1-Begin by taking a moment to think about the scene: a coffee mug on top of a saucer. There should be some sweet treats like cookies next to it. Break down the subject’s structure into basic shapes like circles and squares, and lightly sketch. Feel free to erase until you get the pose and scale right; that’s why we just start with basic nondetailed shapes that take a second to draw and erase.
KEY-DETAIL PRACTICE
Sketch an overview of a cup in a saucer, using just circles. Warp the circles to show perspective.
2-Now, develop your simple shapes and lightly draw the outlines of the objects in the scene.
3-Lightly begin shading from the darkest area of your scene to the middle tones. With this light shading, don’t use much pressure; we are going to gradually build it up over time.
4-Go back and begin darkening your darker shadows with slightly more pressure. Have your strokes follow the shape of the structure’s form instead of following any direction.
5-Start to build up your shadows with more layers and pressure. Work from the darkest edge, gradually using less and less pressure until your value matches the mid-tone values you’ve come to.
6-Blend out from the mid-tones to lighter values, leaving only paper where we have the highlights. Use very delicate pressure or just smudge.
Artist Trick
To avoid smudging, pull your sleeve over your hand or place a small piece of paper beneath your hand.
7-For the details: Lightly sketch your textures and patterns in, but don’t go too dark, because we can’t really erase this without ruining the shading.
8-Develop the details, gradually building up the value of wood grains, ceramic patterns, and so on, rather than starting dark and hard.
