tutorial:

Balloon Drawing

how to draw a balloon

The basic shapes of your balloon drawing are fairly simple and quite repetitive, but the trick lies in getting the perspectives right.

creating a balloon drawing

STEP 1: drawing the first balloon

To begin, let us draw the central balloon. Find the middle of your canvas, and draw a slightly tilted vertical oval.

step 2: add the next two balloons

Begin by adding a second balloon shape on the left of the first one. You can then add the third balloon overlapping the left of this second.

STEP 3: start the 2nd balloon row

Start by drawing a slightly smaller balloon shape on the very right of the first row. This balloon shape should be significantly tilted to the right.

step 4: filling the 2nd layer

You can now add two more balloon shapes to the top layer of your easy balloon drawing. Repeat the same process.

STEP 5: create the 3rd balloon row

You can now add a third row of two balloons above the previous one. These two balloon shapes should sit in between the three on the second row.

step 6: complete the top row

 In the tradition of the previous balloon shapes, these two should tilt towards each side more than the middle two.

STEP 7: finish the middle row

In the final construction step, you are going to add two more balloon shapes on either side of the middle row.

step 8: erase the overlaps

Let us start with the top line, erasing the bottoms of the top ovals where they overlap with the middle row.

STEP 9: erase the middle overlap

Continue the process of erasing the overlap lines in the middle line. Erase the bottoms of the middle line of balloons in the bottom row.

step 10: finish the outlines

Finish the final outline of your easy balloon drawing by erasing the overlapping lines of the bottom row.

STEP 11: create the strings

Begin with the bottom ones, taking a straight line from each of the air holes. You can then add a few more lines that extend from the general angle of each balloon.

step 12: draw the knot and strings

The strings that extend down from the balloons are straight and taut, but after the knot, they are a little looser and flowing.

STEP 13: add color to the balloons

You can choose the colors that you would like, but we recommend four or five different shades.

step 14: creating depth

Use a small blending brush and a tiny amount of black paint to add some shadows to each balloon.

STEP 15: adding highlights

Use a small blending brush and some white paint to add an area of reflection onto each balloon.

step 16: finish the drawing

To finish your balloon drawing, you are simply going to erase the outlines of your balloons to create a seamless result.