

The idea

Instead of copying the outline of an object, you ask: what forms is this made of, and how are they connected? Then you draw those forms in 3D, lightly, and refine the real object on top of them.

Step by step

1. Find the main form. A mug is a cylinder. A car is a long box. A bird is an egg (sphere) with a smaller sphere for the head.
2. Place it in space. Decide the angle, the axis and the size. Draw it lightly, through the form.
3. Add secondary forms. Attach them to the main form, respecting its perspective: the handle sits on the cylinder's surface, a car's wheels are cylinders on the box's sides.
4. Cut and carve. Real objects are often forms with parts removed: a chair is a box with chunks cut out; a nose is a wedge.
5. Refine. Draw the real contours on top of the construction, with confident lines and line weight.
6. Add value and detail last.

Additive and subtractive construction

• Additive: combining forms. A snowman is three spheres; a lamp is a cone on a cylinder on a disc.
• Subtractive: carving forms out of a bigger block. Start with a box and cut away until you reach the shape, like a sculptor with marble.

Most real objects need both.

Why it works

Construction forces you to understand the object in 3D. Once you've built a mug from a cylinder, you can draw it from above, below or tilted, without a reference, because you know its structure. This is the foundation of drawing from imagination, which we'll explore in a later lesson.