The Technique

Sphere shading helps turn a flat circle into something that looks round and solid. By adding light areas, middle tones, and darker shadows, the shape begins to look three-dimensional.

This technique is useful because many things in drawing are rounded: balls, fruit, stones, planets, heads, eyes, and all sorts of mysterious objects Biscuit probably should not be chewing.

Used For

Drawing balls, fruit, planets, stones, rounded objects, character forms, and anything that needs to look curved or solid.

You Can Try

Change the position of the light, make the shadow softer or darker, add a small highlight, or experiment with different shading techniques on the same sphere.

Your Turn

Observe the example, practise turning a circle into a sphere, then experiment with light and shadow in the Shading Toolkit.