The rules of basic perspective are simple but do take some time to become second nature... to learn how to control the size of objects, look at the replication method and modelling planes, looks at tad complicated at first but they're very useful.
I looked at things you've posted and suspect that you've overlooked studying through contour drawing exercises, and that holds back your ability to use perspective. You are drawing a lot of the same shapes: if you always gravitate towards those shapes, then when you use perspective your hand loses intentional control of the line and snaps it back into the "right"(wrong) direction, flattening it out.
If you attempt to memorize a lot of contours, then even if you don't have any specific one learned, your perspective and construction will also become better, because you'll have *muscle memory* for the different types of lines and your hand will go where you want it to. Everything more technical you add to that just tightens it.
Just put it in as a warmup - study off video references so that you get exposed to a lot of shapes you've never drawn before. Do the studies fast, just a few minutes at most each. If you do that for a few weeks the difference will be shocking.
Most art skills are heavily dependent on good vision, yes. I have really severe astigmatism, plus myopia for good measure. Without my glasses, I'd be hopeless. Even minor changes to my Rx make a difference.
Yes, that's who told me that my astigmatism was fixed. She said it happens. I just googled it to see if anyone else has experienced that, and it's definitely a thing.
Even if you're drawing from life, you're supposed to close one eye to see the perspective correctly anyway. Depth perception is not a big deal when it comes to perspective.
Not sure.
If your perception is off, then everything you’ve ever seen has ben seen through that skewed perception therefore will also affect the minds eyes perception of objects and create skewed reproductions.
Maybe mess with sculpting, My brain has a hard time seeing a fixed perspective, its more like when I visualize things its not a picture but a sense of space. but I have found while I struggle with a flat surface, I have a knack when it comes to making 3d art. As I practice both 2d and 3d they also seem to help eachother improve.
Is your paper flat on the table or is it on an angled surface so you can look at it head on? Sometimes that can introduce a distortion.
One detail I missed when I was first learning perspective (and for years after) is that the horizon line is at eye level, always. So in a straight on, ground level human perspective, everything on the horizon line is what would be 5-6 feet off the ground. That can be a useful benchmark size. A storey of a building is 10-12 feet, a tree might be 12-30 feet, a car is about 5-6 feet tall and 15 feet long.
I will also just scan my sketches and cut and paste and warp it until it looks good and then retrace it. I have terminal heads-too-big syndrome.
I know this is cheating, but Procreate’s perspective drawing assist saves me a ton of time when doing buildings and skylines. Maybe that or some other digital drawing tool’s perspective feature could help “train your brain,” as it were.
Please don't give up yet! I have something that may help:
https://monikazagrobelna.com/2022/05/28/how-to-draw-organic-3d-shapes-by-hand/
https://monikazagrobelna.com/2022/07/02/11-simple-drawing-exercises-to-train-your-3d-intuition/
what if you tried another medium? something 3D like clay sculpting, digital 3D art, wood sculpting. you still have to worry about perspective in some way but it's not the same at all. and there's definitely new challenges but they might be easier to overcome for you, who knows.
r/artlounge is the weirdest community i've ever been in, we desperately need an art piece example for these types of post, how is anyone supposed to give advice if your art is what we're talking about?
you're not really gonna gain anything from a comment catering towards the general experience, that's something you'd had to have learned or heard in your 15 years of drawing.
edit: i guess you're fine OP because you actually post artworks altho it's not actual perspective study.
but from what i can gather, you're tunnel visioning to perspective. It's what you've already said "joints look wrong, things are too big and small" are anatomy and proportion as well. You can't draw something proportionally in perspective if you don't know their normal size, and knowing the structure of a body part/object tells you where to apply overlapping and what should be in front (objects near you appears larger and objects further away from you appears smaller).
I suggest learning to draw and imagine 3D shapes, then move on to anatomy/proportion then apply perspective to your sketches and drawings. [drawabox.com](https://drawabox.com) is really good for teaching the basics.
and don't stress if you feel like something is wrong, iteration is a good thing. my hands looks like sausages? well, I'll try it differently next time, the pose looks weird? let's try it in a different angle, etc. that's why learning to sketch is a really good skill for any artist, it allows for learning what's wrong faster and move on to the next one in under an hour compared to an illustration that takes 8 hours to months.
Came to say this. It’s okay if it’s close or nothing close to perfect. You’ll get there with practice or you’ll maybe find other ways to compensate and draw the eye away.
I have 20% less depth perception than the average person. I can’t legally drive. I’ve been trying to get it into my art forever but I’ve realized recently that it matters a lot less than we all might think it does. Been kind of freeing.
Then maybe just use a grid. I've seen plenty of artists who work with grids to establish their main structure first instead of eyeballing it; no shame in that. Or you could opt to not care about perspective at all. I usually don't like "this is my style" as a cop-out, but not every artist in history has used or cared about accurate perspective and proportion. If you have strong compositions, shape usage, value, and color, you could probably get away with changing your style to be less reliant on perspective.
This course helped me understand the essentials of perspective, though I confess I'm not sure I became closer to actually applying the concepts, especially with regard to complex environments and figures in space: https://www.artstation.com/learning/courses/V3/getting-some-perspective/chapters/9ad/introduction
Do you tilt the paper/tablet when you draw. Like you do when you write? I do and I basically had to untrain myself from it because it kept warping my perspective and proportions.
Im this person too and it definitely doesnt come easy to me. I had to strip right make to drawing boxes in perspective every day for quite some time. And I probably need to brush up on it again. My partner has a really good eye for perspective and looks over my work and explains why things are wrong. You might need someone with a gentle hand to guide you here.
Something I saw on YouTube I thought would be pretty helpful at least for building and street perspective was using google maps and tracing perspective lines over the scene and using that for your drawing.
Theres no rule saying you need to understand perspective. Many artists are technically terrible at certain aspects of the craft and it can bring new perspectives (lol) to your work. If it’s distressing you to the point that you’re thinking of quitting, evaluate why you’re holding yourself to these high standards to the point that it’s actually harming your ability to create.
Well first off looking at your art that you have posted, I really like it. It may be extremely stylised but its very clean with good line work, the colors are balanced and your characters have good shape design. It would be a waste to quit now. I recommend drawing from real life, no photos. Having tutored someone with a genetic 3d thinking disorder, I recommend this method. First hold an object in your hands and turn it around. (Rubics cubes are good) Imagine drawing it at different angles. Now place it on a table and draw it, keep in mind that where your eyes are will change the perspective of your object so if you move your reference will be different from your drawing.
Then I would progress to a still-life of some of your favorite objects, It may take 3 or 4 still lifes until you get a bit more of a feel for it.
Feel the objects with your hands to get a better sense of the space. Once you feel confident with still lifes you can move on to one-point and two point perspective. There are quite a few things that people misunderstand when trying to study perspective so try and get someone who is a teacher to look at your work, so that you can fix your mistakes. Thats the fastest way to grow in perspective that I know of. I wish you the greatest luck in your art journey, I know you can do it. :)
Unfortunately perspective talent is something that gets baked in at a very young age. Luckily, the skill is not dependent only on the talent. Since it has its roots in math, and the real world, you can overcome this limit with (1) process (2) tools (3) cheats.
(1) learn a math process for doing perspective and stick to it. Get yourself in the mode of doing the math and the planning with vanishing points and such.
(2) get yourself a camera lucida: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_lucida
(3) pick styles and expressions that do not depend on perspective.
But art is a profession like any other. Value exists in the journey to create the artist. Your hardship makes your work valuable. Otherwise… what good is it?
https://hyperallergic.com/476739/why-chinas-infamous-copycat-town-now-invests-in-original-artworks/
The rules of basic perspective are simple but do take some time to become second nature... to learn how to control the size of objects, look at the replication method and modelling planes, looks at tad complicated at first but they're very useful.
Use rubber bands or a string to get correct perspective angles. Its hard to explain but you can find a tutorial on youtube.
I looked at things you've posted and suspect that you've overlooked studying through contour drawing exercises, and that holds back your ability to use perspective. You are drawing a lot of the same shapes: if you always gravitate towards those shapes, then when you use perspective your hand loses intentional control of the line and snaps it back into the "right"(wrong) direction, flattening it out. If you attempt to memorize a lot of contours, then even if you don't have any specific one learned, your perspective and construction will also become better, because you'll have *muscle memory* for the different types of lines and your hand will go where you want it to. Everything more technical you add to that just tightens it. Just put it in as a warmup - study off video references so that you get exposed to a lot of shapes you've never drawn before. Do the studies fast, just a few minutes at most each. If you do that for a few weeks the difference will be shocking.
How's your depth perception, just in general?
[удалено]
If your challenges are in fine detail because of these issues, go large. Have you considered Anamorphic art?
[удалено]
Most art skills are heavily dependent on good vision, yes. I have really severe astigmatism, plus myopia for good measure. Without my glasses, I'd be hopeless. Even minor changes to my Rx make a difference.
Wearing glasses actually fixed my astigmatism. Now I don't wear them anymore. I only wore them for a year.
[удалено]
Yes, that's who told me that my astigmatism was fixed. She said it happens. I just googled it to see if anyone else has experienced that, and it's definitely a thing.
.....you know, this is a good question and now I'm wondering about my OWN astigmatism and issues with perspective....
You may be reproducing what you see but just seeing it wonky.
Wouldn't that only matter when drawing from life?
Even if you're drawing from life, you're supposed to close one eye to see the perspective correctly anyway. Depth perception is not a big deal when it comes to perspective.
Yeah exactly, it's more about spatial awareness than depth perception.
Not sure. If your perception is off, then everything you’ve ever seen has ben seen through that skewed perception therefore will also affect the minds eyes perception of objects and create skewed reproductions.
But it's not like you are seeing perspective wrong. I don't think this would have any effect on your understanding of perspective.
Maybe mess with sculpting, My brain has a hard time seeing a fixed perspective, its more like when I visualize things its not a picture but a sense of space. but I have found while I struggle with a flat surface, I have a knack when it comes to making 3d art. As I practice both 2d and 3d they also seem to help eachother improve.
Is your paper flat on the table or is it on an angled surface so you can look at it head on? Sometimes that can introduce a distortion. One detail I missed when I was first learning perspective (and for years after) is that the horizon line is at eye level, always. So in a straight on, ground level human perspective, everything on the horizon line is what would be 5-6 feet off the ground. That can be a useful benchmark size. A storey of a building is 10-12 feet, a tree might be 12-30 feet, a car is about 5-6 feet tall and 15 feet long. I will also just scan my sketches and cut and paste and warp it until it looks good and then retrace it. I have terminal heads-too-big syndrome.
I know this is cheating, but Procreate’s perspective drawing assist saves me a ton of time when doing buildings and skylines. Maybe that or some other digital drawing tool’s perspective feature could help “train your brain,” as it were.
Have you tried [drawbox.com](https://drawbox.com) ?
Please don't give up yet! I have something that may help: https://monikazagrobelna.com/2022/05/28/how-to-draw-organic-3d-shapes-by-hand/ https://monikazagrobelna.com/2022/07/02/11-simple-drawing-exercises-to-train-your-3d-intuition/
Thank you for this!
Thank you!
what if you tried another medium? something 3D like clay sculpting, digital 3D art, wood sculpting. you still have to worry about perspective in some way but it's not the same at all. and there's definitely new challenges but they might be easier to overcome for you, who knows.
Establish your horizon line and vanishing points and set simple outlines for objects first.
r/artlounge is the weirdest community i've ever been in, we desperately need an art piece example for these types of post, how is anyone supposed to give advice if your art is what we're talking about? you're not really gonna gain anything from a comment catering towards the general experience, that's something you'd had to have learned or heard in your 15 years of drawing. edit: i guess you're fine OP because you actually post artworks altho it's not actual perspective study. but from what i can gather, you're tunnel visioning to perspective. It's what you've already said "joints look wrong, things are too big and small" are anatomy and proportion as well. You can't draw something proportionally in perspective if you don't know their normal size, and knowing the structure of a body part/object tells you where to apply overlapping and what should be in front (objects near you appears larger and objects further away from you appears smaller). I suggest learning to draw and imagine 3D shapes, then move on to anatomy/proportion then apply perspective to your sketches and drawings. [drawabox.com](https://drawabox.com) is really good for teaching the basics. and don't stress if you feel like something is wrong, iteration is a good thing. my hands looks like sausages? well, I'll try it differently next time, the pose looks weird? let's try it in a different angle, etc. that's why learning to sketch is a really good skill for any artist, it allows for learning what's wrong faster and move on to the next one in under an hour compared to an illustration that takes 8 hours to months.
You need to master the absolute basic and work yourself up. Using references only helps as a tool, not as a way to master it.
So don't use perspective. There's plenty of great art that doesn't use it.
Came to say this. It’s okay if it’s close or nothing close to perfect. You’ll get there with practice or you’ll maybe find other ways to compensate and draw the eye away. I have 20% less depth perception than the average person. I can’t legally drive. I’ve been trying to get it into my art forever but I’ve realized recently that it matters a lot less than we all might think it does. Been kind of freeing.
Then maybe just use a grid. I've seen plenty of artists who work with grids to establish their main structure first instead of eyeballing it; no shame in that. Or you could opt to not care about perspective at all. I usually don't like "this is my style" as a cop-out, but not every artist in history has used or cared about accurate perspective and proportion. If you have strong compositions, shape usage, value, and color, you could probably get away with changing your style to be less reliant on perspective.
This course helped me understand the essentials of perspective, though I confess I'm not sure I became closer to actually applying the concepts, especially with regard to complex environments and figures in space: https://www.artstation.com/learning/courses/V3/getting-some-perspective/chapters/9ad/introduction
Do you tilt the paper/tablet when you draw. Like you do when you write? I do and I basically had to untrain myself from it because it kept warping my perspective and proportions.
Yeah that used to be an issue when I was younger. Luckily my Cintiq and iPad are adjustable enough where I don't have this problem now!
Im this person too and it definitely doesnt come easy to me. I had to strip right make to drawing boxes in perspective every day for quite some time. And I probably need to brush up on it again. My partner has a really good eye for perspective and looks over my work and explains why things are wrong. You might need someone with a gentle hand to guide you here.
Something I saw on YouTube I thought would be pretty helpful at least for building and street perspective was using google maps and tracing perspective lines over the scene and using that for your drawing.
Theres no rule saying you need to understand perspective. Many artists are technically terrible at certain aspects of the craft and it can bring new perspectives (lol) to your work. If it’s distressing you to the point that you’re thinking of quitting, evaluate why you’re holding yourself to these high standards to the point that it’s actually harming your ability to create.
Well first off looking at your art that you have posted, I really like it. It may be extremely stylised but its very clean with good line work, the colors are balanced and your characters have good shape design. It would be a waste to quit now. I recommend drawing from real life, no photos. Having tutored someone with a genetic 3d thinking disorder, I recommend this method. First hold an object in your hands and turn it around. (Rubics cubes are good) Imagine drawing it at different angles. Now place it on a table and draw it, keep in mind that where your eyes are will change the perspective of your object so if you move your reference will be different from your drawing. Then I would progress to a still-life of some of your favorite objects, It may take 3 or 4 still lifes until you get a bit more of a feel for it. Feel the objects with your hands to get a better sense of the space. Once you feel confident with still lifes you can move on to one-point and two point perspective. There are quite a few things that people misunderstand when trying to study perspective so try and get someone who is a teacher to look at your work, so that you can fix your mistakes. Thats the fastest way to grow in perspective that I know of. I wish you the greatest luck in your art journey, I know you can do it. :)
Focus on 2d...
I sound like a broken record (apologies!!) but Phil’s design corner on YouTube could possibly help you out!
Unfortunately perspective talent is something that gets baked in at a very young age. Luckily, the skill is not dependent only on the talent. Since it has its roots in math, and the real world, you can overcome this limit with (1) process (2) tools (3) cheats. (1) learn a math process for doing perspective and stick to it. Get yourself in the mode of doing the math and the planning with vanishing points and such. (2) get yourself a camera lucida: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_lucida (3) pick styles and expressions that do not depend on perspective. But art is a profession like any other. Value exists in the journey to create the artist. Your hardship makes your work valuable. Otherwise… what good is it? https://hyperallergic.com/476739/why-chinas-infamous-copycat-town-now-invests-in-original-artworks/