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How to Draw A Cartoon CD with lots of reflections

This drawing lesson will help you draw a cartoon CD! It's hard to believe that the Compact Disk has been around for nearly 30 years! I still remember when it first came out that the CD was considered being almost indestructible!

This support is still used today by music artists, but just like the DVD (who will be replaced gradually by Sony's Blu-ray) don't be surprised if this format doesn't survive for another 30 years! So let's try to draw a nice and clean CD with cool reflections!

Step 1

First, draw two large circles and leave a small space between both. The main printable area will be the circle located inside the disk.

Step 2

Then, add three more circles to form the staking ring and the plastic hub. Notice that both circles in the middle are pretty close to each other while the third one is a little further.

Step 3

Continue drawing your CD by adding a fourth circle. This one is the mirror band. Since a CD is highly reflective and that we can see a color spectrum on it, draw four rectangles (by making the end near the plastic hub narrower) to illustrate this reflection.

Step 4

Now apply some basic colors to your artwork. The CD itself should be colored with a light gray tone. The mirror band should be white and partially visible. The center should not have any color since it is the hole inside the CD.

Step 5

Time to add some real colors! Even if we are able to see a complete color spectrum on our Compact Disk, we won't add each of these colors on our drawing.

If you take a CD in your hand and try to see some colors, chances are you will notice some green, yellow and red. Try to apply these colors on your disk.

Step 6

Finally, for a full and realistic effect, add some shadows on your artwork. In this case, I've added some dark shadows on both sides and a long white stripe (but very subtle) in the middle of the disk. This stripe is aligned from top to bottom. You can also apply some light effects on the plastic hub and the mirror band.

Congratulations! You've managed to sketch a nice and very cool cartoon CD! This tutorial is not so easy and does require a lot of practice to apply all appropriated effects carefully and accurately. But I'm sure you will achieve your goal if you don't quite and keep practicing.

More lessons featuring fun electronics can be found below. Enjoy! :)