Using Graph Paper For Perspective

Lesson by

704

Comments 34Lesson NotesDownloads 5

Using Graph Paper For Perspective

Lesson by

Marshall Vandruff

in The Perspective Course

704

Comments 34Lesson NotesDownloads 5

Marshall Vandruff

Graph paper might seem rigid, but it helps you ground spatial ideas and practice perspective tricks. Don't fear it—embrace it and get your ideas on paper! In this lesson, we unlock the creative potential of graph paper with easy techniques for creating 3D illusions and mastering perspective. Learn to use angles, overlapping forms, and even optical illusions to expand your spatial thinking.

Diego Garcia Figueroa

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I now want a dotted sketchbook! It was weirdly liberating jumping from clean paper to graph paper… after weeks of trying to be precise with rulers, triangles, and freehand. Figuring out the chicken was great.

@odinnot

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17d

Here is me expirementing with paper, i start experimenting on the right paper. The box on the paper was smaller aka cut in half. So i put 2 box's together. Then i move to the left paper, i made a box, i Experiment with the big box i draw. I got idea's from drawing different boxes, i see i could make a house & make letters. I made the letter N 2 times,i color 1 of the N. I move to right paper draw 2 houses, i color 1 of the houses. Sometimes,it can get confusing. I enjoy it

@lemonmerchant

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21d

Experimenting with this. I tried breaking it with the horizontal lines. Does the inversion still work?

Katie

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23d

Man, working on graph paper is a GAME-CHANGER for me! Copying someone else's illusion was a relatively simple task, but I was struggling to rough out concepts for my own illusions because the difficulty of free-handing isometric perspective was getting in the way. But with graph paper I could wholly focus on the design aspect-- And I ended up having a lot of fun, haha! My brain is thoroughly teased.

Li Ming Lin

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24d

I (finally) caught up with some of the homework for this course :D This exercise was fun actually! I got to think about the angles and the "hidden" lines that are being blocked by something in front.

Haemah Ravanan

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27d

Sandra Salem

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1mo

Finally, I played around with a shape of my own. Experimenting with the form inside. Shading helps me to clarify the form and play with the design. At the end I cleaned it up with only lines to see if still is readible.

Nassim A.

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1mo

Hello everyone! I tried to start simple with a non-complex shape and make it rotate in different directions. Not as easy as it seems, but fun :) Maybe this is a silly question, but how do we know if the depth side of a shape is correct in terms of lenght?

Sandra Salem

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1mo

Good evening Nassim! Theoretically each square of the graph paper is a unit of measurement. Because this is axonometric perspective, is going to look crazily distorted. I don't know if there are work arounds or maybe I am missing some geometry rule here but it is looking awfully weird. But this is what I've got. Maybe another student or Marshall will correct any mistakes I might be introducing.

@marcthenarc

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1mo

Just a note. If you think you can combine the previous lessons and graph paper into one drawing, obsessive-compulsive people like me may find shocking that your paper may align poorly with a T-square. They are maybe perfect squares, but rotated on an angle overall ? (The math confuses me and my head hurts). I think that unless you have a specific brand reputed to be dead-on on each sheet, graph paper is pretty cheaply made in general (I get mine at a dollar store) and any art based on it is better left alone in its own little world.

Marshall Vandruff

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1mo

Good point. Our world needs the OCP's to notice the little things that add up. Thank you MarcTheNarc.

@marcthenarc

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1mo

I thought I'd improvise on some brutalist "thing". It resolved quite nicely from top and bottom. Simulating various heights from columns on top is just a line away.

Andy O

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1mo

So I'm really digging working on Iso graph paper and wanted to share a discovery. I was messing around sketching last night trying to figure out how to rotate isometric cubes on graph paper by construction rather than measuring everything. I was getting bored with just drawing objects just looking up or down. What about left and right?? What I found is that the x,y,z axis of an isometric cube can be described by an equalateral triangle (60,60,60). I found that drawing the triangles first let me orient the cube in different ways on the graph paper. Then I tried it freehand and.. mind blown. It works on triangles of any orientation or size! Check out my process in the images below. @Marshall Vandruff any other tricks like this you'd care to share?

Marshall Vandruff

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1mo

Andy – you're trailblazing. I'm moving on to our next topics but thank you for adding value to this month's pursuit.

@littlefluffyclouds

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1mo

Thanks for dumbing it down for me ! 😆 I’m following this course with my 11-year old, so smaller steps are appreciated! ❤️

Marshall Vandruff

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1mo

No rush. Your 11-year old may be taking small steps, but also may experience some growth spurts and move faster than the rest of us. It's not all easy, and the "numbers" can be tough, but they are not the important thing – this was at least a reminder that they are there. And thanks for letting me know that you are hosting inter-generational learning here.

@marcthenarc

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1mo

Some of Kirsten Zirngibl's drawings resemble kitbashing. A great way to design ships and corridors.

@dooby

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1mo

I remember doing this in my high school science classes on my ol' composition notebook. The grids would help me measure proportion on my humanoid characters (using the "how many heads tall" method). I gotta start looking for those notebooks!

Jonatan

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1mo

And here I had been thinking for a long time that graph paper (square ones, I had lots of them) weren't useful for drawing, I still used them to draw on sometimes but I felt having the graph could create bad habits and somehow distract me while drawing so I gave them away :P, with this new learned knowledge I got to get some now! Thanks for the video and explanation!

Dedee Anderson Ganda

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1mo

If anyone need Graph Paper for Clip Studio Paint, I've found some: Rectangle: https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1864890 Triangle: https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1729628 While doing these, I found that it's still very hard to do straight lines on digital pen tablet-,- How do people get their hand muscles to work as accurately as doing it manually on paper?

@maggieb

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1mo

Have you tried using a paper feel screen protector? It makes the screen less slippery and makes it feel more like drawing on paper. This little bit of friction gives a lot more control over your pen. There are many brands out there.

Dedee Anderson Ganda

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1mo

Oh wow, using the grid to measure and constructing stuffs are actually enjoyable in a therapeutic way! But one question I have is: Sometimes I feel the need to still eyeball things, especially when some lines are measured in 1.1-1.4 grid (more than 1 grid but less than 1.5 grid if that makes sense), are those inevitable as long as we feel that those are correct, or si there a way to measure them better?

Kai Ju

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1mo

we cheat... if you place the first dot, hold the shift key and place the end dot, it makes a perfectly straight line (don't recommend doing that all the time if you actually want to learn line control)...otherwise, its the same as drawing lines on paper but you just turn the stabilization on the brush up a little or find a brush that feels like it has some drag to it. if you didn't use a stabilizer here, i think your digital lines actually look pretty good. in my opinion, there's just some kind of inherit disconnect with digital (i think because everything is so slippery) that just makes it way harder to get nice lines the way you can with paper and a pen. something about the way paper physically resists the tools really makes a difference.