Drawing Lessons for Beginners:
Drawing an Old Shoe

This lesson, abridged from my Beginning to Draw Workshop encompasses three important elements in drawing: foreshortening, line quality and composition. Drawing an old shoe, or shoes, is a time-honored training exercise.
Drawing Lessons for Beginners - an old shoe

The material used is black conté on ivory colored Fabriano Ingres drawing paper. In in a darkened corner set up a rumpled old shoe – the more beaten up the shoe is the better – and light it in a manner that well expresses the shoe’s volume and character. We will not be using tone in this exercise. Instead the focus is on using line both structurally and expressively.

Drawing Lessons for Beginners - shoe1

Foreshortened objects can be a vexing problem for the beginning artist. The primary culprit for this is our preconceived notion of what a given object should look like. Consequently many beginning artists will struggle to combine what they see and what they think an object should look like. The result is generally not a good one.

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Drawing Lessons for Beginners - Foreshortening

An easy way to understand foreshortening is to envision your shoe in a, well, shoe box. A simple box in perspective is readily understood. The same principle applies to the shoe, or any object for that matter.

However, rendering a foreshortened shoe vis-a-vis a perspectal drawing is a daunting task. There are simply too many planes and variables to be dealt with.

The most efficient approach to drawing a foreshortened object is by accurately striking its arabesque. This encompasses both the shape and proportion. I prefer the term Arabesque as it implies gesture and dynamic relationships rather than Contour which implies a flat outline.

Drawing an accurate arabesque immediately expresses the foreshortened character of the shoe. As I have mentioned many times before striking the arabesque is a learned skill that once acquired establishes a solid foundation for your growth as an artist.

Once the arabesque of the shoe is accurately established the major elements of the shoe (i.e., tongue, heel, toe) need to be placed. These major elements are generally referred to as landmarks.

To accurately gauge the placement of the landmarks I need to establish a checkpoint. The primary height/width proportion of my shoe is a square, thus by using the center of the square as my checkpoint I can more easily relate the placement of the major landmarks.

Lightly sketch in the internal structures of the shoe carefully noting the directional changes of line; this is drawing architectonically.

Drawing Lessons for Beginners - shoe3
Drawing Lessons for Beginners - shoe 4

Drawing Lessons for Beginners - shoe 5

It is important not to get overly caught up in details, the focus is on establishing the overall character of the shoe.

Drawing linearly requires both an understanding and sensitivity to line quality. The topic of line quality is a large one that will concern you for the entirety of your art career. Suffice it to say that how you handle line plays a major role in how your drawings and paintings are read.

Line can be used to create a sculptural sense of 3-dimensionality. A heavier, darker line will advance while a thinner, lighter line will recede into the picture plane.

Line also plays its role in conveying the character, or personality, of both the object and the artist. An old running shoe is generally best rendered with short angular lines that express worn and creased leather. Drawing an Art Nouveau vase, on the other hand, might be better expressed with a graceful, serpentine line.

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