concepts of shape.

The most familiar way of indicating depth for most of us is perspective. You have converging

diagonal lines, foreshortening of forms, overlapping shapes, and scale. With all of these principles

of perspective we are using shape to create the illusion of depth.

Scale

First, the most basic rule of perspective is that as objects get further from the viewer,

they will appear smaller. So, to show depth it's a good idea to have objects of recognizable

size in both the foreground and background. We know that these two figures should be roughly

the same size, so this smaller one seems further away.

Everybody knows that my biceps are enormously large. A smaller bicep in the same scene will

appear further back.

The objects don't have to be the same, just any objects that the viewer recognizes and

knows its approximate scale. The house on this hill gives us something to go off of

to imagine the size of the hill. When we make the house smaller, now the hill looks like

a mountain, and much further away.

Since distant object are smaller, there's less space to put details. So, don't try to

cram as much details as possible just for the sake of having detail. In fact, removing

information could be better. Putting more detail in the foreground elements and less

detail in the background elements adds to the effect of depth. And consider simplifying

distant shapes. Instead of attempting to include every subtle nuance of the object's contours,

focus on the rhythm of the shape and its role in the picture.

Converging lines, vanishing points

Everybody knows you can�t talk about perspective without mentioning vanishing points. Basically

as objects recede into space they get smaller and smaller and by the time they reach the

horizon they are so far away they've shrunk to mere dots. This is best seen on boxy objects

like walls and furniture and stuff.. The top and bottom of the walls are parallel, but

when perspective is applied, all the lines in the scene that are parallel, will point

to this one vanishing point. This is called one-points perspective. One point perspective

brings the viewer into the scene to look at whatever action is happening near the vanishing

point..

With two point perspective, now you have one side of the box going toward one point, and

the other side towards another point. Instead of bringing the viewer into the scene like

we did with one-point perspective, instead we get an effect of the closest object popping

out towards the viewer.

We can choose to play up or play down this effect with the degree of the angles. For

example with this car, the middle line at the headlight closest to us really jumps forward.

It�s very difficult not to look there. The headlight screams �look at me, I'm in your

face�. So, you would decide if that�s what you want. Is it about the headlight or

the whole car? You can play down this effect by flattening the perspective a bit. Very

different effect and something that many don�t even consider as they start plotting their

perspective. Be careful with this because all these decisions could have an important

role in how the viewer reads your picture.

Lets talk about foreshortening.

Now, foreshortening and converging lines coming to a vanishing point are basically the same

thing.. It�s just things receding back into space and getting smaller. Though with organic

forms you rarely have obvious diagonal lines directing the viewer to a point. Foreshortened,

organic objects, like a leg, appear to be going back because the viewer is familiar

with its extended length and when it's squished down to half the expected size, the viewer's

brain automatically thinks, "well, it must be going away from me..it must be hidden from

sight, behind itself". So in this case it looks like it�s receding because it�s

length is shorter than it should be.

Common mistakes

I see it all the time and I�m a victim myself.. Its a life drawing class, and we�re drawing

a foreshortened leg. Except we don�t draw it foreshortened. We draw it as if it was

fully extended. This is really common, because our brain just doesn�t want to draw it foreshortened.

We�re so used to seeing a leg in its full length, that we just want to draw what we

know. It�s an illusion. But, we�re not the viewers, we�re the artists and we should

be in control of these effects and we should be thinking of how we can use them to our

advantage. Be in control of it instead of fighting it.

Another mistake is we successfully measures the length, but then we just compress the

width to make it resemble more of a leg shape.. Then you have a tiny leg. Seems silly, but

it happens all the time. Stupid brain!

At first, just think of it as an abstract shape. It�s not a leg, its just a shape.

Removing the identity of what you're drawing from your mind should help you stay analytical

Overlapping lines/form

With an organic form like a leg, you also have "overlapping" forms to help show depth.

The leg is made up of many smaller volumes, the muscles and bones, and as these recede,

some will be in front of others. You can show this by overlapping the lines. Femur is in

front of the vastus medialis, vastus medialis is in front of the adductor group, which is

in front of the pelvis.. These overlaps tell the viewers eye that the forms are receding

backward, one after the other..

So, we started with a simple abstract shape for the leg, but that�s flat. After you're

done with the simple shape, go back and establish the overlapping forms.