How to Make Geometric Forms out of Paper

By Matt Fussell

Finding good still life material can be challenging.  Sure, you can pick up whatever's laying around, but most of the time you'll end up with just a drawing full of junk! It's a safe bet to assume that you want your still life drawing to be interesting and you want to improve your drawing skills at the same time.  Drawing your set of keys over and over again is not going to accomplish either one of those goals. 

Geometric forms are actually great subjects for still life sketches and drawings.  When set under deliberate light, they can provide interesting compositions.  They can also help our observation skills because of the way they evenly distribute light and create value. When you have neutral colored forms it is even better, because the temperature of colors are more evident.  For example with white forms, shadows are cooler and highlights appear warmer.  This makes it easier for us to understand the light that we are seeing without the color of the object itself getting in the way. 

 

The only issue with geometric forms is that you can't just go out to the store and buy them.  And chances are, you don't have them lying around your house either.  Fortunately, geometric forms are easy to make out of paper. Plus, it's pretty fun too.

You'll need is some heavy paper like card stock, Bristol paper, or watercolor paper.  Drawing paper is not thick enough to work well. You'll need an Exacto knife, a pencil, and a ruler.  You'll also need to find a good surface for cutting with a sharp blade. A pattern helps too.  A link to some great patterns is further down this page.

The following video demonstrates how to build geometric forms out of paper...