The onset of fall rains brings mushrooms to our hills. Learning how to draw mushrooms is a lot of fun. Once you master the basic shape you can adapt it to the endless variety you see. Mushrooms will not fly away when you try to sketch them so give it a try. The shapes are a great way to hone your skills at describing form and contour. The view under the cap is beautiful. The gills under the cap radiate from the center. Aligning these structures is an essential part of making your mushroom sketch work. For more details see the video in my mushroom sketching class.
Click on the first image below to watch a step by step slide show of the basic lines for your mushroom sketch.
The round underside of the mushroom is an elipse when seen from an angle. Be sure to round the corners instead of making an “eye” shape.
Add the curve of the cap. Different species will have differently shaped caps. The cap shape also changes with age. Look carefully.
Find the center of the elipse by drawing cross hairs through the center.
Place a smaller elipse over the intersection of the cross hairs.
Drop the sides of the stipe from the corners of the smaller elipse.
Draw lines from the intersection of the cross hairs to the edge of the larger elipse. These show you the orientation of the gills. Pay particular attention to the angles of the gills on the back half of the mushroom. This is where most people make mistakes.
Erase all the guide lines inside the stipe. You have a basic mushroom. Now adapt this general form to match what you really see. Happy sketching.
The same lines construct the mushroom as seen from above. Just erase the inner lines on the cap. The lower part of the elipse becomes the close edge of the mushroom.
The onset of fall rains brings mushrooms to our hills. Learning how to draw mushrooms is a lot of fun. Once you master the basic shape you can adapt it to the endless variety you see. Mushrooms will not fly away when you try to sketch them so give it a try. The shapes are a great way to hone your skills at describing form and contour. The view under the cap is beautiful. The gills under the cap radiate from the center. Aligning these structures is an essential part of making your mushroom sketch work. For more details see the video in my mushroom sketching class.
