How to Draw a Shoe in 9 Steps

by easydrawingtips

This tutorial shows how to draw a dress shoe from the side view step-by-step, with detailed, easy-to-follow, illustrated examples.

As mentioned, in this example, the shoe is drawn from the side, slightly below eye level. Generally, you will not see a shoe from this angle when it’s being worn. However, this view is fairly common when looking at one on display at a store or when it’s held in your hands.

For more on eye level, see:

Perspective Drawing Tutorial for Beginners

Be sure to start the tutorial in pencil and make light lines, as you will need to erase small parts of the drawing in some of the steps.

Supplies Needed for This Shoe Drawing

Regular graphite pencil (HB)
Drawing paper
Eraser
Fine-point black marker (optional)

Step 1 – Make a Basic Outline Drawing of the Shoe

Begin with a simple outline of the shoe. This should essentially be its simplified silhouette (without any of the smaller details).

The goal here is to get the correct proportions as well as the general flow of its shape.

This means considering things like the overall width and height as well as the size of the different parts of the shoe compared to one another. For example, the length of the heel compared to the rest of the shoe.

You will also want to pay attention to the various angles and curves.

Step 2 – Draw the Sole

Below the previous outline, add the sole. You can erase little bits of the drawing as needed when adding it.

Step 3 – Draw the Toe Cap & Quarter

Define the toe cap and the quarter (the area around the shoelaces and opening) as shown in the example. Afterwards, you should have the basic design of the shoe.

Step 4 – Draw the Inner Side

For this step, first outline the upper part of the quarter in the front. Behind it, add the far side of the shoe, which faces the viewer with its inner lining.

Also, add the inward-facing side of the heel.

Step 5 – Draw the Tongue

Add the tongue sticking out from between the two sides of the quarter.

Step 6 – Draw the Laces

Finally, add the shoelaces as shown above. Draw the laces on the sides with a bit of a curve to them and draw the ones between them pretty much straight. Because the laces in the middle face more toward the viewer, the curves in their shapes are not visible.

An easy way to help ensure the shoelaces fit into the quarter and have even spacing is to first draw the ones on the sides, next the one in the middle, and then the two in between them. If you try to draw the laces going from one end to the other, not only will it be more difficult to evenly space them out, but you may find that by the time you get to the end, they won’t fit.

Step 7 – Clean Up the Drawing

At this stage, clean up your drawing and make any necessary corrections. Once you feel content with the way things look, trace over your lines with a darker stroke. You can either do this with the pencil or by using a fine-point black marker. When done, you should have a finished basic line drawing of a dress shoe.

Step 8 – Draw the Stitching Lines & Edge Lines

While the drawing can be left at the stage in the previous step, you may notice that it looks a little plain. To make things more interesting, give the shoe a few more details. These are some stitching as well as the edge along the sole.

To help you place the individual stitches, very lightly draw some guide lines to set their path. Define the edge of the sole with a solid line as well.

Step 9 – Draw the Individual Stitches & Finish the Shoe Drawing

To finish the shoe drawing, add little dashes along the guide lines from the previous step to create the stitches. Also, darken the edge line along the sole. Creating the stitches may be a bit time-consuming, but the extra attention to detail can definitely improve the look of the artwork.

Conclusion

The shoe used as the example for this particular tutorial has a fairly standard design for such footwear. As is recommended in most tutorials here on EasyDrawingTips, the drawing stages go from the larger and more important shapes to the smaller details.

For more on good drawing practices, see:

Beginner Guide to Learning to Draw

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