[Scott Robertson]

I�ve been asked by several people to post a perspective drawing tutorial. I plan to post some drawing instruction in this ongoing thread over the summer as I work on my books. I will add to this post as I go. The information will be in no particular order. It will include some basic geometric constructions, �inside out� section drawing, and �subtractive� form drawing.

It has been my experience over the last seven years of teaching drawing to industrial designers that there are basically two types of drawing, �observational� where you draw what you see and �creative� where you draw objects without visual reference. I have also observed many students who can do acceptable observational drawings and then when confronted with a blank piece of paper and asked to draw an object of their own creation, do not have a drawing strategy for building forms. As my background is in industrial design and not illustration, the drawing instruction I will be providing throughout this thread will be geared toward presenting a perspective drawing strategy you can use to draw your own forms without visual reference. The two drawing practices, observational and creative, vary greatly in their approaches to drawing. Observational drawing can be done very successfully by imagining whatever you are looking at as flat shapes and then drawing those shapes without regard to their volumes or perspective. Some of what is learned by doing this type of drawing can be carried over to creative drawing. Areas such as line quality, composition, shading skill and craft all remain when doing creative drawing. Good creative perspective drawing can be achieved through the practice of some simple techniques.

First, you need the knowledge of where the lines go. By reading about technically correct perspective constructions and doing them yourself you can gain this knowledge. Next, you need the hand skills to connect lines through the proper points that you have learned about through doing the perspective constructions. This comes down to practicing the drawing of straight and curved lines through two or more points on a blank piece of paper. Once you have mastered this you will have the two main ingredients needed to do creative perspective drawing; knowledge of where the perspective points go and the ability to connect them. There are several decent books available on perspective drawing, one is �Basic Perspective Drawing� by John Montague ISBN: 0471292311. It has the technical information you need to have in the back of your mind while you do free hand sketching of complex forms of your own creation.

Comments on how I can improve any of the following tutorials are welcomed.

Perspective Section Drawing Tutorial 1

Following is a simple form drawn in perspective. Here I have tried to explain in a ten step tutorial how I would draw this shape very accurately in a free hand sketch.



Step 1:

1a. Establish an accurate perspective grid on which to build your form. The ability to do this first step correctly I cannot stress enough. It looks very simple, but in fact it is very difficult. Many students rush the proper construction of these guidelines in their enthusiasm to create their form in perspective. Get this step correct and you will have a good foundation to build upon.

1b. Do not worry about placement of your lines relative to foreshortening. Concentrate on accuracy of convergence of lines going to the same vanishing point.

1c. Always remember that parallel lines go to the same vanishing point.

Note:

I would not recommend proceeding further if you do not have the skills to draw page after page of correct boxes, (or guidelines as you see here, which are the lines needed to draw boxes). I know they are boring, but believe me the practice in learning to draw them in different views correctly over and over will give your drawings of the future the solid foundation they need to be done in an impressive fashion.



Step 2:

2a. After you have established some perspective guidelines draw the curve you want on one of the three planes you have defined, x, y or z. Here I have drawn a curve on the centerline plane of what will become my form.

2b. Remember that you are designing the �side view� of your form with this line.



Step 3:

3a. Repeat step 2a on the �z� plane, top view of your form.

3b. At this point we are only building the near side of our form. Do not mirror the top view line to the far side yet.



Step 4:

4a. When you have the top view and side view lines drawn you are ready to add some sections of the front view.

4b. Start adding the front view sections as simple boxes where you have guidelines crossing your top view section.

4c. Wherever a horizontal guideline crosses the centerline of the �z� plane draw a vertical line. Also if you want more front view sections or want them in a specific place just add horizontal guidelines on your �z� plane where you want them and then draw the vertical.

4d. Where the verticals cross your center plane curve, draw horizontal guidelines. These guidelines form the top of each box section. Where horizontal section lines cross your �z� plane curve, draw vertical guidelines. These guidelines form the near side of each box section.



Step 5:

5a. Mirror the �z� plane curve to the other side using the auto foreshortening box method.

Steps for mirroring a point with the auto foreshortening box method.

1. Draw a plane with corners at the centerline and at point �a� near. Proportion of this plane does not matter, but the closer you draw it to a square the easier the construction.

2. Divide the plane with an �X� to find center.

3. Transfer this center point to the far side of the plane by drawing a horizontal perspective guideline going to the right vaninshing point (r.v.p.). Now you have located the mid point of that vertical.

4. Draw a line from the upper near corner of the plane through the mid point you located on the far side vertical. Intersection of this line and the extended horizontal perspective line of the bottom of your construction plane is the mirrored point �a�.

5b. You can draw guideline boxes at the top of the box section just as easy as at the bottom as shown in section 3. If you mirror your point at the top you need to transfer it back down to the ground to locate the point you will need to draw through.



Step 6:

6a. After mirroring all the points you need to help you draw the far side �z� plane curve, draw the curve that goes through these points. You have just successfully mirrored a curve in perspective!



Step 7:

7a. Now extend your near side box sections to the far side of your form. To do this repeat steps 4a through 4d.



Step 8:

8a. Using the near side box sections as guides draw the front view sections you want at each section along the form front to back.

[ July 11, 2002: Message edited by: Scott Robertson ]

[Scott Robertson]

Step 9:

9a. Mirroring multiple points across the �x� (front view) sections is one of the most difficult things to master. Try to keep your drawing clean and not too cluttered so you don�t get lost transferring points. You will though, just practice and eventually it gets easier to see and faster to do. Also I put more �x� sections than I would normally need in this drawing.

9b. You can use many variations to plot points from the near side sections to the far side before drawing the mirrored result. I like to locate the points where the section curve is most difficult to visualize on the far side. An example of this is near the top of each section. I use the �x-box� method and a simple �diagonal� method to find my points.



Step 10:

10a. With all of the sections now defined you are ready to draw the silhouette of your form. Draw the silhouette line tangent to all of the sections of your form.

In a later tutorial I will introduce shading strategies you can use when you want to show form using value. Here is an example where the section information was very helpful in rendering my core shadow and cast shadow. More of this later.



This is just one method of from building in perspective. I�ll post other methods here as I complete them. Also here are a couple of examples of this type of drawing put to use in drawing something a bit more complex.







drawthrough.com

[ July 08, 2002: Message edited by: Scott Robertson ]

[Scott Robertson]

I see you moved the other tutorial to finished work, put this one wherever you like but maybe it should be in work in progress as I am planning to add to it over the summer.

later

-S.

[Arc][Pello]

whoa, perspective is more complicated than i first thought, very nice tutorial though.

[zak]

pwhoa, sweet dude. i like very much, keepem coming. ill be looking out for those

[The Magic Pen]

Awsome post scott thanks

[Gimbal8]

Hey Scott, thanks for taking the time to post these tutorials your doing. I like the additional insight you provide with some of the steps. I think that is what makes a good tutorial better. Especially if you can hit upon common mistakes or misconceptions that people might want to avoid when they are going through these steps.

I know this is jumping the gun here as far as this tutorial goes, but what methods are used to put multiple objects of different perspective coherently in the same scene? I have a book called 'How To Draw Aircraft Like a Pro' or something corny like that, but it has a page or so describing 'descriptive geometry' which looked to be a good (albeit complicated) way to get perspective, but there is little text explaining the finer point of this practice like the way you are doing in this tutorial. Basically, if I'm trying to draw multiple aircraft in the same pic with different headings, different degrees of pitch, roll, etc. How is that done all in proper perspective?

I don't want to interupt your work on these great tutorials or anything so if you (or anyone reading this) know of a good book covering this that would be cool too.

[jayceeL]

Your turtorials are very very cool!!

thanks for sharing your knowledge

JayCeeL

[oDD]

i love people thats willing to share they knowledge , and youve got alot to share=]

[Coriolanus]

i just have to 2nd this

thx!

[GO]

man... what am I doing... I don know anything about perspective... I did learn a lot from you today. feel like I have to pay you for all this*S*
great drawings also, really tight!

[Lunatique]

Now, THIS is the kind of stuff that all the old timers miss--the in-depth instructions/discussions/interactions.

Thank you so much for taking the time, Scott.

[Sumaleth]

Any good tutorial can happily go into Gallery, even if it's going to be added to later. Especially when there's nice pics included.

So: moved to Gallery/Finished.

[Svanur]

Great tutorials like these should be made into a sticky thread for future forum members and reference.

[AndyT]

Thanks a lot for throwing the dog a bone ... and another one... and another one

[ July 09, 2002: Message edited by: AndyT ]

[Ian Jones]

Nice work Scott!

Gimbal8: I may have just the book for you. I have found it to be the best book I have found yet. It is called 'Design Drawing' by 'Francis D.K. Ching with Steven P. Juroszek'. ISBN#: 0-471-28654-0. It isn't a dedicated perspective book, but it has a brilliant section tht is quite comprehensive. It covers 'perspective variables' which is exactly what you are looking for.

just a quick note anyway: With seperate objects that are angled differently, the basic rule is still determined by the fact that paralell lines converge at the same vanishing point. So if you have another object in the scene, then its paralell lines will obviously converge at a point. The difference is that this point will not be the same as the vanishing point for another ojbect at a different angle. Hope that steers you into the right direction. Unfortunately it would require a lot more work for me to cover it properly. Hope that helps.

[Gimbal8]

Thanks Ian! I'll check that out.

[Scott Robertson]

Thanks a lot everyone.

Gimbal8,

It is like Ian said, all parallel lines converge to the same VP. This is a question I've had a couple of times now, I'll try to address it with some sketches next week. Until then maybe some ellipse practice?

Here is the first update....

Drawing Ellipses

Anatomy of an ellipse:

When we view a circle at an angle we see an ellipse. We refer to this viewing angle as the degree of the ellipse. A perfect circle is viewed at 90 degrees and at angles less than that we see various degree ellipses on the way down to a zero degree ellipse (a straight line). Understanding the mechanics of drawing ellipses is not difficult, mastering the drawing of ellipses is. An ellipse has two axes we need to know about, the minor axis and the major axis. The minor axis divides the ellipse into two equal halves across its narrow dimension. The major axis divides the ellipse across its long dimension into two equal halves. The minor and major axes cross each other at a 90 degree angle. See drawing e-1.



How you can use these axes for drawing:



If we look at the drawing in e-2 we can see that I have drawn a square around our ellipse. After I draw the square I draw an �X� across it to find its center in perspective. When you observe the minor and major axes of the ellipse we see that the minor axis goes through the center of the square while the major axis does not. We also observe that the ellipse touches tangent exactly in the middle of each side of the square, exactly where we would expect it to. This is a bit of a mind bender. We have taken a symmetrical shape, the ellipse, and dropped it into perspective. This always works if you do your drawing within the allowable limits of distortion. Regardless of whether your ellipse is rolling on the ground or resting on it, as we see in drawing e-3, the construction result remains the same. Learning from this observation and now knowing where the minor and major axes of our ellipse should be is the single greatest help in drawing ellipses properly. Since the ellipse minor axis always goes through the center of our square this is something we can use to help us draw it. Conversely the major axis references nothing that can help us in locating it in our perspective square. This is why I do not recommend using the major axis when drawing ellipses.



Practice drawing ellipses without worrying about locating them in perspective. Here are a few examples of my rusty arm trying to draw some ellipses for this tutorial this morning. Draw various sizes and differing degrees. After you draw the ellipse identify its minor axis by drawing a line across its narrow dimension that divides each side equally.



I find it helpful if you imagine that you are going to fold your ellipse along this line. You want it to fold along this line and land exactly back on itself. If your minor axis is incorrect we can see what happens in drawing e-4.



After you are feeling good about how your ellipses are looking and you are confident you can locate the minor axis of each properly you are ready to start trying to locate your ellipses within perspective constructions. Start with something simple like drawing a straight line that represents the minor axis of your ellipse and then try and draw ellipses of various sizes and degrees on that line. This is a little harder than drawing the ellipse first and then drawing the minor axis. After you nail that exercise try drawing two converging straight lines and drawing ellipses that touch tangent to each line. This is harder still. One of the most difficult exercises is to draw a page of cubes and then draw an ellipse on each face that touches tangent to the side of each square as we observed in drawings e-2 and e-3. Drawing concentric ellipses are also good practice.



You can use ellipse guides to straighten up your ellipses but do not try to sketch with them. I have yet to see this done efficiently. You are much better off to do all of your perspective layout work freehand and then break out the sweeps and ellipse guides to tighten things up if you need to. Once you have practiced enough you will find that you can do very competent drawings entirely freehand. There is a great sense of satisfaction that comes from achieving nice line quality and proper perspective in a freehand sketch.

How to check if your ellipse is correctly drawn.

It is important to understand the mechanics of ellipses so you can make adjustments to them after you have drawn them. Basically there are only two things that make an ellipse either properly drawn in perspective or not.

Minor axis and your vanishing points.

The first thing to check is whether your minor axis is correct. In the case of putting wheels on cars the minor axis is always common to the axle of the wheel. Most of the time this axle is also perpendicular to the centerline of your car. So it follows that the minor axes of your ellipses (wheels) are also perpendicular to this centerline. There are cases such as when the front wheels are turned or the wheels have been set up with extreme camber that they are no longer perpendicular to the centerline of your vehicle. Another easy example for us to visualize is that the minor axis of a propeller on an airplane is parallel to the centerline of the fuselage and therefore they go to the same vanishing point. Remember when perspective drawing that �all parallel lines go to the same vanishing point�.

[Scott Robertson]

Degree of your ellipse.

Assuming the minor axis of your ellipse is correct and your ellipse still looks wrong it can be only one thing, the degree. Before trying to adjust the degree of an ellipse the minor axis must be correct. No amount of adjustment to the degree can make up for an incorrect minor axis. Checking the degree is a simple perspective construction.



Step 1:

Draw a box around and tangent on each side to your ellipse. Be sure to follow your perspective guidelines when doing this.

Step 2:

Observe where your drawn ellipse contacts the box you have drawn around it. If your ellipse does not touch in the middle of each side of the box then the degree is wrong. Adjust the degree of your ellipse by making it wider or narrower until you can draw a box around it that touches exactly in the middle of each side. When you have done this you will have a properly drawn ellipse at the correct degree.

Here are a few more sketches I quickly put perspective guidelines on top of to help you see the minor axes of the ellipses within the drawings.













Congratulations you are now master of the ellipse!

[Gimbal8]

Scott, these tutorials are looking and reading great. I'm inspired to do some perspective stuff now and put the stuff you went over in this thread to (hopefully) good use.

And don't worry about the objects of different rotation stuff. Like I said, I don't want to interupt the normal tutorial progression here with stuff I shouldn't be worried about until after I get the basics down more firmly. Thanks again for sharing these.

[akrute]

wow scott~~ i havent actualli read your post as yet koz im busy but thanks a lot for all this information this is what we need in this forum keep it up``

[merlyns]

well hello insparational stuff

looks very gooD. these are some high quallity tutorials at first they seam to crowded but when you look better their so good these are the first perspective tutorials that help for me, awsome job on them!

I visited your site to you have some nice art.I had a art block but that's finally gone pfwee thank you for posting this stuff as somebody already sad this is the thing that sijun needs!

-david