A Wee Tutorial: How to draw a water droplet.

I was friended on Facebook by a high-school chum who sent me this message:
“Hey Jess, this is G, class of ’95….You came up as a friend suggestion from Rye High so, I’m adding…if you don’t mind that is. Take care….Let’s see if you remember me; ’til this day I’ll never forget you taught me the trick on how to draw a perfect water drop, lol.”.
I had a total flashback of teaching G that water droplet technique. And I thought I would share it with you now.
First, you draw the outer shape of your droplet. It doesn’t have to be perfect, in fact, it’s usually better if it isn’t. Then, near the top, you draw a small circle. That’s the light hitting the top of the droplet.

Now, when the light hits the top of the droplet, the light goes inside the water and spreads out near the bottom. That means the top of the droplet is dark. So next, you shade the top of the droplet.

The droplet also casts a shadow. First, you draw a heavy line under the droplet, thinner at the sides and fuller at the bottom.

Then you add in a softer shadow. And voila, you are done.

Water droplets like to hang out in herds, so I used to draw them in groups.

A neato trick: Draw the water droplets on a gray or colored board, and then hit the light spots with a white pencil. It really makes it pop.





http://design-newyork.com/blog/2009/07/28/a-wee-tutorial-how-to-draw-a-water-droplet/