Spiral Drawing: The Steady-Hand Practice That Actually Helps
Spirals look like decoration but drawing them is a precise motor exercise. Here is the technique I settled on after a month of practice. Spirals turned out to be one of the more useful drawing exercises I picked up. They look like decoration, but drawing one cleanly requires a steady rate of expansion and a smooth pivot, both of which translate to other drawing skills. After a month of daily spiral attempts, I have a technique that produces consistent results and a sense of which mistakes to watch for. Here is. Pick the Spiral Type Before Drawing There are several kinds of spiral and they require different technique. The Archimedean spiral grows at a constant rate: the distance between turns is the same throughout. The logarithmic spiral grows geometrically: the distance between turns increases by a constant factor. Most spirals I see in casual drawing are Archimedean, and the rest of what I describe assumes that type. Knowing which one I am drawing keeps the shape consistent, because a hybrid of the two always looks wrong. The other axis of choice is the direction of growth. Outward spirals start at the center and expand. Inward spirals start at the outside and contract toward a center. More guides are on the Draw Perfect Blog.