In drawing, a blank of sheet metal is restrained at the edges, and the middle section is forced by a punch into a die to stretch the metal into a cup shaped drawn part. This drawn part can be circular, rectangular or just about any cross-section.

Drawing can be either shallow or deep depending on the amount of deformation. Shallow drawing is used to describe the process where the depth of draw is less than the smallest dimension of the opening; otherwise, it is considered deep drawing.

Drawing leads to wrinkling and puckering at the edge where the sheet metal is clamped. This is usually removed by a separate trimming operation.