Draw a Basketball

This is a tutorial that teaches you how to draw a basketball. You will learn how to draw simple basketball icon design and a more realistic basketball. Let’s begin!

Steps

Basketball Icon Design

1. Draw a perfect circle. You can use a protractor or a compass to guide you in drawing a perfect circle. Sketch a circle using a pencil first, and then trace the line using a marker.
2. Draw a straight vertical line.
3. Draw two curved vertical lines.
4. Color the draft.

Realistic Basketball

1. Begin with a sketch of a perfect circle outline. Use your pencil to lightly sketch a perfect circle.
2. Add lines to show the actual shape of the ball. You can show a sphere by adding the perspective.
3. Start coloring the draft. Choose the basic color in beginning the coloring.
4. Continue coloring. Choose a color that is lighter than the basic color. Put it where the brighter areas should be shown which means that is where the light is being reflected.
5. Blend the colors.
6. Add the darker shades. To show a more realistic approach on the drawing, add the shades and shadow. This way, the basketball will appear like a sphere.
7. Draw four lines on the ball. Two lines which are a vertical and a horizontal line in the middle simply follows the shape of the ball. The other two lines are curved lines conforming to the shape of the ball.
8. Color the background.

Tips

• You can use a compass to make a prefect circle or you can trace around a circular object, such as a cup.
• If you want other stuff in the scene, plan your space ahead of time.
• You might want to look at an actual basketball or a photo of one.
• A regulation basketball is 29.5 inches (75 cm) in circumference, or about 9.4 inches (23 cm) in diameter. A regulation hoop is 18" (45.7 cm) in diameter.
• Experiment with putting the shadow in different spots on the page.

Warnings

• Don't worry if it's not perfect. Part of drawing is interpreting the subject.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil
• Black marker
• Paper
• Orange coloring utensil (along with darker and lighter shades of the original color)
• stencil, protractor, or compass (optional)

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Sources and Citations

• Dimensions of basketball courts and equipment, for reference on proportions.

See also

• Draw a Bicycle
• Draw a Soccer Ball
• Draw Boxing Gloves
• Draw a Football
• Draw a Football Helmet
• Draw a Volleyball
• Draw a Baseball Cap

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