Essential Guide to Drawing: Perspective & Composition

Barrington Barber

• Publisher: Arcturus
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781848588066
• eBook ISBN: 9781839405020
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art Techniques

Perspective is key to making your artworks look convincing and three-dimensional, yet it can be a daunting prospect for artists. This handy guide sets out the rules of perspective clearly and simply, using demonstrations and step-by-step exercises. You will learn how the same perspective rules underpin compositions of all types, from panoramic landscapes to urban scenes, interiors, simple objects and human figures. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Essential Guides to Drawing are practical books for artists who wish to improve their skills in a particular subject area. The series covers Animals, Landscapes, Perspective & Composition, Portraits, Still Life and Landscapes.

Materials

Any medium is valid for drawing perspective scenes and I have shown a range of possibilities here. You probably don’t need to buy all the items listed below and it is wise to experiment gradually. Start with the range of pencils suggested, and when you feel you would like to try something different, do so. For paper, I suggest starting with a medium-weight cartridge paper.

Pencils HB B 2B 4B

Conté charcoal pencil

White carbon pencil

Graphite pencils

Fine line pen

Fine nib push pen

White chalk

Conté stick

Willow charcoal

No 5 sable brush

No 2 nylon brush

Scraper-board tool

Clutch pencil with silver wire point

Drawing ink

Cone of Vision

When we look at any view, there is a field of vision surrounding us that can be divided into the area where we see things clearly and – at the periphery – anoth...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Materials
• Cone of Vision
• Simple Perspective
• One-point Perspective
• Two-point Perspective
• Three-point Perspective
• Perspective Diagrams
• Buildings in Perspective
• Constructing a View Along a Street
• An Urban Scene
• Irregular Perspective
• Aerial Perspective
• Compositions by Master Artists
• Objects in Perspective
• Foreshortening the Human Figure
• Practice: A Scene in Perspective
• Copyright