How to draw an uncomplicated wind-pump

When a follower asked me to do a blog on how to draw a wind-pump, I had to give it a lot of thought. There are so many styles of drawing. Which one would I choose? Eventually I decided that I would draw the simplest form of a wind-pump that I could find. This will get the skeleton in place and from there anyone can make it as complicated or as easy as their own skill or needs would allow.

For today's project I will be using Daler-Rowney FW Acrylic Ink with a dip pen on a 120 gsm paper pad.

Dip the nib of the pen in the ink and draw a small circle on the paper. This is the center of the wind-pump. Draw two larger circles around it for the smaller frame that the blades are attached to.

Draw an even larger circle for the outer frame that the blades are attached to.

Mark the position of the blades. I mark the top and bottom blades. Then I marks the position of the left and right blades. I then fill two blades in at each of the gaps.

Mark the place where the blades will end on the inner circle. Put down dots to mark the spaces. (If you are working on a larger scale than I am, you may prefer to make short lines rather than dots). Draw lines of the blades to connect at the dots.

Mark the spot where the legs of the wind-pump will end with small V's. Note that the center leg will be longer since it is closest to the viewer.

Draw the legs.

Draw the platform at the top of the wind-pump.

Complete the frame of the wind-pump.

I will be using an angle brush and a flat brush to fill in the color on the sketch.

I dip the brush in the ink and paint the ink as I would any other paint medium.

When I am done, it occurs to me that I never drew the rudder (not sure about the correct term) of the wind-pump. I quickly add this.

The finished product. I sit back and review the photos. I then decide that I can show you much more clearly the steps for the blades and start over again.

I again start with the four circles of the previous drawing. This time I decide to use the paint markers which are close at hand.

I mark the spots for the top and bottom blades, followed by the left and right blades. I mark the dots for each blade in the inner circle as well. Each blade's sides will meet at this dot. The dots are also marked in order of top and bottom, then left and right.

I will be fitting two more blades into each gap and mark the dots accordingly. I do this in blue so you can try to keep track of the additions more easily.

I now fill in the marks for the extra blades. Two in each gap.

Now I can simply connect the dots. Get the four main blades in place first.

Fill in the remaining blades.

Let me quickly show you how to draw those rudders in a few steps as well. This time I use a Sharpie marker. Draw your inner circles and then drat two lines that will form the arm by which the rudder is attached to the wind-pimp. They start at the center circle and become slightly wider as they extend outwards.

The rudder gets a short vertical line, followed by two diagonal lines, followed by two horizontal lines and ending in another vertical line.

Yet another wind-pump.

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