The Mystery of Perspective...Debunked
Let's face it. If I start talking about 1, 2 and 3-point perspective (and about vanishing points), your eyes are going to glaze over and I'll lose you! So I'm not going to do it!
Instead, I'm going to tell you how I SIMPLY approach drawing buildings. Here we go. Hopefully with a combination of my "words" and the pictures I'm about to show you, it'll make sense.
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This first one (above) is an easy one. If you're facing a building straight on (and you're standing in the center of the building), all your lines are horizontal and parallel to the bottom of the page, aren't they? This angle might be the easiest to draw, but it's also probably the most boring painting.
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Here you're standing to one side of the middle, so all of the lines are moving to one constant vanishing point. Do you see how that vanishing point is WAY off the photo itself? Here's what I do to make sense of it. I tape my photo down to a bigger piece of paper. I use a ruler to draw the bottom of the building where it meets the street (and I extend it way to the right). Then I find a line to place my ruler on, near the top of the photo, and I draw it. Where the two lines meet is the vanishing point for this scene. EVERY OTHER line automatically falls somewhere inside of those two. Pull out your own photos and give it a try!
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So, did I confuse you more than I helped? Let me know about your own trials and tribulations with this phenomenon!
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Hi Helen, have been following your daily tips, really helpful, thank you. I was particularly interested in this one as I teach a group and was wondering how to approach the topic of perspective. I too want to keep it simple and generally just put my pencil on a line of my building and transfer the same angle to my page... not very scientific I know and I do know and understand the rules of perspective but I also know it is a real stumbling block for a lot of people who as you say pale at the very thought of it!!! So I too will be keen to see the responses to this one and whether people find your explanation makes it easier. I personally think it makes it very clear and I had decided to do something similar for my group but I also know that what I think is clear isn't always as clear to others. I didn't want to get too technical but wanted them to see how, for example a roof slope, can be really steep in fact almost vertical, when the inclination is to make it less acute.
ReplyDeleteHi, Judith! So nice to meet you here! To answer your question, I'd recommend (for your students) that they buy and read and do the exercises on every page of "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards! In addition, "The Art of Perspective - The Ultimate Guide for Artists in Every Medium" by Phil Metzger is great. There are many other good ones out there but I keep these in my arsenal for those tougher moments! Sometimes just pointing out that sloped roof to them makes them see the phenomenon for the first time...eventually, they'll start seeing it on their own. They're lucky to have you for a teacher!
DeletePerspective is one of those things that I so loved learning about in my art courses. Why? Because it had always given me fits! Sometimes I find that I would need a floor sized sheet of paper to actually find vanishing points though! LOL
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