How To Draw High Heels Step by Step

Want to learn how to draw high heels? Want to be able to create a high heel drawing concept art? Here are 3 different drawing methods you can use to draw high heels.

The 3 drawing methods in this how to draw high heels tutorial page

How To Draw High Heels Method 1: Start with primitive shapes & 3D Geometry

How To Draw High Heels Method 2: Used Slope lines and curved lines

How To Draw High Heels Method 3: Circles and Ovals

Why Draw High Heels?
High heels are among the top fashion accessories women utilize to complete their outfits. When it comes to combining looks for a fashion gala, red carpet, or an elegant fashion week event the high heels you have need to be bomb.

Kenal Louis - The Artist

​High heels were not created for women:

Continue reading and you will find out why I stated that high heels weren't created for women.

I am not a fashion illustrator who works for any major brands, but I am an artist with much passion and love for fashion. I also have this fetish for high heels because I love the way they look.

As an artist I think they are the most beautiful thing in the world. The shapes of the high heels are curved, smooth, and always speak to me. Whether as heel is a wedge high heel, stiletto, and pump or chunky, they all tell a story in my opinion.

Peach and Gold High Heel Speed Drawing

Here is a speed drawing of a high heel recently added to the collection of high heel drawing series on Kenalsworld.
WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE

I will be showing you the technique used in this speed drawing video, which is the drawing method 2.

The speed drawing starts out simple and as I work on the heel I then add more elements, like the gold, tassels, line textures, and seems to make it look more appealing and real conceptual drawing.

How To Draw High Heels Step by Step

How To Draw High Heels Using Method 1:

This drawing method is used a lot in drawing the human anatomy to better help artists/illustrators understand volume and the overall shape of whatever they are creating.

In drawing high heels, I believe it is also the most difficult to do, but excellent when it comes to drawing various angles of a high heel.

If you are looking to create a shoe drawing presentation with dynamic views, using this drawing method would be beneficial to you and your project. However, great execution for this requires a good understanding of drawing in perspective as well.

Step 1. Create the base geometric cubes and trapezoidal shapes in close proximity of each other.

*in doing so, because to draw in the a grouped shape that would resemble a high heel.

Step 2. Combine the shapes and draw extensions of each shape to bring the drawing closer to the high heel composition.

Step 3. Within and around the high heel composite shape create curved lines that would produce the shape of heel you would like to draw.

Step 4. Erase the lines that are do not make up the final drawing.

Yes, I described this in 4 steps because truly that’s all that is require for this method. However, as I said before it is still the most difficult method to use when you are just starting to learn how to draw high heels.

Some would prefer this way of drawing high heels because again it's the best way to draw heels for angles.​

Best advice: Practice, practice, practice and you will get better.

How To Draw High Heels Using Method 2:

This drawing method requires line control and line direction. It’s the most simple drawing method out of the 3 different ways to draw high heels.

The following drawing method is also the one I used when I am drawing high heels for my illustration concepts.

Step 1. Draw a diagonal line going from the left to right upward to your desires height for the heel. Imagine how high you see the heel is going to be in your head. Create a slope line. This is going to serve as the main guide you will construct the entire high heel around.

Step. 2 Next from the bottom of the line create an s-curve line to make an intersection half-way or a little more than half-way of the diagonal line drawn in step one. See the diagram.

Once the s-curve is done, draw an extension line for the actual heel in the back.

Step 3. You then will need to create two enclosed lines to complete the back heel and the front high heel toebox tip.

Step 4. Draw the top shape you design for the high heel. Now, this will vary again depending on how high you are envisioning the heel as well as which desired shape you are going for.

Step5. The final step is to make the hard edges around the heel smooth and also curved to your desire.

Once that step is done, simply erase the lines you no longer need within the drawing of the high heel.

How To Draw High Heels Using Method 3:

In this last drawing method you will start out with ovals and circles. This method is somewhat similar to the first one, without the block/grid direction to it. Using the circles and ovals can be great to also help you create other views such as a front design view, top or back view.

However, the level of difficulty for this drawing method is not as difficult as the first one.

Let’s look at the step for this high heel drawing method.

Step 1. Draw a circle for the top back part of the high heel and an oval for the front toebox.

Step 2. Connect the circle and the oval together with two lines on each side as follow.

Step 3. Draw the extensions for the rear of the high heel, the front tip/toebox of the high heel and the actual heel part.

Step 4. In the final step you will draw and arc that cuts into the top part of the high heel. If you created a front view of the high heel you can, you can add a small arc to show that there is a tip in front of the high heel drawing.

These Are 3 Different Ways on How To Draw High Heels

High Heels History

Did you know high heels date back to 10,000 B.C and even older?

It’s good to know about the history of high heels and the history of fashion. A while back I create this blog entitled “What Is Fashion Illustration? The Best Blog For Fashion illustration Beginners” It took some research and time, but it is very insightful regarding the history and different period in fashion history that changed the course of fashion design.

Did you know that high heels were created for men not women? 

According to the article on Racked, high heels in the 14th century served as a tool to make people taller. The height of an individual has always been something people viewed as a symbol of dominance. Having the extra height allowed men to be more intimidating back then.

Isn't it funny?

​Time has certainly changed. In the 21st century, if a man wear high heels he is perceived as flamboyant or gay. People even look at you strange. It's truly amazing to see how the culture in fashion as well as society in whole has changed all over the world.

In the following article on Racked by the author Jennifer Wright, she talks about the history of heels in regards to men in power.

I also created a blog entitled “Fashion Illustration Books For Beginners Aspiring To Be Illustrators” in which I shared a fashion illustration series I developed, but also two books that have helped me that I recommend buying.

Why men stopped wearing high heels:

Women adopted the high heel to add a sense of masculinity to their look and outfit in the 1600's.  It wasn't until the 1630s when a unisex shoe was produced for fashion. Towards the end of the 17th century things started to change.

​Did you know that soldiers used to wear high heels to battle?

Two Fashion Illustration Books

These are the best two fashion illustration books for fashion enthusiast.