Help with perspective!
5mo
Jeanne Bowman
Hi friends,
I have been commissioned to create an image for a mural for a museum exhibition that is of a 1900s general store. I've drawn it out, but my understanding of perspective isn't concrete yet (though I just signed up for Marshall Vandruff's perspective course which I am SUPER excited for. Could someone please help me understand where I am going wrong in this drawing? The composition has already been approved by the client so I can't change that, but I need to make sure the drawing is solid because it will be blown up to a 12ftx12ft(ish) wall.
Thank you for your help!
This is a really nice drawing, and I think the perspective is fine. Do beware of ellipsis, you have a couple that could use some work, but overall, this is good perspective. The only perspective issue is the cat, it's too big. If you bring the cat forward, it's almost as big as the bike.
One thing I will say is that with drawings this detailed, sometimes there are tangents, or areas where lines can touch other lines and flatten out a shape. Try to overlap the shapes or pull them farther apart to solve that issue. I did a quick diagram to show you what I mean. I wish you success with your mural :)
This piece is very fun and evocative of the time period. Yes, you may have some small perspective issues that are not technically "correct" if you took a ruler to it and marked it with red lines but I don't think that would improve your work. I wouldn't change anything unless after a few days looking at it something feels wrong and needs attention. Nothing stands out like that to me. I think after you take Marshall's course (I'll be there too), you might look back at this and see things that are "wrong". This looks good. Are you painting it full color?
Thanks so much! I am glad to know the main impression seems correct! I feel like I just need to be more precise since it is going into an institution that a lot of people are going to be seeing. I want to try to do my best at it so I don't look back on it with any regrets! I will be painting this in watercolor, which will soften some of the "preciseness" but my experience with watercolor is that if you are trying to paint something with sharp edges, the drawing needs to be extremely tight because a looser drawing seems to compound with wobbliness. I am so excited for Marshall's course but I wish it could be happening now, for sure! Thank you for the lovely comment!
Finally I realise that your bicycle is leaning a little, so the ellipse of the rear wheel seems to be correct ...
I guess I was a bit tired yesterday ...
Thank you so much for the help! The bicycle is probably very wrong- I really struggled with it so I am going to draw over this again and see if I can make it better because it looks wrong to me too. Your other notes are helpful as well! Thanks again!
Hi Jeanne!
Really nice and impressive drawing, with so much details! I can't see any major perspective issue. I only see 2 ellipses which may be wrong:
- that of the rear wheel of the bicycle. I think it major axis should be vertical and the minor axis horizontal. In this one point perspective scene, the axis of this wheel is horizontal, parallel to the picture plane. So it's a section of a cylinder that is horizontal, parallel to the viewer. No problem with the front wheel as the bike handlebars are turned a little.
- the ellipse on the scale on the store counter seems a little bit wrong to me too. Think of the section of cylinder again. That depends of the position of your vanishing point but I think the major axis should be almost vertical.
I don't know if I'm very clear because my English is quite limited but I hope that makes sense.
Great work, keep it up!
