How to draw an ellipse freehand | Product design sketching

Take a ballpoint pen, some paper, and let’s start drawing the 10000 ellipses together! :))

If you are a beginner, drawing the basic forms is difficult.
You lack confidence, and no matter how much you try, you fail at drawing freehand ellipses.

Don't worry,
it is actually simple when you know the tricks.

I start by showing the 5 common beginner mistakes. Then I will give you 8 techniques for you to succeed your ellipses by today!

01:01 MISTAKE #1 PANCAKE ELLIPSE
The most common mistake is the ellipse that looks flat at the bottom. You try to draw many of them, but this flat surface keeps coming back.

01:23 MISTAKE #2 POINTY ELLIPSE
You don’t succeed in making your ellipse symmetrical. The shape of the ellipse becomes an “egg”.

01:58 MISTAKE #3 FURRY ELLIPSE
Lacking confidence, you try to make a perfect ellipse conscientiously. You trace many small lines one after another. But the outcome looks amateur and hesitant.

02:27 MISTAKE #4 SHAKY ELLIPSE
Same as previous. By lacking confidence, your hand is shaking. You feel a bit of fear when you draw.

02:35 MISTAKE #5 OVERCONFIDENT ELLIPSE
At the opposite, you imitate the professional design sketchers. You draw fast and your lines express speed. Ok but… you can’t achieve drawing an ellipse properly.
By drawing with overconfidence, it is like trying to drive a sports car that is too fast for you. You need training on the basics first.

03:25 HOW TO SOLVE THE 5 MISTAKES
We saw the 5 beginner common mistakes.
Now let’s see the 8 complementary techniques to master freehand ellipses with confidence!

03:41 SOLUTION #1 GHOST DRAWING
If you want to learn how to draw like the professionals, this technique is the most important to master early (for drawing “perfect” lines, circles, and curves)
Simulate the movement before tracing your ellipse helps you better visualize the outcome.

Don’t stop at the first ellipse loop. Draw adding 3 to 4 loops on your ellipse to gain momentum and precision.

5:00 SOLUTION #2 DRAW GENTLE
If you have a heavy wrist, it is time to be gentle with your pen. Use the ghost drawing, and progressively let your ballpoint pen nib touch the surface of the paper. Then bold along the way if needed.

05:53 SOLUTION #3 REGULAR SPEED
If you start sketching, avoid making acceleration to show fluidity. You also don’t need speed to draw dynamic lines. Take your time. What matters is the momentum you create during the ghost drawing, not the speed.

06:30 SOLUTION #4 ITERATE
If you feel that you start drawing a bad ellipse, don’t stop! Continue and iterate on top of it. If it is not satisfying yet, draw another one!

08:52 SOLUTION #5 WHOLE ARM DRAWING
Do you draw with your elbow resting on the table?
If yes, get ready to make big progress by starting drawing with your whole arm.

11:04 SOLUTION #6 GOOD SUPPORT
To draw with precision, you need stability.
You use below fingertip to “hold your pen like a tripod”.
So when you draw, your fingertips slide on the paper surface with sketching control and stability.

12:18 SOLUTION #7 SYMMETRY
A beautiful ellipse is symmetrical.
To start this exercise, we draw a series of the minor axis in any directions.

16:23 SOLUTION #8 FOCUS
It is easy to get overwhelmed with so many ellipses on your paper. Your vision gets blurred, and your ellipses get slanted. Visualize the angle of your minor axis before tracing your ellipses.

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I'm Chou-Tac, I am a Product Designer from France.



What the Designer Starter Kit book will teach you.
The Book includes 4 simple guides I made for True-beginner designers.
With this step-by-step method, you will prove to yourself that you can sketch. Some techniques may appear simple. Do not underestimate them, as a designer you will use them every day.

[jaycee]

u have such a comforting and frinedly vibe man 😭😭😭 much love

[christieziegler]

Really excellent tutorial, helped me realized that overconfident/too fast drawing was my main problem. My ellipses already look 10x better!

[Chibimaru.]

Heyy, you're French !!😄 A frenchie here who for some reasons searched in english how to do ellipses, and I stumbled upon your channel. Thank you !!! Im gonna practice !! 💪

[Reckonart]

The support with the fingers is a game changer! Thank you!

[elizabethkapas]

Most detailed and best instruction on drawing elipse. Thank you!

[ashuj]

Thanks for sharing indepth details. Very helpful.

[muntasirbaqui]

The 45° method is very helpful thank you

[nobleaichi_official]

Thanks for the advice for my slight drawing improvement.

[parijatdas]

Such an amazing way to teach. We want more tutorials like this :)

[khumbeloramuthaga]

Thank you for making a follow up video. Much appreciated 👏.

[vadreth]

Merci beaucoup pour ces conseils !
Reste plus qu'a pratiquer.

[darranthompson]

Excellent tutorial i am a newbie at drawing thus helped a great deal thankyou😊

[Mario-jjwm]

Thanks for the help bro, now i can go into my art class tmr and actually draw an ellipse🙂

[Thedesignsketchbook]

Today is the DRAWING TIP-A-DAY CHALLENGE 3/30!
If there is any topic or problem you face at sketching, let me know.
Meanwhile, you can catch all the Tips on my blog at www.thedesignsketchbook.com
See yah!

[AnnSnowfrost]

Thank you for this wonderful video, drawing ellipses has never been easier. ÷)

[Pumkim-stew]

Honestly their are some haters in the comments but I think you did pretty good I know now to not go to Confidently and so much more

[artikm]

thanks you so much for such simple and fun explanation .. i needed it 😘

[nd-mrom]

If you were drawing say a head, or body in general, or maybe a landscape, are you also keeping your elbow/forearmed off the table? Or can you use your wrist for those things?

[lyizmarston]

Does any of you guys recomend an exercise of normal ellipses and ellipses in perspective ?

[toke]

Thank you so much! My ellipses look like ellipses and not eggs now!