The Perspective Course
Understanding Perspective(16 Lessons )
Intro to Perspective
Materials to Spare You Pain
Bonus Lessons
Mastering the Skills(0 Lesson )
Let's examine how Hiroshi Yoshida masterfully uses perspective, ellipses, planes, and cross contours to create water that feels real and artful, in his painting of "Rapids”.
Newest
@ganzaru
2d
quick sketch form imagnation, the forms are still very rough on my side, one thing in particular, I havent figured out yet how to define the bottom part of the waterfall when it crashes to the water below it
@blazedai
6d
You say advanced warning like it's a bad thing. I would feel happy with my investment if all the videos were just you talking for 5 or 10 minutes about a single piece you admire. The insight and knowledge you provide is incredible. I am very much a novice artist and am still learning skills. And even I can appreciate your advice and wisdom when looking at pictures like this and jack frosts palace from Nemo in dreamland. How you point out subtle ways perspective plays a part really helps me. I am by far the least skilled person in this class amd probably the least deserving of your time investment. But I just felt like you should know, even for someone like me, you make it relatable.
I was inspired enough to give it a shot in my sketchbook. It is not uncommon for notes from class and thumbnail sketch drawings like this to overlap.
Jorge Landivar
27d
Here are my waterfalls, is hard to figure out what is the shate the water will take
Katie
1mo
Some waterfalls from imagination! I really enjoyed experimenting with ellipses to construct more organic shapes. I feel like I fall into the “perspective is just cubes” trap and everything I make becomes boxy and uninteresting— but this got my creative brain singing! :D I especially enjoyed figuring out that you can use the concave side of the ellipse as well as the convex side in order to create more interesting waterfall shapes. This is so cool!
Brett Sullivan
3d
really enjoy that first sketch.
Sandra Salem
1mo
This is my analysis of what I think is going on. I am not sure if I am close to what he used, or if I am hammering a screw. Anyway, based on the fact that I put the work into it, I wouldn't mind some feedback to see how close I was at it.
Linus Lehmann
1mo
I drew this waterfall from imagination and without any reference, to find out how good my understanding is. Overall im really happy with the result, however I think I need to take another look at the shapes the water has while its falling down.
I also made some effort to make some good use of lineweight as suggested by @Nick Quason. Im really happy with it! I think it already looks a lot more professional. Im obviously not a master at lineweight just yet (all I did was trying to make lines that are closer to the viewer thicker), but im impressed with the difference it already makes. Thank you so much again for your feedback Nick!
Nick Quason
1mo
Looks great!! Good job Linus
@lucastoonz86
1mo
Hello, not sure if I’m gonna take this any farther but here’s a little stream study.
Daniela
1mo
I mean if everyone is posting their studies I had to do one too. 30 minutes on the dot. Used a live waterfall youtube stream and honestly it's way harder to try to see order in running water than i thought it would be
Nick Quason
1mo
Love the perspective structure!
Daniela
1mo
It is the next day and after pondering on how I approached this, I have a lot of self criticism. Next time I'd give more time to figuring out the planes and the proper inclinations that they have so that I wouldn't have to spend so much time confused about how the water flows afterwards
Antonio Cabrero
1mo
Just tried to understand the perspective in a geometric way but I believe I got confused and over did it and the image looks flat. Any ideas how to better interpret this image?
Antonio Cabrero
1mo
I applied what was discussed here and I am blow away by the outcome. I used one roun brus and tried to vary the thickness and size of the elipses. I didnt have any reference, i just made something on the spot on scrap sheet of watercolor paper... WOW! this way of thinking about every day things might just be a game changer for me
Nick Quason
1mo
Looks amazing!
Katie
1mo
Woaaah this looks awesome! 🤩
Danny
1mo
Well done!
Nick Quason
1mo
Gave it a try studying rapids as well.
I found it very clear to start with ellipses then I sketched on top the supporting details. I tried to show the rounded form of water falling off the edges but it was tough. The foam was 😭
Feedback always appreciated!
jessica schiffman
1mo
Wow how beautiful!
Luke
1mo
A fantastic idea, great work!
Katie
1mo
This is such a good idea! I'm totally going to try this!
Carlos
1mo
If anyone is interested, there is an exposition about the Yoshida family at the Dulwich Picture Gallery (UK):
https://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/2024/june/yoshida-three-generations-of-japanese-printmaking/
Linus Lehmann
1mo
I tried to practice the things I have learned from the video by drawing a short animation of a waterfall. The only reference i have used is the picture from the video. Any feedback or tips on how I can improve are always very welcome.
Nick Quason
1mo
Good job! My only suggestion has nothing to do with the animation but maybe the line work can be improved to show depth and form better by varying weight, especially rocks.
C B
2mo
Your breakdown really made me appreciate this image. At a glance it looks like it's entirely organic in nature, but at a closer look it's very carefully structured in ways I never even imagined.
Andreas Kra
2mo
I took a close look at the image to see what I could learn from it. Focusing on images without distractions is really helpful.
Josua M
2mo
Hey, I was also thinking about how to look up at images and then study them like you did it with this one. Can I save this image for my Perspective Course Study folder?
Danny
2mo
Very cool, Andreas! I was jonesing for an assignment but didn't know how to make one up. Thanks for the inspiration.
Nick Quason
2mo
This is really good! I was struggling trying to understand the waves and clouds, now I have a clearer understanding!
Carmel
2mo
Thanks for the concise analysis. It’s definitely an interesting way to approach background paintings. Breaking down complex structures into simple shapes makes them feel much less overwhelming.
Vera Robson
2mo
This is incredibly insightful, I would never think of perspective when looking at an artwork like this. So beautiful also, what a brilliant choice!
Jerry
2mo
It's easy to think of perspective when you're drawing cityscapes, buildings, and simple objects, but it's nice to see its use broken down for nature scenes. I've looked at a rippling lakes and waterfalls before and felt flabbergasted about how I might draw every detail, but it's good to think of perspective as a tool for simplifying and organizing complex scenes that are constantly moving. If you combine what you're seeing with how you know the elements should go on the page based on perspective it begins to seem a little more manageable.
Rob Lewis
2mo
Agreed! I was about to comment the same thing :) it’s much harder for me to identify and articulate perspective when it comes to motion. Same goes for organic objects that require the suggestion of detail
Dennis Yeary
2mo
Interesting I didn’t notice the different circles and want not. Can’t wait for the next lesson
Dermot
2mo
Marshall, thanks for the short analysis on Hiroshi Yoshida’s Rapids .
00:45 seconds in you mention "Rhythms of dark and light areas" and explain "That's composition and not perspective".
How do you define the difference between Compostion and Perspective?
Blondie the good
2mo
Here marshall is talking about how hiroshi was able to keep the good/interesting composition intact without losing the form/perspective of water and the rock.
we can quite quickly get lost with rules of perspective/getting things right and this leads to boring art pieces(still correct perspective wise)but overall not that appealing to look at and if we get too lost in composition(light and shadow,focus points,characters placement etc...) we do get interesting pieces at first but forms,perspective and many things will be lost in the process so we will again get a boring piece so it's important to keep these both balanced and that's exactly what hiroshi achieved here.
So training ourselves from this early on to learn perspective correctly in such way that it won't destroy our composition/idea of the picture and vice-versa without intent is very important.
Jerry
2mo
Perspective is a set of rules that describe how objects will appear on your page based on their relation to the viewpoint. For example, a 3D box viewed straight-on may look similar to a small flat plane, but as you rotate it the sides begin to appear and you'll notice that the corner closer to you will appear taller than the corner further away.
Composition is more broadly just all the little decisions you make about your image. What's the focus, where will the different elements be placed, how do they relate to each other, how will the shadows be organized? There are a lot of good rules-of-thumb to follow with composition, but ultimately it's all up to preference and there's no formula to follow.
Use Code BLACK20 to Save 20%
Lesson by Michael Hampton
Give a gift
Give a gift card for art students to use on anything in the Proko store.
Or gift this course:
About instructor
I Write, I Draw, I Teach
