Chapter 1 | EVERYDAY OBJECTS
Still lifes in art are motionless objects drawn, painted, photographed or placed in a special way, usually in a group. The objects can be chosen for a certain meaning, but also for aesthetic qualities/a certain visual coherence, in other words: if the objects fit together nicely because of their shape and/or color and/or material.
The Italian artist Morandi painted still lifes of everyday objects throughout his life. He paid a lot of attention to the compositions: how to place the objects so that they form a harmonious and unique group. His still lifes look very calm due to their simplicity, the soft colors and shadows (in the example with side light from the left). The painting method is quite loose; you can see how the paint has been applied and the outline of the objects is never very tight. This gives the hard earthenware objects something soft. The shadows on the objects and the table are created by side light from the left and make the objects beautifully 3D (see the lesson Shadow, chapters 1 and 3, level 1)
It’s helpful to start drawing still lifes with simple objects, such as the omnipresent cylindrical cardboard tubes left over when all the toilet paper is used up.
Exercise 1: place one cardboard toilet roll tube in front of you and draw it. Note the oval opening at the top and the round bottom. The shape should not become pointed anywhere. For drawing ovals, see the lesson Useful drawing tips, chapter 2, level 1.
Exercise 2: In still lifes, objects are usually placed so close to each other that they more or less overlap each other. Of the following cardboard tubes, the back one is half overlapped by the front one. This gives your composition a bit of depth/difference between near and far. Copy both examples. Note that the bottom of the back tube starts higher on your paper.
Exercise 4: With just one a full roll of toilet paper you can come up with variations by placing the ‘loose’ paper in different positions. It then becomes a still life of one object. Always start lightly with the basic shape of the roll. If necessary, use assisting lines for directions and heights (for use of assisting lines, see Useful drawing tips part 2, chapter 2, level 3).
Exercise 5: combine cardboard tubes with (half) full rolls of toilet paper. Make it a compact group. If necessary, start by drawing the most central object and build the rest around it. In the beginning you should be able to see whether the entire still life fits nicely on your paper, otherwise you have drawn the first object too small or too large.
EXTRA 1: Place a compact group of as simple as possible objects in front of you, such as cups, goblets or bowls. Try to draw your still life. Add shadow and/or color where ever you like.
Some still lifes drawn by pupils from about 9-10 years:
EXTRA 2: Select and compose a small and compact group of objects with a special meaning to yourself. If this still life is too difficult to draw at first glance, you can first take a photo (preferably at eye level and not from a high view point) as an aid. You might convert the photo to grayscale, so that you can better concentrate on the shapes in the beginning.
EXTRA3: compose a compact group of 5 objects from your daily environment, each symbolizing one of our five senses: smell, sight, touch, hearing and taste. Here too, you can first take a photo, preferably at eye level, as an aid.