Sphere Drawing 101
Learning How to Draw a Sphere helps you to gain the necessary skills to draw a round object AND help it look 3-D! 3-D means that your drawing looks like it has a shape (in this case a round shape) even though it is drawn on a flat page.
This tutorial is for kids of ALL ages (yes, that can include "grown up" kids too!), so everyone can learn the skill of drawing. You don't have to be a great artist, just be willing to learn and practice. So grab some paper (any paper will do) and a pencil with an eraser and let's draw a sphere!
Supplies You'll Need For Sphere Drawing
If you want to continue learning How to Draw you may want to pick up a drawing pad, a few drawing pencils and an eraser. It helps to have a bag to put them in so they are all together and you can bring it with you whenever you want! Drawing is SO portable, goes anywhere you go!
How to Draw a Sphere
- To draw a sphere, we begin by drawing a circle. It doesn't have to be perfect, make it fairly large so you have some space to practice shading. You can draw around the bottom of a cup, can or draw around a small plate to get a circle shape if you want.
Shadows and shading on a sphere
2. Set a round object out in front of you, like a tennis ball. Do you see how there is a shadow on the table where the object blocks the light? This is where we are going to start first with our drawing. The light can come from any direction and the shadow and shading will move depending on the location of the light.
3. Draw a shadow area outside of the circle you drew on the bottom left side. We are going to pretend that there is a strong light to the upper right of the sphere and there is a shadow next to the sphere on the bottom left side.
4. Turn the pencil kind of on its side and draw with the side of the pencil led. Draw kind of a semi-circle smile shape next to the sphere. You can kind of smudge this with your finger and it makes it look more smooth, like a shadow. Make the shadow area darker right next to the circle and lighter as it goes away from the sphere.
5. Do you also notice how the light hits the ball and causes it to be brighter on one side and darker on the other? Draw some shaded area on the lower left side of the sphere shape that you drew. It will be darker next to the edge of the ball and lighter towards the middle of the ball. Smudge a little with your finger, rubbing along the edge of the circle. Cool, huh?
See how I shaded a bit all around the sphere, leaving the upper right side unshaded? The unshaded part of the sphere is where we pretend the light is hitting the sphere.
Contour lines on a sphere
6. I drew a few contour lines in the shaded area of the sphere. Contour lines are kind of like smile lines, curved lines that imitate the curved edge of the sphere. Draw them fairly light and smudge them a bit as well.
How to draw a sphere sitting on a table
In the video I drew a second circle on the page and drew a line that went across the circle, leaving the line off where it crosses the circle shape (or you can draw the line all the way across the page and then erase the line in the middle of the circle). This is to look like the edge of the table.
So then area above the line and circle are to be a wall and the area below the line and circle are to be the table. This is to make it look like you are looking at the ball from the side. Draw the same shadow on the table and shade on the sphere as we did above.
Make a bit of shading on the wall area, smudging with your finger.
Finish up the sphere be drawing a bit more around the edge of the sphere to make it stand out a bit more.
You did it, you learned How to Draw a Sphere!
You did it!! Way to go, you learned How to Draw a Sphere! That was fun!
The more you practice this the better you will get at it. Now when you see round objects you will notice the shadow and shading and think, "I know how I would draw that!"
More How to Draw tutorials will be coming! Be sure to subscribe and get a notice when the next How to Draw video comes out.
If you try this How to Draw tutorial, let me know! Go ahead and leave a comment, rate it, and tag a photo with #WelcometoNanas wherever you post.
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More Like Drawing a Sphere
Want to learn more about drawing? Check out these additional posts on Welcome to Nana’s!
A Guide To Draw A Sphere
Equipment
- none needed
Items Required
Instructions
- Begin by drawing a circle. Make it fairly large so you have some space to practice shading. You can draw around the bottom of a cup, can or draw around a small plate to get a circle shape if you want.
- Draw a shadow area outside of the circle you drew on the bottom left side. We are going to pretend that there is a strong light to the upper right of the sphere and there is a shadow next to the sphere on the bottom left side.
- Turn the pencil kind of on its side and draw with the side of the pencil led. Draw kind of a semi-circle smile shape next to the sphere. You can kind of smudge this with your finger and it makes it look more smooth, like a shadow. Make the shadow area darker right next to the circle and lighter as it goes away from the sphere.
- Do you also notice how the light hits the ball and causes it to be brighter on one side and darker on the other? Draw some shaded area on the lower left side of the sphere shape that you drew. It will be darker next to the edge of the ball and lighter towards the middle of the ball. Smudge a little with your finger, rubbing along the edge of the circle. See how I shaded a bit all around the sphere, leaving the upper right side unshaded? The unshaded part of the sphere is where we pretend the light is hitting the sphere.
- I drew a few contour lines in the shaded area of the sphere. Contour lines are kind of like smile lines, curved lines that imitate the curved edge of the sphere. Draw them fairly light and smudge them a bit as well.
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