Part 4 How to create form. Michelle Campbell continues her look at the techniques and ideas she uses to paint pictures of wildlife

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

■ How to create a threedimensional effect in your drawings and paintings

■ Exercises in creating shape, values, form and space

Following last month’s article about sketching and painting techniques, this month I would like to write about form and how it’s an important element for an artist. A strong understanding of form and how to create the illusion of form in drawings and paintings is one of the first things you should acquaint yourself with as an artist. Line is also one of the most important elements of art. Imagine creating a painting without drawing lines to divide the paper into shapes and forms.

What is form?

A form has the illusion of being a two or three-dimensional shape. Two-dimensional form has length, width and height, such as a drawing or painting, and the three-dimensional form has depth as well as width and height of an object, such as a sculpture or building. In fact, everything you see in life is three-dimensional. Form and shape can be described as either organic or geometric.