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How to Simplify Any Subject for Drawing

The most intimidating part of drawing can be starting with a blank page. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the detail and complexity of your subject. This lesson will teach you a powerful strategy to simplify anything you want to draw by breaking it down into basic shapes like circles, ovals, triangles, and rectangles.

The quality of your drawing comes down to the quality of the questions you ask yourself during the process. By repeatedly asking a series of five simple questions, you can learn to draw any subject from observation.

The 5-Question Method

This process involves asking yourself five questions over and over, working from the biggest shapes in your subject down to the smallest.

Here are the five questions:

1. What is the biggest shape?
2. What is its axis?
3. How big does it need to be?
4. Where on the page does it need to go?
5. What changes can I make?

Before you draw anything, ask yourself the first four questions. This helps you identify the main shape, its tilt (axis), its general size, and its placement on the page. Once you have that information, make your first light attempt at drawing the shape.

After your first attempt, ask the fifth question: What changes can I make? This is your chance to correct and refine the shape. Once you've made adjustments, you repeat the process, but with a small change to the first question: What is the next biggest shape?

You will repeat this cycle—asking the five questions for each new shape—to build your entire drawing from large forms to small details.

Putting the Method into Practice

Let's use a bird as an example. Birds are great for practice because they are constructed from simple shapes: an oval for the body, another for the head, a triangle for the beak, and a quadrilateral for the tail.

First Shape: The Body

1. What is the biggest shape? The oval for the bird's body.
2. What is its axis? I check the tilt of the oval. It’s tilted slightly, more vertical than horizontal.
3. How big does it need to be? I decide on a general size for the oval on my page.
4. Where does it go? I plan to place it on the right side of the page.

Before putting my pencil down, I pantomime the shape in the air, looking back and forth between my reference and my paper to check the size, axis, and placement. Then, I draw the oval with a light, soft line.

5. What changes can I make? I check my drawn oval against the reference. Is the size right? Is the axis correct? Is it in the right location? I make small adjustments by drawing right over my initial lines, not by erasing.

Next Shape: The Tail Now, I repeat the process for the next biggest shape, the quadrilateral for the tail. When I ask questions like "How big does it need to be?" and "Where does it go?", I'm now answering them in relation to the oval I've already drawn. For example, the tail is slightly shorter than the body's oval and extends from it.

After drawing the tail, I again ask what changes I can make and adjust the shape. When I redraw a shape, I make the new lines slightly darker. This creates a visual shorthand, so I always know which attempt is the most accurate.

This process continues for the head, beak, and all other parts of the bird, moving from bigger to smaller shapes.

Don't Fear Mistakes

I've been drawing for decades, and I still don't get it right on the first try. The process of adjustment is a normal part of drawing for everyone, including professionals. When you make a small error, don't get frustrated. Just move on to the fifth question and figure out how to fix it.

Practice Makes Perfect

This strategy provides a solid foundation for any drawing. Before you add details, shading, or texture, you can be confident that the underlying forms are the right size, in the right place, and in proportion.

Here are some exercises to get you started:

• Draw a minimum of 100 circles, 100 ovals, 100 triangles, and 100 quadrilaterals. This is the bare minimum. Practice these shapes until drawing them becomes second nature.
• Select a subject and use the five questions to simplify it. Birds are a great starting point. Choose a subject that matches your current skill level.

Over time, these questions will become a habit. You'll naturally start to see subjects as simple shapes, work from big to small, and build your drawings with confidence.

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