sketcha.day

Monday, September 7

How to draw...

Turn one shallow parallelogram into a heavy iron anvil. This 20-minute sketch teaches a pointed horn, concave curves and simple changes in value that separate the light striking face from the darker body. Keep the wear marks loose and give your anvil its own well-used character.

20 minEasy-medium
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Handmade graphite and muted blue-gray pencil sketch of a left-pointing blacksmith anvil with a pale flat striking face, square and round tool holes, concave waist, broad heavy base, three diagonal wear scratches and a loose ground shadow.
Finished sketch About 20 minutes

From the archive

Let's draw an anvil

Treat this as one small practice round: build the subject lightly, notice the shapes, then darken only the lines that help the finished sketch.

  1. 01
    Draw the flat striking face stage for how to draw an anvil

    Draw the flat striking face

    Draw a wide, shallow parallelogram slightly above the middle of the page. Let its short ends slope up to the right. Keep the front and back long edges nearly parallel; this is the top of the anvil.

    Sketch tip: Ghost the long edges before drawing. Compare the two short-edge angles to keep the top plane coherent.

  2. 02
    Attach the pointed horn stage for how to draw an anvil

    Attach the pointed horn

    From the back-left corner of the striking face, draw a long shallow curve to a point on the left. Curve back from this point toward the body, stopping below the front-left corner to leave an open connection for the waist. Keep the short left edge of the top as a visible join.

    Sketch tip: The open end is intentional: the next waist curve continues from it, so no keeper line needs erasing.

  3. 03
    Build the waist and heavy base stage for how to draw an anvil

    Build the waist and heavy base

    Continue the open horn curve down into a short concave left waist, then flare it toward the left foot. From the right top corner, draw a short heel drop, a concave right waist, and a flared right foot. Join the feet with a long line, then add a shallow slab underneath with two short downstrokes and a parallel bottom edge. Add the right return edges from heel to foot and across the base, plus a few light grounding strokes beneath the right foot.

    Sketch tip: Compare the empty spaces under the horn and heel. Keep the base broad enough to make the iron feel heavy.

  4. 04
    Add the tool holes and wear stage for how to draw an anvil

    Add the tool holes and wear

    Near the right end of the top, draw one small diamond-shaped square hole and one small oval hole beside it. Put three diagonal wear scratches on the front body. Lightly hatch the iron and extend the loose ground-shadow strokes beneath the base, keeping the top face pale.

    Sketch tip: Turn the paper to pull each scratch in one relaxed stroke. The square hole follows the same perspective as the top.

  5. 05
    Handmade graphite and muted blue-gray pencil sketch of a left-pointing blacksmith anvil with a pale flat striking face, square and round tool holes, concave waist, broad heavy base, three diagonal wear scratches and a loose ground shadow.

    Shade the iron planes

    Use the side of a 2B pencil to deepen the waist and base, following their sloping planes. Darken the two holes and the ground shadow. Leave the striking face light, and glaze a little muted blue-gray over the iron without hiding the graphite grain or the three wear scratches.

    Sketch tip: Squint at the drawing: the top should stay the lightest plane, with the base and ground shadow darkest.