1. Draw your cubes. You can do this with a ruler or without.
Make a square.
Make a square as similar as you can to the first one, this time a bit higher and to the right, as seen in blue.
Connect the corners of your squares with straight lines. These squares will be solid, so there is no need to connect the bottom left corner, as seen in red.
Erase the inside lines of the back square, so that you only are left with the top and side lines.
Repeat, making at least three.
Now that you have your cubes, let’s focus on texture:
Soft, like hair
Smooth, like scales
Rough, like wood
You want to think about lighting. Imagine there is a light source at the top left corner of your cube. This will help you determine which parts of the cube should be lighter or dark.
Have a reference photo handy to replicate the patterns of the texture chosen.
Follow the sides of the cubes to determine space and shading.
Phil Paradise (1905 – 1997)
Phil Paradise was born in Ontario, OR. Paradise spent his childhood in Bakersfield. After graduating from high school, he studied art with F. Tolles Chamberlin, Rico Lebrun and Leon Droll. Paradise went on to study at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. He worked in a regional style in the late 1920s and 1930s. These works received a great deal of attention and were part of many important watercolor shows including the California Group exhibitions. After the mid 1940s, his paintings changed in both style and subject matter. He traveled and lived in Mexico, Central America and Caribbean countries drawing most of his subject matter from these areas. Paradise taught at the Chouinard Art Institute and at Scripps College. He also worked as an artist in motion picture industry and did some commercial illustration. In addition, he began producing limited edition serigraph prints, created metal sculpture, pottery, and ceramic murals which he sold out of his studio-home in Cambria.
California Watercolors 1850 - 1970, Hillcrest Press, Inc.
Texture: The surface quality of materials, either actual (tactile) or implied (visual). It is one of the elements of art.
Form: A three-dimensional volume or the illusion of three dimensions (related to shape, which is two-dimensional); the particular characteristics of the visual elements of a work of art (as distinguished from its subject matter or content).
Shade: Color with some black in it to create contrast and depth.
Pattern: Anything repeated in a predictable combination.