1. Sketchbook Assignment: Basic Geometric Shapes
Fill one page in your sketchbook with three different geometric shapes: sphere, cube, pyramid, or tube.
Sphere: ball, egg
Tube: toilet paper tube, mug, lipstick
Pyramid/Cone: pyramidal party hat, ice cream cone, cone made of printer paper
Cube: jewelry box, cereal box, etc.

2. Try shining a small desk lamp on your still life
Use a variety of light and dark values
Show highlights and shadows
Avoid outlines: all areas should be “colored in” with value, except the brightest highlights, which will be the bright white paper color. Try the tortillions, but don’t over-blend.

4. Try shining a direct light on the three objects
1, 2: highlights
3, 4: shadows
5: reflected light
6: cast shadow

5. Try overlapping the objects for a more interesting composition.

6. It's not just the range of values on the objects that you want to pay attention to, you also need to watch where you put the shadow. Otherwise your sphere will float in space (as in the bottom photo), rather than resting on the surface it's supposedly lying on.

7. Explore the more complicated shapes by practicing their forms before you fill in the values.

8. Depending on your comfort and skill level, you may want to work with perspective.
See your teacher for perspective hand outs.

9. Student Examples
Your drawing should be done in pencil, ball point pen or any other black and white drawing medium.

14. Rubric
Basic:
Uses Full Page and three basic shapes
Does not over-blend
Variety of values from highlights to dark shadows
Uses sketching lines rather than outlines
Acturately represents basic forms
Excellent:
Uses dynamic sketching lines with energy and a variety of pressure
Uses a combination of challenging forms
Includes background information, cast shadows
Uses perspective