🔷 Drawing with shapes: the trick behind every drawing
Find the big shapes, draw them lightly, join them up, add the details, then go over the lines you want to keep. That is how every step-by-step drawing works, and once a child sees it, they can draw anything.
Step 1: Find the big shapes
Look at the thing you want to draw and ask: what shapes is it made of? A cat is a circle (head) on an oval (body). A car is two rectangles on two circles. A house is a square with a triangle on top.
Step 2: Draw them lightly
Press softly. These lines are a plan, not the drawing. Get the sizes right: is the head bigger or smaller than the body?
Step 3: Join them up
Draw the neck between head and body, the legs under the body, the tail. Smooth the corners where shapes meet.
Step 4: Add the details
- Eyes, nose and mouth.
- Patterns: stripes, spots, scales.
- Little things that make it yours: a hat, a bow, a scar.
Step 5: Go over the lines you want
Trace over the lines you want to keep, darker, with a pencil or a pen. Erase the planning lines. Colour it in.
Practise with the step player
Every step-by-step drawing on Peabody follows these steps, one new line at a time in blue. Try the easy ones first, then draw them again without looking.