"This article is an English version of one I wrote years ago for my Finnish-speaking audience."
"Tämä artikkeli on englanninkielinen koeversio yhdestä vanhasta artikkelistani."
Hello! Thank you for deciding to read this article. In order to benefit most from the article, it's important to first know the truth about perspective. It's not necessary to have a deep understanding of perspective theory to be able to draw well. Why not? Because all the essentials can also be learned through observation.
Often, our real problem lies in the fact that we do not know how to correctly interpret our observations. We have certain primitive visual preconceptions about how things look and overlay these preconceptions onto pure observation. As a result, among other things, we get perspective distortions. Therefore, practice drawing and painting from observation to learn how to draw and paint things in the correct perspective.
And how should one practice drawing from observation so that one's skills in perspective develop on the side, almost unnoticed? By accurately copying the observation.
Perspective is based on tilt angles and shapes. Once you learn to transfer the tilt angles and shapes accurately onto paper, the perspective will also fall into place. So, if you do not yet master the reproduction of observation (direct observation or a picture), you should focus your efforts on practicing this fundamental skill. All other expertise stems from this.
However, the information in this article will not be detrimental. These basic pieces of knowledge can also be used as a tool for measuring observation. If something doesn't quite fit, apply the raw mathematics of perspective. But strive to let the observation teach you.
The most important part of the article is at the end, and it is about aerial perspective. Aerial perspective is one of the secrets of realism and generally good works. Linear perspective, on the other hand, is overrated. However, when one has to rely entirely on imagination, knowledge of perspective can be very helpful, even essential. But an artist who wants to develop their skills to the highest level should start with the basics, i.e., drawing from observation. This is a skill that will also be very beneficial in imaginative drawing. Once the art of drawing from observation is achieved it will be easy to learn conceptual methods of drawing.
What is Perspective?
What is perspective? In short, perspective is a viewpoint. Through perspective, a drawing creates the impression that the scene or object depicted is being viewed from a specific viewpoint.
In every picture, there are always two dimensions, height and width. Perspective adds a third dimension to the picture, the impression of depth. Understanding perspective is a crucial skill in creating realistic drawings. Perspective gives a sense of space, depth, and distance to the work.
The concept of perspective can be illustrated with train tracks. We know that the tracks are the same distance apart regardless of how far away they are from us as viewers. However, looking into the distance, the tracks seem to come closer together and eventually merge and disappear into the horizon.
Different Types of Perspectives
Artists have access to different types of perspectives. These perspectives can be divided into two categories: linear perspective and aerial perspective. Linear perspective is based on the rules of geometry and creates the impression that objects shrink towards vanishing points. Aerial perspective, on the other hand, is a depth impression created by the effect of the air mass. We will now look at three types of linear perspective, which are one, two, and three vanishing points perspectives. We will also briefly touch on aerial perspective. But first, it is important to understand some basic concepts of perspective drawing.
Horizon Line
The horizon line refers to a horizontal line that runs across the field of view.
The horizon line is always at eye level and often separates the earth and sky from each other. The horizon line can be visible or invisible in a drawing, depending on whether there is something in front of the horizon. In the case of a seascape, the horizon line is visible, but in a forest landscape, the horizon would not be visible. During the sketching phase of a drawing, it is useful to draw a faint horizon line in place anyway, so that the perspective is drawn correctly.
Vanishing Point
A vanishing point or disappearance point is a point where lines moving away from the viewer converge.
Imagine standing in the middle of a straight road and looking straight ahead. The road looks wider near you and narrower far away. You can see how the edges of the road come closer together in front of you until they finally merge into one point in the distance. That point, where the road seems to disappear, is the vanishing point.
Diagonal Lines
Diagonal lines are lines that run towards the vanishing point. For example, in a one-point perspective, lines moving away from the viewer that meet at a single vanishing point are diagonal lines. In the previous example, the train tracks and the row of plants growing on the verge form such lines in the picture.
One-Point Perspective
The following image is drawn in a one-point perspective. The principle in such a representation is that the subject is viewed directly from the front, so that the subject's vertical and horizontal lines are aligned, and the front of the subject faces directly towards the viewer.
Lines moving away from the viewer meet at a single point, and objects shrink towards this one point. The images of the track and the road in this lesson are examples of one-point perspective.
Where should the vanishing point be placed in the image? If the horizon line is within the edges of the picture, the vanishing point can be found there. In real life, the vanishing point is found on the horizon.
Two-Point Perspective
The next image is drawn using two vanishing points. From the image, you can see an example of drawing several differently shaped boxes in two-point perspective.
As you can see, in a two-point perspective, the corner of the object points directly towards the viewer. The other lines of the object run towards the vanishing points, which are on both sides of the horizon line. All vertical lines are aligned.
Three-Point Perspective
In a three-point perspective image, all of the subject's vertical lines run towards a third vanishing point, which is either high above the horizon line or low below it. The subject's vertical lines run towards the vanishing points on the horizon line (as in the two-point picture).
When a subject is depicted from a three-point perspective, it creates the impression that the subject is being viewed either from a high angle, known as bird's-eye view, or from a low angle, known as frog's-eye view.
Aerial Perspective
Air is not transparent, though it might seem so at first glance. The more air there is between you and the object being viewed, the more indistinct, colorless, and hazy the object appears. All of this is due to the effect of air and light. Light scatters from air molecules and atmospheric impurities, making objects that are farther away appear lighter and more bluish. When looking at distant hills from a high vantage point, their color appears to lighten and turn bluish. This phenomenon is known as aerial perspective.
In art, aerial perspective refers to creating a sense of depth with colors and values, as well as drawing style. Distant objects are depicted with lighter shades and bluish colors, and a less sharp drawing style is used. These methods create a sense of distance in the image.
Would you like to learn more?
Would you like to learn more about the essential principles of visual art? Feel free to reach out to me directly via email with any questions related to my expertise. My email is tuomastuimala@yahoo.com. I am happy to assist you within the limits of my resources.
Best regards,
The Ocular Scientist
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The video course includes:
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• Using gray and muted colors.
• Using texture effects.
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