Drawing Drapery: Folds

http://www.mightyartdemos.com/mightyartdemos-bradley.html

Perspective

Forced Perspective Photography
Forced perspective is a technique that employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is. It is used primarily in photography, filmmaking and architecture. It manipulates human visual perception through the use of scaled objects and the correlation between them and the vantage point of the spectator or camera.

per·spec·tive

pərˈspektiv/

noun

noun: perspective

1. 1.

   the art of drawing solid objects on a two-dimensional surface so as to give the right impression of their height, width, depth, and position in relation to each other when viewed from a particular point.

   "a perspective drawing"

Representation of Alberti's window (perspective drawn using a front picture plane#. Engraving #modified) from G. B. Vignola, La due regole della prospettiva practica, 1611.

 

1, 2, & 3 Point Linear Perspective

 

You can imply perspective by the relative size of objects, layering foreground, mid-ground, and background elements, changing focus by sharpening or softening details, and lightening or darkening elements as the atmosphere changes the quality of “seeing” things in the distance.

If you can combine linear perspective with natural perspective, you can make a convincing drawing that easily allows the observer to “suspend belief” and be drawn into your creation.

 

What's your Viewpoint?

This is the basic positioning of your eyes, just like pointing a camera. What's the best Line of sight, the straight line between you, the Observer, and the Object or focal point of the scene before you?

Study and consider what you're looking at. Is this the best viewpoint to find the best composition? Where are you physically in relation to the scene you are considering painting? Are you elevated, looking downward at your subject? Are you looking up? Standing, sitting, or kneeling? Flying?

Once you know where you are find the horizon.

 

 

Where's the Horizon?

See where the sky meets the land? That's the horizon line. It's on the horizon. If objects are blocking your view of the horizon line, turn around until you can determine where it is in relation to your line of sight and extend that knowledge into your chosen view.

 

The Vanishing Point

The vanishing point is a point in the far distance at which your eyes can no longer see. Since the farthest we can see here is to the earth's horizon that's where most vanishing points live. Perspective lines start at the vanishing point.

 

(1) One Point Perspective  (Single Point - One Vanishing Point)

The front plane of the object is directly in front of you, verticals parallel, and all lines of perspective meet at a single vanishing point on the horizon. Objects you draw in one point perspective are drawn face on.

Practice: 1) Draw a horizon line and center a vanishing point. 2) Draw a square or rectangle off to the side of the vanishing point, overlapping the horizon line. 3) Lightly draw (or visualize) orthogonal "visual rays" from the vanishing point through the edges of your object. 4) Then draw the vertical lines of the back of the object using the rays as a measure.

(2) Two Point Perspective(Two Vanishing Points)

When an object or viewpoint is rotated and two sides of an object are angled away from your view, each side of the object has it's own unique lines of perspective. You now must use two vanishing points, one for each plane of the surface in view with the vertical lines parallel.

Practice: 1) Draw a horizon line and place two vanishing points on the far right and left sides. 2) Draw a vertical line indicating the closest edge of the object facing you. 3) Lightly draw (or visualize) orthogonal "visual rays" from each vanishing point to the line of the front edge of your object. 4) Then draw the vertical lines of the left and right edges of the object using the rays as a measure.

 

(3) Three Point Perspective(Bird’s Eye, Worm’s Eye - Three Vanishing Points)

If your point of observation is higher or lower a third vanishing point comes into use. Think of looking up at tall skyscrapers and seeing three vertical sides angle to a third vanishing point, far distant, as they reach toward the sky. From the Worm’s Eye view (looking up) the upper vanishing point is called the Zenith. From the Bird’s Eye or Helicopter view (looking down) the lower vanishing point is called the Nadir.

Practice: 1) Draw a horizon line and place two vanishing points on the far right and left sides. 2) Draw a vertical line bisecting the horizon line and place a third vanishing point above (or below) the horizon line. 3) Lightly draw (or visualize) orthogonal "visual rays" from the top vanishing point past the horizon line. 4) Then draw orthogonal lines from the left and right vanishing points and bisect the orthogonal lines from the top vanishing points using the rays as a measure..

 

Implied and Atmospheric Perspective

When trying to draw natural scenes like landscapes, seascapes, mountain views, or woodland settings, you are hard pressed to find a straight line with which to show 3-dimensional depth. Fortunately there are other techniques that can be employed to trick the eye of the viewer into perceiving the depth of the scene. Sometimes these are referred to as zero (0) point perspectives.

You can imply perspective by the relative size of objects, layering foreground, mid-ground, and background elements, changing focus by sharpening or softening details, and lightening or darkening elements as the atmosphere changes the quality of “seeing” things in the distance.

If you can combine linear perspective with natural perspective, you can make a convincing drawing that easily allows the observer to “suspend belief” and be drawn into your creation.

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Layers and Values

By layering visual elements one on top of another, perspective can be implied by the front to back ordering of the elements. Two dimensional art is traditionally viewed according to the conventions of stacking or layering visual elements from the bottom up as foreground, mid-ground, and background.

As a matter of course, observers assume the bottom of a drawing or painting is closest to their viewpoint and the top is the farthest from their viewpoint.

Just as a diorama uses layer-upon-layer of scenes from front-to-back to achieve depth, you can try to utilize the same convention in your drawings to achieve the illusion of depth.

 

Relative Size of Elements

Things look big when they are closer to the viewer, small when they are far away. Have a Sesame Street moment and consider this basic fact. If you place an object in your drawing it must relate in size to other elements in the drawing. In linear perspective, when elements get closer to the horizon line, their apparent size is smaller and less detailed than the same elements seen close up.

If you are drawing repeating elements in a landscape like trees, the tree trunks in front of you take up more space in your field of view, and you can make out individual leaves and branches. As they recede away from you they take up less space in the drawing you can’t see the texture or details of branches and leaves. You must now simplify and rely on the shape or contour that tells you it is still a tree. At the farthest you can see, the trees start to merge with the shape of the horizon.

Leonardo da Vinci's Aerial PerspectiveLeonardo, The Virgin of the Rocks (detail), 1491-1508
Photo © The National Gallery, London

Aerial Perspective (Atmospheric/Environmental)

 

Leonardo da Vinci was the first to record his thoughts and theories concerning Aerial (Atmospheric) Perspective, or the Perspective of Disappearance. Artists of his time were concerned with realism in their art. Linear perspective was a big step, but with careful observation it became apparent that other natural phenomenon were at work altering the look of distant objects.

 

Moisture and dust in the atmosphere are not that apparent when viewing things close by. As you look at objects further away from you, you are also looking through a thicker mass of air. The moisture and dust building up over distance scatter the light and lighten the appearance of objects, lessening the contrasts of light and shadow and blurring details. Environmental factors like fog, steam, smoke, water mist, or pollution intensify local Aerial Perspective effects.

"Perspective is the rein and rudder of painting"

—Leonardo da Vinci  

When working in color, the distant shapes also take on a bluish cast as their true color intensity is lessened visually. This bluing effect is the more local version of what makes the sky blue. Air molecules (like oxygen and nitrogen) are very small and selectively scatter the shorter (smaller) waves of the visible light spectrum, violet and blue.

When you look up during a clear sunny day, the cumulative effect of all this selective light bouncing around gives us our blue sky. Over shorter distances this scattering of short wave light tints distant vistas as you look closer to the horizon.

  www.WatercolorPainting.com • Copyright © 2011 Gregory Conley. All rights reserved.

 

WORKSHEETS and EXAMPLES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drawing with Charles Bargue

The Charles Bargue Drawing Course is the collected set of knowledge from centuries of academic art education and is beeing used in classical art academies throughout the world. It was developed and widely used in the mid 19th century as a foundational exercise for fine art training until modernism began to neglect skill and technique. Since the comeback of traditional values art schools and academies have been formed which follow this proven approach of the great masters as an essential process in understanding the principles of shape, proportion, value and form.

"Charles Bargue is mostly remembered for his Cours de dessin, one of the most influential classical drawing courses conceived in collaboration with Jean-Léon Gérôme. The course [...] was to guide students from plaster casts to the study of great master drawings and finally to drawing from the living model.
Among the artists whose work is based on the study of Bargue’s platework is Vincent van Gogh, who copied the complete set in 1880/1881, and (at least a part of it) again in 1890."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bargue

In a classical atelier you start by copying two dimensional references – the Bargue plates – as perfect as possible. This teaches you to see distances, lengths and angles as well as shading. First you would make few general guidelines – the rest is built up through observation and correction.

Charles Bargue Course PDF

Needed Materials:

• Wood panel or something similar
  (should be large enough to place two sheets of paper – the reference and the drawing paper – besides each other).
• Sheet of paper – regular printer paper should be sufficient for this exercise.
• the printed reference (available here as a digital download package)
• artists tape
• pencils in different grades (2H, HB & 2B are sufficient)
• kneaded eraser
• measuring device such as a knitting needle or a thread
• ruler (only for the initial preparatory steps)

Execution:

• As a righty you need to stick the printed reference on the left hand side of your panel with artists tape. Your drawing paper should sit on the right hand side. As a lefty you do it vice versa.
  
• Now make a straight vertical line through the middle of your reference. If your reference is a symmetrical object the middle is easy to determine - if you have a non-symmetrical reference just estimate a middle. Also draw a straight vertical line through your drawing paper. DON´T PRESS TOO HARD WITH THE PENCIL SINCE YOU NEED TO ERASE THESE GUIDELINES LATER!
  
• Make two horizontal lines across the reference and your drawing paper - one on the topmost point of your reference and one on the bottommost point.
  
  It should look like this now:

• Now hold your measurung device in front of your reference, squint one eye and measure from the middle line to the leftmost point (see the following picture; in this example a thread was used). Keep this distance and hold the measuring device on the middle line of your drawing paper. Slightly draw a line where you determined the width. Double check by doing this process again. If you did not transfer the distance correctly, just erase your first estimation and make a better one.
  
  
  
• Do these steps with the most prominent points of the reference. Always double check. This process seems to be tedious but it is worth it. It is easier to change things in the beginning stages of the drawing than towards the end so double checking is crucial.
  
• After you have determined a couple of points, connect them with straight lines to have a simplified image of your reference. You can now dispense your measuring device since it is the learning-to-see what you are after.
  
• Now the fun part starts: make your drawing match as perfect as possible to the reference just by using your eye! Lines that you are not sure about should be made lightly. Work as hard as you can. It is not unusual if you need a couple of hours on this drawing. The more you practise the faster you get.
  

See the steps of this process:

http://www.cast-drawing.com/bargue.html

Print & try these:

Drawing lessons

http://www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Drawing/BasicDrawing.old/index.html

Introduction I believe that you must learn to draw things as you see them - realistically. That is, you must reproduce the dimensions and proportions of a given subject. To render a faithful, realistic drawing, you must be able to observe the basic structure of an object, regardless of how complex and obscure by detail it may be. You must train not only your hands but your eyes as well. However, the ability to depict an object literally doesn't make you an artist. No one ever claimed that the faithful duplication of nature (an impossible task anyway) produces art. But the ability to draw things as you see them is the first step toward becoming an artist. In other words, throughout this series you'll learn to draw realistically. The objects before you will dictate what you should do, and the result will be the literal representation of the object. When you've finished the projects in this series, you'll be equipped with the necessary skills to enable you to express yourself as an artist. Having learned the fundamentals, the craft of drawing, you'll have a solid point of departure from which to create. Then, if you wish, you can leave the literal imitation of a subject to the students behind you.

Basic Structure of Objects Every object you see has a structure or form based on either the cube, the cylinder, the cone, or the sphere. Any object may be based on one or a combination of these four geometric solids. A solid, for our graphic purposes, means an object that has three dimensions: height, width, and depth. Basic structure doesn't mean that things are geometric perfect cubes, cylinders, cones, or spheres. (They can be, of course - for example, a square box, a round can, or an ice cream cone.) It means that objects are based on these four geometric solids. The shape of the object is modified in various ways that depart from the strict geometrical form (Fig A). This principle was a revelation to me. I found that I could concentrate on overall dimensions of an object; then at my leisure, I could add whatever details I wanted to include. In addition, because the four basic geometric forms are solid, i.e., three dimensional, you get a feeling for the bulk and the weight of everything you draw. In the next three projects, we'll explore the first of these basic forms - the cube. We'll flatten it down, pull it up, or lengthen it, depending on our needs for representing an actual object. There are so many things that have the cube as their basic shape that it seems logical to begin with it. But before you can draw cubes, you must practice drawing the straight lines that form them.

Drawing Straight Lines All you need to do the exercises in this project is a standard "office" pencil and a pad of drawing paper. I've used a KOH-I-NOOR #555, grade #2 pencil, and a #307 Ad Art layout and visualizing pad made by the Bienfang Company. The range of pencils and drawing papers is so wide that I won't even attempt to enumerate them. Actually, for your first explorations, almost any pencil and any type of paper will do. Later you'll be more discriminating. Drawing Lines Freehand Since the first objects you are going to draw require primarily straight lines, let's look into ways of making them without any mechanical aids. I want you to draw them freehand; it's awkward and impractical to be encumbered with rulers and triangles as you sketch, especially outdoors. Besides, there's a certain life and vibrancy to a line drawn freehand when compared to the cold and mechanical line made with a ruler.

Holding the Pencil Drawing a straight line, despite the old adage about it being awfully difficult, is easy and fun to do if you use the right approach (Fig B). Begin this very moment. Don't procrastinate. It doesn't matter in the least if the way you hold your pencil isn't the same as mine. Hold your pencil in the usual writing position or "under the palm", whichever feels more comfortable (Figures C and D). Swing the straight lines from the elbow, not from the wrist. Swinging from the wrist will make your stroke too short and your line will be choppy and labored.

Angle and Direction of Lines By practicing, you'll discover the best angle at which you can draw a straight line. Then, all you have to do is turn the paper to execute a horizontal, a vertical, or diagonal line. Try them all. My own personal choice is in a northeasterly direction, beginning southwest. Your favorite direction may turn out to be the same or be a horizontal line that runs from west to east. The direction of the line isn't important. It's the spontaneity and directness of the line that really matters. Don't be timid and make short stabs at drawing lines. Dash them off with one stroke. No one is going to see or evaluate them. Relax. Let yourself go, and swing away so that you can limber up your entire arm. If you can draw a straight line in any direction - without turning the paper - you're to be envied. find out right now if you're one of the fortunate few.

This is the end of the first lesson. In the next lesson, we talk about Eye Level, the foundation of perspective. See you then!