A pine cone with a few broad scales

Practice a pine cone with clear forms and selected overlaps. Build a few staggered tiers of broad rounded scales. Let each tier overlap the one below it. Add small gray shadows beneath a few scale edges. Leave the broad faces of the scales open.

A way into the drawing

1. Set the tapered outline

   Draw a compact egg shape with a short stem at the base. Keep the upper end narrower.

2. Stack broad scales

   Build a few staggered tiers of broad rounded scales. Let each tier overlap the one below it.

3. Accent selected scale lips

   Add small gray shadows beneath a few scale edges. Leave the broad faces of the scales open.

A small thing to tryUse large scales first; extra tiny scales quickly turn this into a more difficult study.