| Eye Level: The Foundation of Perspective
For this lesson, use the same pencil that you used in lesson #1, but once again, any office pencil will do. As a matter of fact, you'll use a simple pencil through succeeding projects until I ask you to change to another drawing medium. It is my firm belief that students fail in their attempts at drawing because they're unaware of eye level. Actually it's such a simple concept, so seemingly obvious, that perhaps its this very quality that causes it to be overlooked. Eye level refers to the height at which your eyes observe an object. I suggest that you write this sentence and place it where you can see it often, so that it becomes part of you. It's that important to your development as an artist. Changing Shapes and Eye Level To actually demonstrate what I mean by eye level, I'd like you to lie prone on the flood. Notice that you see the bottom not the top, of most objects. Now sit up and notice the difference; move to a chair and again observe that as you raise your eye level, the top planes of objects come into view. If you were to climb a ladder to the ceiling, everything below you would show its top plane. Sounds simple enough doesn't it? Well it is! |
The cubic form in Fig. A. (above) is seen at eye level, and shows only two of its six sides. Its horizontal lines converge down to and up to their respective vanishing points. A vanishing point is an imaginary point on the eye level, or horizon, where the parallel edges of a cubic form appear to converge and meet. Converging lines, eye level, and vanishing points all add up to perspective. It's a word of Latin origin meaning "to look through." In other words, you view an object as though it were transparent and you could see all its sides - front and back. Actually all you have to do to draw an object in perspective is to observe closely. What's the angle and length of one edge compared to another? What's the length and width of a plane in relation to its neighbor? Asking yourself these kinds of questions as you view an object will help you sharpen your powers of observation.
The cubic form in Fig. B (above) has all its lines rising to the vanishing points because I've placed the cube below eye level.
All the lines in Fig. C. go down to their vanishing points because I've placed the cubic form above the eye level. In short, if the cube is at eye level, the lines, (that from the sides of the cube) come down from the top edges and go up from the bottom edges to their vanishing points on the horizon. If the cubic form is below eye level, all converging lines go up to vanishing points on the horizon. If the form is above eye level, all the converging lines come down to vanishing points on the horizon. Cube in Perspective I've chosen a cube form for your first subject because it's the easiest to draw, and you can put your straight lines to work. Furthermore, the cube demonstrates clearly the illusion of the three dimensions - height, width, and depth - that you must convey on the flat surface of the paper. If you can portray these dimensions, you'll be able to draw realistically, no matter what the subject. So from this moment, on, remember the three dimensions inherent in everything. Naturally, each dimension can vary. The height of a cubic object can be greater than its depth, or the width can be the largest of the three. As long as you are aware of their relationship, you'll be amazed at the progress you'll make. |
| Judging Size Relationships
Let me reiterate that drawing realistically means drawing accurately. Whatever proportions your box may have, check the relationship between one side and the other. Notice that in the box I've drawn (Fig. D, right), its length is about twice its length. The three boxes in Fig. D. are seen are seen in three different eye levels. Draw your box in the three different positions of Fig. D. You'll be employing the method of drawing straight lines that you learned in Lesson 1. It won't matter at all if your box isn't the same shape as mine. The main thing is for you to be aware of object's planes as you raise it or lower it above or below your level of vision. When you're satisfied that you can draw a cubic shape at eye level, continue with views 2 and 3 of Fig. D. Refer back to the diagrams in Figs. A, B, and C. In the boxes you draw be sure that the lines converging to vanishing points 1 and 2 are at the proper slant, even though the lines can't extend all the way to their respective vanishing points on the eye level - simply because the paper isn't big enough. |
 |
| Most of the objects you'll draw (at least at the beginning) will be indoors and below eye level, because interiors - furniture, rooms, etc. - are scaled to a size that humans can manipulate. Therefore, the reason for drawing objects below eye level is quite obvious. Look around you and notice that even as you sit you can see the tops of tables, chairs, sofas, etc. When you see the top of an object, it means that it's below the eye level or horizon. Since most of the work you'll do will be from a sitting or standing position, I'd like you to observe the appearance of things from that viewpoint. | |
| Practice Exercises
Collect four boxes and draw them at different distances below eye level. you might place them on top of one another and draw the top-most first; remove it and draw the second, and so on until you've drawn the fourth. notice that as you come down to the lowest box, you see more of its top plane than you did on the first box (Figs. E and F below). Compare the top planes of all four of them when you are finished.
|
| This one and the other (Fig. G, below) are practice exercises, and they're indispensable. They aren't drawing worthy of being hung on a wall, any more than the pianist's exercises would be performed in a concert hall. Yet, as you know, the pianist submits to daily practice not only to acquire his technique, but to sharpen and control it, even after he has mastered the instrument. As you go through these lessons you're going to draw everything, not just boxes. But first you must find your feet before you can run!
|
| This completes Lesson #2 in this series with many more to come! I'll see you right here again soon... |
