Drawing and Painting Still Life Figures

Lessons

Primary 4 · Creative Arts

Drawing and Painting Still Life Figures

5 lessons

Lesson 3 of 5

Drawing a Table

15 min

Let's begin

Niyonzima wants to draw his still life of a mango and a cup. But first he needs something for them to stand on. "My fruit is floating in the air!" he laughs. It needs a table.

A table is really a flat box standing on four legs. If you can draw a box, you can draw a table.

Why does the top of a table look slanted?

A table top is a rectangle. But you usually look at it from above and from one side, so it does not look like a rectangle in your drawing. It looks squashed and slanted, like the top of the box in the last lesson. The lower you sit, the thinner the table top looks.

Draw a table in four steps

The top. Draw a slanted four-sided shape. The front edge and the back edge are parallel. The two side edges are parallel too.
Thickness. Draw a thin strip under the front edge and the side edge. Now the top looks like a real piece of wood.
Legs. Draw each leg straight down, like a plumb line. The leg that is farther away starts higher and ends higher, so it looks shorter.
Back leg, objects and shadow. Draw the back leg that shows between the front legs. Put your objects on top, and add a soft shadow on the floor under the table.

Look closely

Cézanne painted this table with apples and pears on it. Look at it carefully.

Find the front edge of the table. It is a long, nearly straight line across the picture.
Find the drawer on the front of the table. It is a rectangle, like the front face of a box.
The top of the table looks like a wide band, not a full rectangle. Why? Because we are looking at it from the side and a little from above.
Each fruit sits on the table and has a small dark shadow under it. The shadows show the fruit is resting, not floating.

Tip

A table is a flat box on sticks

Draw the flat box first, then drop the legs straight down. Far legs are shorter.

✦

Try it yourself

Try each one first, then tap Show answer to check.

1

What shape does a table top look like when you draw it from the side and a little above?

Show answerHide answer

Answer: A slanted, squashed four-sided shape (not a full rectangle).

2

Which way do table legs go in your drawing?

Show answerHide answer

Answer: Straight down.

3

Gatete draws all four legs the same length. What should he change?

Show answerHide answer

Answer: The legs that are farther away should start higher and end higher, so they look shorter.

4

How can you show that a cup is resting on the table?

Show answerHide answer

Answer: Draw a small dark shadow under it, on the table top.

5

Make it: Draw the table or desk in your classroom with two objects on it. Use the four steps.

Quick check

In your drawing, which way do the legs of a table go?

What you learned today

A table top looks slanted and squashed when you see it from the side.
Draw the top, then its thickness, then legs straight down.
Far legs look shorter; shadows show that objects are resting on the table.

Sources and credits

Still Life with Apples and Pears, by Paul Cézanne (painting, about 1891–92), The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0 (public domain), used unchanged.

The rest of the lesson, the diagrams and the exercises (Try it yourself and the practice questions) are written by Ganzaa.

1Why does the top of a table look slanted?

2Draw a table in four steps

3Look closely

Try it yourself

Why does the top of a table look slanted?

Draw a table in four steps

Look closely