Everything in the world around us is made up of the same basic set of shapes. Once you begin to see these shapes in the things you want to draw you will become more confident in your ability to draw.

Basic Shapes
Drawing begins by taking a careful look at the thing you want to draw. That thing is constructed from some very basic geometric shapes - the circle (or oval), the square (or rectangle) and the triangle.

Let's take a look at the following drawing of a robot. Example "A" shows him as he will be when our drawing is complete. Example "B" shows him in his most basic form - 1 square, 3 rectangles, 2 circles and a couple of curved lines to connect everything.

Whatever you would like to draw should begin with lightly sketched basic geometric shapes. They will help you to be confident that all of the robots proportions will be just right.

Finding the Contour
The next step is to draw the contour edges. The contour edges of the thing you want to draw and the spaces between them can be represented by 3 types of lines - the straight line, the curved line, and the angled line.

One more look at our robot. If we apply what we just learned, we will begin to see our drawing taking shape.

Adding the Details
The rest is just adding the details. Think about how the lines fit together. How one line curves and then crosses another. Find the shapes between the lines and draw them.