1. I have chosen a Zippo Lighter as reference picture. Its a little object and has quite a bit of details and a lot of contrast in it, so it makes a good tutorial picture.

2.Measure up the main line, It's divided into 9,5 + 9,5 + 5 cm.

3. Outlines part two . It's hard to see all the numbers at the photo, so I’ll write them down here. Jump to the 5 cm mark at the right side of the mainline, and draw a straight line (7 cm) upwards. At the first 9,5 cm mark from the left at the main line, draw another line upwards, this one should be about 5,7 cm long. At the top of this line, jump 0,5 cm to the right and 1 cm up, mark this point with a little dot.

We are now going to draw the lid. Start at the left side of the mainline and jump 6 cm up and make a little dot (this is the bottom left corner of the lid). Go down to the mainline again and measure 1,5 cm to the right and jump upwards 10,5 cm and mark of another little dot. Connect the two dots and you have the left side of the lid.

Jump 9,5 cm to the left mark at the mainline, jump 1,5 cm to the left and measure 2,5 cm upwards and mark this point. Now you can draw all the lid sides, and remember to curve the bottom of the lid slightly.

4.You now have a lid and two lines which we can call the “body” of the lighter. From each of these lines, jump 2,8 cm in to the middle. Measure 11,5 cm up from each of these points and make two dots and connect them. This is the top of the lighter, and from each side of the top, draw a line down (about 3 cm).

5. Ok, now there will be some free hand drawing. First, jump 1,5 cm to the right from the left “body” line and draw a line up until you’re at the same level as the left upper corner of the lid. From this new point you’re going to draw a 7,5 cm line which is parallel with the main line, and at the end of it draw a line down to the main line. Now you should have a new rectangle within the body of the lighter. Now you’re going to draw the rest freehand, a good idea is to start at the top and work your way down, take a good look at the photo.

6. Now we have the main outlines. Take a look at the reference photo and sketch up soft lines where there are white and black contrasts. There are quite many of these contrast so take your time. Draw more accurate lines (use a ruler if you want) and start to fill in some shades with a HB pencil as you see in the photo, don’t worry about all the details or dark shades.

7. Draw more details and add some dark tones to it. Give the top a layer of light shade and add some 5B to the black parts. Remember to be careful when adding 5B darkness. If you make mistakes, a kneaded eraser is much more effective when removing soft led (3B-9B) than a normal eraser that just smudges it out and makes a mess.

8. There are quite a bit of details in the top of the lighter. Use a combination of dark and soft tones. Spend some time on this area! Blend the graphite, add more tones and blend it again. There are also some black and white small detailed lines as you see. Use a sharp 5B pencil to make the black lines, and maybe a kneaded eraser to remove graphite from the white details.  

9. The lid is easy to draw, but you need a blending stick (or a q-tip). Add a layer of HB and blend it until it gets smooth. Then you add darker tones; take a look at the “shading” page if you have problems with this. Use a ruler if your not to steady when adding graphite close to the straight lines.

10. Add a smooth layer of HB to the front side of the lighter (use a blending stick to make it smooth). It’s a good idea to have one blending stick that you use for light tones like HB and another one for darker tones. You can then use the blending stick with the dark graphite on it to blend in some dark tones like you see on the photo. And then you go over with the light blending stick one more time. Now you need either a kneaded eraser or you can just cut/ slice of a little piece from a normal eraser. It’s important you get a thin and sharp edge on it so you’re able to make the light lines you see on the photo. Just work on it for a while until you get it right. You can always blend the light lines away and start over again. Add some 5B darkness to the bottom of the lighter.

11. Now you can draw whatever background you want. The one in the reference picture is very simple and should be a breeze to draw if you successfully completed the steps above.

12.Congratulations, don’t forget to sign it! ;)