Mastering Perspective: Two Practical Techniques
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- Опубліковано 25 вер 2024
- For many, perspective remains a black hole. And most books on perspective only reinforce that - too technical and complex for what most painters actually need in practice.
In this video, a little longer than usual since perspective deserves some careful attention, I'll give you two practical ways to master perspective and bypass the dense technical stuff in the books.
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My goodness, this is one of those times when you find yourself thinking “it’s so simple. Why didn’t I think of this before?”. I love it when that happens 😄. It’s a subject that has really perplexed me and I have been put off trying paintings that have buildings in them, but now it doesn’t seem so difficult. Thank you for explaining it in an easy to understand way. I’m so exited that I can’t wait ‘til the wife comes home so I can show her.
"Attention is the beginning..." love your Mary Oliver reference..she's one of my favorite poets.
Love her too.
@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition please consider a series of still life like the pumpkin...
There's none out there...I resorted to another language and found few but not in English...thank you ...
Enjoy your videos...learning so much...your wonderful
You have just reinforced the approach to perspective that was taught on my recent drawing course at West Dean College. Starting by identifying the angles in the subject to create the cube to discover the perspectives and vanishing points. It teaches you to observe and not to get caught up in geometry which can addle the brain, in my case! Once these lines are established, then everything else can be deduced and drawn in. I will remember the lowering of the pencil or brush to get the correct angles - simple but so effective!
Glad you found that helpful Ian. All the best.
“Attention is the beginning of devotion”. Beautiful.
Really great video on perspective. I think your point s out ellipses being contained by a square is something everyone should think about!
Glad you found it helpful Danny. I suspect I might need to explain that circle in square thing a bit more fully some other time. All the best
@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition thank you! Looking forward to it!
I like how you address the perspective issue. I hope as we draw or paint in the future you go back to those issues.
So glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you Sir. I just started painting again after 20 years. Your knowledge has helped me find inspiration again.
Perspective has been this huge scary thing for me, but this video is by far the MOST PRACTICAL and STRAIGHTFORWARD tutorial I’ve come across. I cant describe how relieved and glad I am...thank you mr.roberts!! Your videos are the most helpful and informative.
As usual a great job, like Skjtheartist below, I took drafting in High School and so was 'bathed' so to speak in Orthographic drawing. Now 60 years later I am back at my drafting board, yes I have carried same second hand one with me since my Undergrad days in many relocations across the country. The difference today is it works as my makeshift easel. Now, I am really looking forward to Mixing Greens and please don't forget edges. Thanks
Hi Gerald, I"ve got a drafting board in a friend's basement in northern Ontario which I never brought down to LA. And yes next week greens and of course must do edges again.
@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Great thanks
you are the best art teacher in this platform
I tried these exercises, which I have been avoiding (hoping this limitation would be overcome on its own over time), and something clicked for me for the first time. In the repetition and experimentation, I glimpsed a pattern that has alluded me because I refused to slow down. This is wonderful. Thank you for simplifying and showing the way.
Bless you for sharing your gifts and skills with us. May God bless you for blessing us.
Just started at 64yo to get lost in this realm. Books just don't do it for me, when visual the best way taught is to 'see' in reality what to do or look for. Again many thanks.
This video gives a way of checking if the perspective I have laid out is correct and why some of my buildings, etc. don't quite look right. I will start with the exercises you discussed and then take it to my paintings and check them to see if all the lines are corrrectly all going out into the distance. This will definitely help me since perspective has been quite a challenge. Thank you for changing things up this week by adding the exercises.
Hi Julie, if you don't get an angle right you can tell and the viewer can too. So it's frustrating if you can't tell how to fix it. Hope this helps. All the best.
Tuesdays are fast becoming my favourite day!
Makes me happy Paul. Thanks for letting me know.
Love your quote from Mary Oliver. A great tutorial as always, thank you.
Love that quote too Mark. Glad you found the video helpful.
I love it when you give us exercises to work on and the quote by Mary Oliver is excellent. Thank you again. Looking forward to "greens"!
Glad you liked it Kathy. And yes greens next week.
Addintional Tip #1: using diagonals from corner to corner to locate a halfway point. Where the two diagonals cross is the middle of the cube. You can see this the the last image Robert shows of the gable end of the house. Useful for getting spacing correct for things like fence posts or windows as they recede into the distance.
These are the things I need to put in the second one. Thanks Julia
Im just supremely thankful that i found ur channel. I have no subject knowledge of arts. Your videos are like heaven
I've come to realize that I literally need to go back to the "drawing board" lest my paintings continue to be fundamentally flawed. This will keep my attention (as it is a simple exercise) while forcing me to "pay attention" as that lovely quote you referenced. Thank you.
Well you got the idea exactly. Having a problem with perspective can be solved with a bit of attention. Glad you found that both helpful and want to do it too.
Blocks...love this idea. And a couple of saw cuts later I can have a square. But to have it on different eye levels is what I missed. And cyclinders...love that tip.
Good for you Connie. Have fun with the practice. Best wishes.
One thing we seldom ever expect to see are artists exaggerating the verticals perspective of gravity, creating by extension another vanishing point at the exact center of the earth and juxtaposed above with the curvature of the earth at the horizon line.
The net result, the rooftops end up slightly wider than the foundations of their respective buildings, which I find adds an element of authenticity, surprise, and truthfulness within images of long structures or a series of structures.
Another thing the curvature of the earth introduces is that the vanishing point on the horizon line is only twenty miles away at zero elevation, and whatever we can see beyond that begins to fall away and disappear.
I love your presentations Ian. They are always essential to developing a true understanding of your subjects.
Keeping prospective on our drawings is so important (and our.Paintings of course ) these are great exercises to review once in a while .
Thanks once again Ian ,
Dave A
happy Valley Oregon
This works well. The same principle works in life drawing to use angles to construct shapes. I enjoy your clear, methodical approach to teaching. I’m a fan!
That's exactly right. You can get the angles on the body in just the same way. Glad you are enjoying the videos Norman.
I thought this was really a good way to simplify the painfully academic way anyone who has been through art school has had to endure. I was wondering what you were going to present here, and I already do exactly what you do. I Don't know exactly where I learned it but I think I was watching a Plein-air teacher paint and just copied him. I went through the long hard way of learning perspective also, but here is the practical ,everyday, user friendly way of achieving something that doesn't appear lopsided and wonky ...destroying all your hard work. What I really liked was that I will remember this concise little snippet if anyone ever asks me how to straighten up their tumbledown buildings, and I won't try to make them draw lines to their vanishing point.
Hi Ramona. glad that was helpful. I think at some point a second one on perspective to fill in some of the gaps will help. Hope all is well. Best wishes.
Ian, thanks so much for facilitating the exercises to gradually master perspective. It helps a lot to learn from a master like you. Your videos are on target! I appreciate your determination and consistency with your videos. There is so much to learn and your videos are of great help. By the way, congratulations on your book about Creative Authenticity! I was reading it, then I thought I better take notes. Thanks for sharing your experience and how it can help,others. Great book. Blessings and take care.
Hi Crisalida, I'm delighted you are enjoying both the book and the videos. All the best
Brilliant! Such as simple tip - slow down! Thank you!
Good to see we use the same technique for finding angles. I also use that to determine proportions, and layout on my canvas board while plein air painting. It’s satisfying to see how everything falls into place after determining those factors.
Dear Mr Roberts, thank you very much indeed for your tutorial on perspective. The first very great thing about you is that you are…left-handed which makes a huge difference for me as you guessed, i’m also…left handed. Second, just like a musician who practices his/her scales, i will practice my “cubes” as per your tutorial which really can be done anywhere and at anytime…and maybe this will lead to… cubism😊 thanks and great week end.
Hahaha..loved the “cubism” it made me laugh out loud, well said!
I like to paint cabins in wilderness scenes and I always had a hard time with perspective of the cabin. This video will help me greatly. Thank you.
Of course yes. Really helpful Robert Sir. Love your paintings and tips.
Glad you are enjoying them
Have to get my sketching pad and get started. Perspective is the way of seeing reality in a 2D plain. Tricky, but possible. Thanks for the help. I needed that.
One thing I see often, is 2 or more perspectives not connected. They might have a house in perspective, and a road with a fence line also in perspective, but if you for eg, move a post on the same plain as the house, over to the house, it would be 8 ft tall.
I look for a way to make them correspond. Imagine the door is 7 ft ish...approximate a 5 ft post, then move it over to its place on the same plain, and then make the entire fence correspond to that post. Or even size the post in relation to a 6 ft tall person who might be standing next to it.
Is that worth taking a look for instructional purposes?
That’s a great tip
HI Mark, as I've mentioned above I thought the video was getting on the long side this week . And there are a number of points I obviously had to leave out. But this is a good one and I'm collecting ideas for a second perspective video and will address it. Thanks for the suggestion.
@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Thank you Ian.
You are not going to believe this, but I just taught this very same subject to 2 of my beginners today. (before I watched your video) I was using a cardboard box, but I am going to make some cubes for next time. I am also sharing this video with all of my students. (some of them are already signed up for you videos and love them
). Don't ever stop doing these short videos, I watch them all the time and sometimes go back for years or as far as they go back. I also have your two books which I loan out. Sally
Hi Sally glad you are finding the videos helpful. Both for you and your students. Best wishes.
Great lesson. Looking forward to solving the "greens" problem!!!
Would also like to learn about distant blues or mountains in distance in shadows and sunlight.
Hi Paresh, greens next week and good suggestion for atmospheric perspective. Thanks.
Very helpful thank you Ian. I need to practise so your cube photos will be very useful.
That's great Lesley. Enjoy the practice.
Very generous lesson and exersizes. Thank you.
You're welcome Brenda.
Beautifully simplified. I liked the tip you showed of laying in the line as you put your measured mark on the paper - really works. Maybe sometime you could do the same for ellipses. Thanks always for sharing!
Hi Joani, glad you liked it and will do for ellipses another time.
Thanks so much for this, Ian!
Totally get it. Thank you. Having given up on understanding books on perspective, this video has shone the light clearly on the subject.
WOW- that was amazing- de mystifying perspective! well done- and than you SO much for all your wonderful weekly missives!
You are so welcome Fran. Glad you are enjoying them. MIssive. I like that.
Amazing tip! Thanks a lot!
You are welcome César.
Thanks César. Are you the César Cordova with the painting channel? Love your work. Best wishes.
@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition At your service! I wish UA-cam had recomended your channel sooner, I'm learning a lot from your videos. I would love to mention your channel in one of my future videos, I'm sure your lessons will be of great help to many. Thanks a lot!
I am delighted to have come across your channel and to have subscribed to your newsletter. Undergoing a great amount of stress planning my long distance trip, due in few days; I m more than happy to include you in my journey. Thank you. I will be watching your videos and painting.
Delighted you found the channel and are enjoying the videos. Have a good trip. Best wishes Somia.
You are a wealth of information and it is so generous of you to take the time to share your knowledge. Stay well. g
Thanks so much Gayle. All the best.
Finally I understand perspective!! Thank you so much. Keep the good work I’m teaching
Glad it was helpful Marilyn
Perfect Example!
Thanks Laura.
Good demonstration - thank you.💐
Love the quote from Mary Oliver. Thank you Ian and I'm looking forward to next week's video on mixing greens. It's something I struggle with
Glad you enjoyed it Evan and yes greens next week.
This exercise could be modified to do the same but with cylinders: draw the cylinder first, then build the cube around it to “see” the lines leading to the vanishing points, just to make sure the cylinder was drawn in perspective. Super video!! Thanks :)
HI Sally I considering doing the cylinders but just thought it was getting too long already. I'll do that another time.
Absolutely amazing to see such speedy painting with accuracy
Delighted you are enjoying the videos. Best wishes
Magnifique ! Thank you for the explanations.
You are welcome Hannah.
Brilliant as always! Thank you! I paint animals to avoid straight lines.... but this is a good exercise for all artists...your ability to teach leaves me speechless and in awe every time. Saving my pennies for a workshop...
Delighted you are enjoying the videos Alison.
What a Great, Simple to follow, Practical Lesson......Thank you, Thank you
You are so welcome Andrea!
Perspective one of the many tools needed to create an allusion of really. Great lesson thanks Ian.
You are so welcome Dennis!
Great video. Very informative. Thank you.
Karmaşık bir konuyu basitleştirdiniz.Çok anlaşılırdı.Teşekkür ederim.
You're welcome.
Thank you!! Maybe now I can get better at this. Really appreciate the photos of the cube as I don’t have one for practice.
You are welcome.
Thank you so much for this lesson! Finally some practical advice for learning perspective! I appreciate what you do to help students of art.
🙏🙏thank you sooo much for this!!! Very important.
You are so welcome Joann
This is very informative and useful! It makes a lot of sense to do these exercises, and I can visualize what it is you're talking about here. What the goal with them are.
Delighted you are enjoying the videos. Best wishes
Your demos are easy to understand. I'm learning so much from it. Thank you
You are so welcome Ursula
Superb instruction!
Thanks Brian.
This lesson on perspective was VERY useful, thanks.
Very helpful. Thank you, Ian. Dianne, Colorado Springs, Co., USA
Thanks Dianne.
Awesome !!! I’m so happy I went back looking for more I’d missed 😊 Thank You
You are so welcome Cynthia.
Very helpful! Thank you so much for these tips!
Most welcome Selma.
Very simple yet very effective technique! Thank you very much!
I'm learning so much from it. Thank you!
I keep looking at the beautiful drawings on your wall. I would love to see some videos on pencil technique. Mine just get so messy.
I'm so excitedd I came across your page !!! Youre videos are so helpfull and easy to comprehend
thank you so much sir you explained very easily..............
Thankyou for this! Very helpful! And your voice sounds allot like Clint Eastwood!! Awesome!
What a compliment. Thank you Kennie. Glad you are enjoying it
Great lesson. Attention to perspective also vital when doing realist portraits ¾ view.
Looking forward to how you approach the myriad Greens.
Hi Ken, that is really true about portraits in 3/4 view. Greens next week.
Very useful, and simplifies an otherwise daunting topic. Thank you so much.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I've just stumbled onto this, although I subscribed and have been watching for sometime, I somehow missed this one. It couldn't be more topical! I've just begun laying out a landscape in which there is a shed and the perspective is very difficult. I will be practicing your exercises to get a better feel for this before I commit paint to canvas..thanks a lot.
Excellent help!
Thank you so much for explanation, excellent!❤️
Glad you found it helpful Phyllis.
great lesson, thanks again
I did those complex perspective exercises in my college engineering class.--BFA industrial Design University of Illinois, champaign--..helpful but oh soooo tedious!!
Tedious but also not that practically useful for most paintings.
Thanks for the super practical explanation!! Have seen people do bits and pieces of what u did with measuring the angles but not quite your approach which is very easy to understand. Once took a class where we used huge long strips of board (6 feet or more) to draw to the vanishing point. Very unwieldy and impractical.
Guess I will draw some blocks!!
Hi Margaret, well it makes for thoughts of a funny skit of someone doing a plein air painting with long pieces of wood and nails and measuring onto to this small 8 x 10 panel. As you say must be a better way.
@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition lol well it was 4’x4’ but yes it would be a hoot. And a great example of what not to do. The only thing it was ever good for was every line was in the right place but a rather horrendous task all in all.
Thanks for the help on this and on all your lessons. Peggy
You are so welcome Peggy!
Thank you so much.
Amazing! Really good stuff here. Thank you!
Thank you, great instructions!
You're welcome.
Very helpful, thanks Ian :)
You are a marvelous teacher
Thank you Isabella
@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Your lessons come at a critical time for me as an artist as I was forced to abruptly severe ties with my former teacher due to his shocking and sudden expressions of extreme racism.
The depth and breadth of your lessons are of enormous help to me. Thank you so much and I hope you continue posting such informative techniques and approaches to drawing and painting.
That was very helpful!! Thank you, Ian! Best wishes from Brazil 🙌🏼🇧🇷
You are so welcome Deborah
@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition 🙌🏼🙏🏼🙌🏼🍃🍃
From the cube, move on to some dice! All those little elipses within a cube. I heard a tattoo artist say they were the most challenging thing to render accurately.
great explanation. tks
I'll try that, thanks for the clear and simple explanation.
You are welcome Albertina
Great tip ! it is good to know the rules before we allow ourself to break them . Thank you Ian
Most welcome Christine.
YES!!! very helpful! It would have been fun to see you draw in the circles and ellipses.
.I always get stuck on those.!
I'll do the ellipses another time.
Thank you !
¡ Me encantan tus enseñanzas ! Por favor, ¿podrías poner tus vídeos con posibilidad de subtítulos en español? Te lo agradecería en alma. Gracias.
Thank you for simplifying the how to!
You're welcome Fran.
I would tell my students to hold their pencil up to a clock when analyzing the line. Is it pointing at 1o’clock, or 2 o’clock? This helps keep the wrist from flopping forward. I love your simple and practical techniques.
That's a good idea. Glad you enjoyed the video.
Thank you.
Excellent!
What a wonderful tutorial! Thank you so very much.
You are so welcome Denny
Love the videos.
Technical perspective rules can be perplexing and intimidating, and useful primarily in architectural rendering, mechanical drawings, etc. But knowing just a few aspects can save one from errors in drawing which can make a work feel unnatural, even if you can't figure out why. If parallel lines converge to a single vanishing point, this helps us pay attention to why rooflines tilt down as they extend away, while sidewalks angle up. Measuring with a straightedge and eyeballs is plenty accurate enough, but thinking about what we're looking at can remind us where persistent visual tendencies can throw us off. Winding roads converge at the same rate as straight ones; spaced distances grow narrower, the farther away/nearer the horizon line.