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LESSON NOTES
What's in Premium?
In the premium lesson, we analyze Hiroshi Yoshida's "Rapids" to understand his masterful use of perspective in depicting water. You'll learn:
- How water shapes change when viewed from different angles, compressing into ellipses when seen along the flow.
- The structure of waterfalls, including the top plane and the sloping front plane with subtle curves.
- The rhythm in composition, balancing light and dark areas without sacrificing perspective.
- The use of cross contours and the cylinder effect to convey depth and movement in water.
- How the size and structure of froth and wavelets diminish as they recede into the distance.
This lesson helps you recognize these techniques so you can apply them to your own work.
Get this lesson and more in the premium course!
DOWNLOADS
analyzing-hiroshi-yoshidas-rapids.mp4
78 MB
analyzing-hiroshi-yoshidas-rapids-transcript-english.txt
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analyzing-hiroshi-yoshidas-rapids-transcript-spanish.txt
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analyzing-hiroshi-yoshidas-rapids-captions-english.srt
3 kB
analyzing-hiroshi-yoshidas-rapids-captions-spanish.srt
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COMMENTS
Had to watch some youtube videos to try and give this one my best shot. I learned the word "negative space". So apparently I have to learn how to draw with the back ground colors as well 😩 jk. I look forward to coming back to water when I have more skills and giving it another shot.
Second and first attempt, it got me thinking of what happens when there's a decreasing terrain on one side, and that the highest volume will go down that decrease instead of going straight ahead, I dont know if I did that right or if it's even noticeable. Please let me know what could be improved
General idea i think i am getting it 1min 25 seconds was my reference in the video
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
I think what happens with the foam is basically the spirals and circles we see from above in the surface, but instead of horizontal they are vertical in the part where the water lands, sorry for the criminally crude image below, but I think that the lower end of that flow is what creates the foam
But its not just that flow thats crashing into itself, its also pushed by horizontal ones you can see from above. Also, the faster the water goes down, the harder it probably cycles back up to crash into itself
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.
Here are my waterfalls, is hard to figure out what is the shate the water will take
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!
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.
I don't know if plotting two vanishing points is the best way of analyzing this example. From what I understand, vanishing points make sense for more geometric structures, and even then every form might have its own vanishing points, depending on how it's facing the viewer. I have a feeling that here it's more about the use of overlapping, diminution, etc.
But please bear in mind that I'm just another student in this course so I might be quite wrong.
I do like how you took the time to work out the forms underlying the water. I'm sure that helps with grasping the spatial design of the image.
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!
Hello, not sure if I’m gonna take this any farther but here’s a little stream study.
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
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
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?
I think the big difference between yours and the reference image is that you are solely using linear perspective and the other is using both atmospheric perspective (the fog) and rendering (light and shade). Yours looks decently constructed though. I don't really feel like yours is flat.
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
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!
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/
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.
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.
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.
I took a close look at the image to see what I could learn from it. Focusing on images without distractions is really helpful.
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?
Very cool, Andreas! I was jonesing for an assignment but didn't know how to make one up. Thanks for the inspiration.
This is really good! I was struggling trying to understand the waves and clouds, now I have a clearer understanding!
