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TIP 322 How to Draw Cylindrical Forms Easily (for Product Design)

Boost your product design skills with simple steps to draw cylinders accurately. Discover how to use symmetry axes, contour lines, and perspective boxes, along with creative spring sketches, to bring volume and clarity to your sketches.

Table Of Contents

TIP 1| Draw with a Papermate Flair M
TIP 2| The minor axis is your symmetry axis!
TIP 3| The 3 steps to drawing "cylinder forms" are easy
TIP 4| Visualize boxes in perspective
TIP 5| Draw contour lines
TIP 6| Try the Spring technique!

Discover how to bring your products to life with the help of simple cylindrical formulas.
Follow these 4 sketching tips and start drawing cylinders today!

TIP 1| Draw with a Papermate Flair M

Learning a new technique is often intimidating at the start.
As a beginner, we lack precision.
This is why I recommend you practice with a thicker felt nib: The Papermate Flair M is my favorite.

Draw without looking for perfection and enjoy studying today’s drawing tutorials!

Papermate FLAIR M (Medium)

Thick felt nib

TIP 2| The minor axis is your symmetry axis!

Take any product around you with a cylinder base.
Turn it in any angle while visualizing the invisible minor axis. — Take any product around you with a cylinder base.
Turn it at any angle while visualizing the invisible minor axis.

An important rule is to draw a cylinder base product, the minor axis is your symmetry axis.
No matter from which angle you see your product.

We use the Cylinder base to create our new form drawing a series of ellipses.

Spot the minor axis here in blue = symmetry axis

TIP 3| The 3 steps to drawing “cylinder forms” are easy

Let’s have fun drawing some random forms using the “Cylinder base” technique! I show you below in 3 simple steps:

Step 1: Draw an axis — Step 1: Draw an axis

Step 2: Draw ellipses with different sizes all along the axis. — Step 2: Draw ellipses of different sizes all along the axis.

Step 3: Connect the ellipses creating the form you want. — Step 3: Connect the ellipses creating the form you want.

IMPORTANT:

TO KNOW: The top ellipse is thinner than the bottom one. All the ellipses in between get thick gradually going down. — TO KNOW: The top ellipse is thinner than the bottom one. All the ellipses in between get thick gradually going down.

TIP 4| Visualize boxes in perspective

To level up your visualization in 3D, imagine your “cylinder forms” embed in boxes in perspective.

Each box is a portion of the "Cylinder form". — Each box is a portion of the “Cylinder form”.

TIP 5| Draw contour lines

To show even more clarity and volume, add in contour lines. To practice this, you will need first to study the Designer Starter Kit.

Level up learning how to draw the contour lines of your volumes. — Level up by learning how to draw the contour lines of your volumes.

TIP 6| Try the Spring technique!

Let me show you a fun sketching technique.
I draw some springs to create some volumes. Remember to widen the “ellipses” as you go down.

Draw with the Spring technique! — The Spring technique!

Fill many draft paper to practice. — Fill out many draft papers to practice.

Alrighty, I hope you enjoy this simple tutorial. I wish to show you how you can draw many new forms even as a beginner. :)

See you for the next DRAWING TIP!
Cheers,
Chou-Tac

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