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, in other words: how to place the objects in such a way that they form a nice compact group. In the example, the objects from right to left are half in front of the object behind them. On the left, that pattern is broken up again by the small round object in front. The diagonal edges of the table reinforce those directions. His still life looks very calm due to its simplicity, soft colours and shadows. Morandi likes to choose objects without all kinds of frills, without imprints such as letters and images. The painting style is quite loose; you can still see how the paint has been applied and the outline of the objects is not very tight anywhere. This gives the hard earthenware objects a soft touch. The shadows on the objects and the table are created by side light from the left and make the objects beautifully plastic (suggestion of curves, convex and concave parts / almost malleable).
Exercise 2: 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 the use of assisting lines, see Useful drawing tips part 2, chapter 2, level 3.
Exercise 3: Place a compact group of commonplace 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: A good exercise is to draw shadows instead of outlines. One tool is to first take a photo of your still life (preferably at eye level) and convert the photo to grayscale. Make sure there is light from the side when you take the photo, so that you get nice shadows. Then try to draw only the shadows. Leave out complicated details. On the light side, leave the shapes open as much as possible. Remember that you are not taking a photo but creating a drawing. Give yourself the space to deviate from the photo. To learn how to draw shadows, take a look at the lesson Shadow, level 1.