Draw a Shiny Ornament in Six Steps
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 Step 1
Shiny ornaments are challenging to draw because of all the reflections.
To keep things simple, I chose a round, gold colored ornament. I placed it in lighting that cast one clear shadow, got comfortable, and started to draw.
Using a B pencil, I drew a circle and added a cap.
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 Step 2
Next I added the hook and the shape of the shadow the ornament was casting.
To help myself draw those lines in their right positions, I didn't really draw them, I drew the negative spaces between them and the ornament. For instance, while drawing the hook I paid more attention to capturing the shape between it and the ornament than to the hook itself.
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Step 3
 Then I drew in the shapes of the largest and most clearly defined shadows and highlights.
I saw three major shapes on the ornament and two on its cap. Each of these areas had many more reflections, shadows, and highlights within them but I looked for and drew the largest and most obvious shapes.
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 Step 4
Still using the B pencil, I hatched in each area of the ornament and its cast shadow.
I made the hatching in each area a value that was between the darkest and lightest values I could see there.
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 Step 5
Switching to the 2B, I hatched in the darkest values of each area like this:
- On the top of the ornament, the edges were the darkest part and that dark value graduated to a lighter one near the center top. There were some dark reflections in this area that I hatched in, too.
- The middle section was darker near the edges, too, and graduated to a lighter value near the middle. I added the reflection of the hook, curving it a little to make follow the form of the ball.
- The bottom of the ornament was darkest near the edges, too.
- The cap had some very dark areas on both sides, down the middle, and where it met the ball.
- The shadow cast by the ornament was darkest near the ball's bottom edge. There was a secondary shadow between the ball and the cap that I hatched in. I darkened the hook and added a cast shadow underneath it.
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 Step 6
To finish the shiny ornament, I added the highlight details as follows:
- I used a kneaded eraser pinched into a point to lift out the next to the brightest highlights on the ornament's top. Then I used my battery powered eraser to lift out the brightest highlights. Because erasers aren't very exact, I used a sharp pencil to reshape the highlights.
- I used my kneaded eraser to gently lift a soft highlight in the middle section of the ornament on the left side.
- I used my battery powered eraser to tap out the little highlight reflections in the cap and added a thin loop at the top, too. I reshaped all those details with a sharp pencil and added a little value to them if they were too light.
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Here are the supplies you'll need for this lesson. These links take you to Dick Blick, my affiliate and favorite art store.
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