As an illustrator I find it important to get an impression
of depth and movement in my artwork using perspective. In the context of vision and how we view the
world and the objects around us it is the way things appear to the eye based on
their positions and sizes. Close things appear bigger in relation to the same
object placed further away. As objects
become more distant they appear smaller due to the decrease in the objects visual
angle. A good example of this is a road
or parallel rain tracks they appeal to meet at a distant point, referred to as
the vanishing point, this point is called the horizon line or geometric horizon
at the level of the viewer’s eyes. While
typing this I was suddenly struck by a memory of a sunny afternoon in my school
art classroom, where it was first explained to me. I’m sure most people can remember doodling the
horizon lines and box houses vanishing into the distance similar to the example
of the vanishing road or track.
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| Going, going, gone, this image is a classic example of perspective with one vanishing point. |
It is understood that the Greeks were not the first to appreciate
perspective when scholars wondered for example why a hand seemed to change size
when it moves the honor goes to a fellow called Alhazen a mathematician who
lived over a thousand years ago he realized that the cone of rays or light
reflected of the hand grows narrower when moved away and larger when closer. A much more recent and jokey way of looking
at this perception was the scene in Father Ted when Ted bored and stuck in a
caravan with Dougal tries to explain the difference between a small toy cow and
the real ones further away outside the window.
“Ok one last time! These ones are small but those ones are far way. Small…far away”.
The practice of using perspective was dusted off after
largely being forgotten, resurrected in Florence, developed by renaissance
artists, Donatello, Leonardo da Vinci (not the Teenage turtles characters) They developed their craft using multiple
vanishing points to build up a three dimensional image on a flat canvas. The rediscovered science of perspective created a lot of excitement in the art world the
marriage of the image and mathematics revived the composition of an artwork the
new aim to not only make figures lifelike but to create a sense of movement of people in the space around them.
The practitioners had moved away from the artist as a recorder of an event
to capturing the movement of the scene. Creating
grids on a canvas to precisely create the perspective of the 3D world, objects would be drawn out before painted in a wire frame way. The same way that today’s computer artists
build the characters and settings in computer animation or CGI.
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| Leonardo da Vinci's Study for the Adoration of the Magi, note the perspective lines and vanishing points. |
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| Paleo Uccello and his Perspective Study of a Chalice created circa 1450. A wire frame drawing similar to the way a computer artist creates a wire frame model in which to paint and add detail to. |
Once you get the hang of perspective and can figure out the
logic behind how it works it you can do it more intuitively when sketching out
an image. As with anything one you nail
down the basics of it you can have fun with it and distort it in what’s called
forced perspective. You can affect the
appearance of things in a drawing, exaggerating the size of something to appear
bigger or smaller than it actually is.
This is something I like to get into my images whether it’s in children’s
illustrations or for publishing and advertising artworks. The trick is to fool the eye and draw
attention to certain details, helpful in my educational artworks as there is a
small artwork space to work with and you might need a character hold something
and see what it is but also include the detail of a room and people behind
him. So I would use this distortion
effect to pull out this person and distort the size of the hand and the object
to appeal closer up. Seeing is
believing, you have to get this just right or the brain will recognize the
fakery and disengage from the image.
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| In Parkour I've shown an aerial view with the city sprawling off into the distance. |
This distortion is used to amazing effect in Leon Keer’s art
he produces street images on flat surfaces such as paths or sidewalks. Drawn in chalk and then coloured,
wonderful 3D images when viewed in the right position appear to leap out at you
from their flat surroundings. From
standing at another position they appear smudged or distorted and the illusion
is gone. Using the same techniques as
the early practitioners in Renaissance Italy, Leon and his contempories create
these incredible visual feasts.
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| Going up! Leon Keer and one of his creations. |
My math’s teacher always bemoaned my lack of ability in
class I like to think that my understanding the art of perspective and putting
it into practice I’m solving mathematical problems every day.
A little help refresh those memories of lessons can be found
in this how to guide. http://www.wikihow.com/Draw-Perspective
Or a good reference for kids is How to Draw Comics “Marvel”
Way by Stan Lee. I still have my own
aged and well thumbed through copy on my book shelves
.
If you would like to read a little more about this try The
Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski a great book that covers art and mathematics
and the development of the human mind and scientific progress.
