Sketching Perspective

Ilga Leimanis

• Publisher: The Crowood Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781785008801
• eBook ISBN: 9781785008818
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art Techniques

Perspective is key to visualizing a space and communicating an idea to others. This book explains how to tackle perspective with hand sketching - how to turn a 3D scene into a 2D drawing successfully. Written for a wide range of professionals from architects to set designers, engineers to interior designers, it explains the principles of perspective clearly and how to communicate a vision successfully. Topics covered include: materials and equipment, specifically with drawing on location in mind; observational drawing using the body, arms and hands to help understand the spaces being drawn; perspective constructions for one and two vanishing points for interior and exterior drawings; panoramic views and aerial perspective - how to approach drawing a crowded scene/location; adding detail - whether creating atmosphere and expression, or adding figures for scale and finally, advice is given on drawing imaginatively and how to visualize your thoughts confidently. It is fully illustrated with examples of how to draw perspective in the urban and natural landscape.

CHAPTER 1

Materials and Equipment

All art is but dirtying the paper delicately.

JOHN RUSKIN

Materials for sketching perspective are similar to those used for other types of drawing; there are no hard and fast rules to follow, as anything is potentially possible. In this chapter I will separate materials into two broad categories: those used for starting a drawing, setting up the angles and lines, making it easy to adhere to the principles I outline in the book; and those materials used to draw details or atmosphere, once the initial set-up has been done. Thinking about them separately helps understand the process and will lead to a stronger, more confident result.

The various drawing materials discussed in this chapter. You don’t need all of this to get going – start simple with a pencil and a pen, and then add supplies over time.

Exploring and using materials can be so much fun. Once you get a feel for it, you will enter into a never-ending journey of possibility and discovery! For many people collecting and testing materials is a seriously pleasurable activity, but for others it can be quite intimidating, especially if you don’t know where to start. This chapter will address these concerns and give you a basis from which to pursue ideas on your own. When I meet for my location drawing group, I always allow for the sharing of materials at the end. A new discovery is always welcomed, and this part of the sharing process is possibly more engaging than simply looking at what was produced during the session.

I tend to use a good range of materials when I draw; some are good for drawing on location, while others are easier used in the studio. Some materials are really good for setting up a freehand perspective drawing, putting to paper your very first loose lines, angles and shapes, while others are better for drawing precise details, once you know where they are.

One of the reasons drawing is such an encompassing activity is the diversity of available materials: soft and hard, dry and wet, dusty and erasable versus completely permanent. Some materials are suitable for drawing on location in museums while others are completely banned from public galleries. There follows an overview of the materials I use for drawing and also in my teaching.

SKETCHBOOKS AND SUPPORTS

Sketchbooks are probably the most versatile, and easy to carry, drawing supports available. They come in a good range of sizes and papers. I have a habit of collecting sketchbooks with different types of paper and colours. Over many years of sketching you will have a full bookcase, an archive of your production, all original images which can then be reworked into more drawings, paintings, or left as they are – memories of that day.

A selection of the sketchbooks I have used over the last few years. I like collecting sketchbooks and enjoy working in different formats and on different papers.

There is something very appealing about having many finished sketchbooks. The slow observation of a location, a capturing of a moment in time, is remembered just by looking through your sketchbooks. Whilst preparing for this book, I went through all of my old sketchbooks and have strong memories of each and every drawing. It is really lovely to be able to access that moment again just by looking at the sketch.

I like to have a good variety of sketchbooks; usually I take a few with me when I go to draw, in a few sizes and also perhaps paper colours, so that I can choose which one works best for the subject as I see it in that moment. The majority of my sketchbooks are white paper, but I have also enjoyed working on brightly coloured paper, and also on a brown craft paper or black paper. Other drawers prefer to keep their sketchbooks uniform, and you may have a preference for a particular brand (Moleskine is a common favourite for its quality and simplicity). I know people who choose to buy and work with only one type of sketchbook, and then have a shelf full of the same size and brand; there is an attractiveness and order in that method too. No doubt you will find something that works for you.

Hand-made sketchbooks

A really lovely option is to make your own sketchbook, sewing, binding or stapling the pages together. You can use off-cuts of papers in this way. It is also useful if you want to use a specific paper that does not exist ready to buy. If the hand-sewn approach does not appeal, then bring the paper to a photocopy shop and they can bind it for you with various types of bindings for a reasonable price.

This was a quick sketch made while on holiday in Ineši, Latvia, using a single piece of paper folded into a concertina mini sketchbook. The sketch was planned out using a grey marker, and then quickly sketched in using a simple pack of coloured markers. In an effort to introduce more colours into the overall green landscape, I used purple and blue for the areas of shadow.

One of my favourite improvised sketchbooks is the folded concertina page. Using one single sheet of long paper, fold it back and forth into an accordion shape and this becomes a lovely support to work on. At only a few folded ‘pages’, it can become an extra challenge to try to fill it all up in one sitting. This approach works well for independent sketches on each page, one per page, as well as for a long panoramic view – you can open up the paper as needed and keep going and going. These concertina books are wonderful objects to hold and display, as they stand up on their own without support. Test out different types of paper in various colours, but also test out different weights of paper, thin and thick.

Drawing boards

All you really need to take on a drawing expedition is a piece of paper; as long as you have a support, you will be able to draw anywhere. A simple support could be another book, or you can just fold a few sheets of paper in half to give them some rigidity.

Use clips or masking tape for an easy way to secure paper to the board, or pages of your sketchbook together. Use two boards like this to sandwich papers or drawings together to protect them whilst travelling.

A drawing board is also a good idea as you can tape paper to it with masking tape or clip it with bulldog clips or ‘U’ drawing board clips. You can buy thin, rigid boards at an art supply shop, or ask if there is a lightweight off-cut you can use from your local lumber yard. I find an A3 size appropriate for drawing and lifting to keep the surface vertical in front of you. If you use a drawing board, you can use many different types of papers and sizes and not be confined to using a sketchbook.

I have travelled a lot using these boards; by attaching extra sheets of paper to the board they do not get crumpled in transit. Alternatively use an A3 plastic folder, or a thinner sheet of cardboard against which all the extra papers can be stored safely. Another option is to get a cloth shopping bag big enough to fit the A3 board inside and all your paper can be stored inside the cloth bag. Ideally you will want a solution for carrying paper that is rigid and portable. If using individual sheets of paper, you will have to think of a way to keep the papers safe and dry, both the finished drawings and the unused sheets.

MATERIALS FOR CONSTRUCTION LINES AND SETTING UP

Broadly speaking, we can say there are two parts of each drawing, the construction phase and the drawing phase. Try to plan everything out initially in a big picture way, before drawing the details. I will discuss this approach in nearly all chapters of this book.

Ideally for the start of your sketch, the planning phase, when you are not sure what you will draw, or how the drawing will look, this should be done as quickly and lightly as possible. Pencils are always a good option.

Pencils and pencil cases

At the start, you should use light, barely visible marks. The reason for this is that you cannot be sure what will happen; drawing is a process of discovery and you need to allow that to be made visible on the page. I should immediately say that while erasers are wonderful, they should not be used in the early stages of the drawing because you will spend more time erasing than drawing. When the first lines are erased, there is nothing left to compare to, and all your effort is gone. It is better to learn to hold your pencils to draw lines lightly, with a light hand pressure, to see faint lines that you can use to compare and refine your subject until you are happy with basic proportions and the overall big picture. Only at this stage – if you need to – can you rub out and correct your drawings or make these construction lines even lighter. A common pitfall is to use the eraser too much at the very start, thinking that the line you just made was ‘wrong’, but instead all you have done is destroyed useful ‘evidence’. Starting from scratch each time leaves you with a blank page.

This sketch of Battersea Power Station in London was started in pencil, and then continued in markers. You can clearly see the construction lines working out the relationship and geometry between the chimneys.

A quick marker sketch of Charing Cross Station, in London which was set up with an orange coloured pencil. Once the placement of the station and the bridge were worked out, quick details, shading and texture were added with a black marker pen. The orange pencil glows behind and around the pen lines; it is definitely visible, but I also find that the coloured line looks more deliberate than the same construction line in graphite pencil.

Use a pencil with a light touch, a hold so light that it will only make a faint mark on the paper. This is best achieved with a hard pencil: HB is ideal but if you have a heavy hand and struggle to keep a light touch, you can choose a harder pencil, 2H, 3H, 4H or harder, as the lines will be lighter and less visible, even if you press heavily. With practice, you’ll master getting a light touch.

An art supply shop will sell pencils individually or in sets. A set is good, as the pencils will all be contained in a box, and you’ll get a good range of hard and soft pencils. Softer pencils, 8B or 9B, will be used later for shading and the harder 2H or 4H can be used at the start. However, the box the set of pencils comes with is not always convenient. You also tend to use pencils at different rates: some get sharpened more often and wear down more quickly than others.

It might be an idea to get one mechanical pencil for drawing, as this will last you for a long time before replacing the leads. There are also specialist holders on the market with coloured leads, including white. They feel nice to hold, heavy in your hand, but are relatively expensive; however, you will own it for ever.

I prefer to use a couple of pencil cases and mix up my materials depending on where I am going. A simple zip case is perfect, and these come in different sizes. You can also get pencil cases which have an elastic loop for every pencil and all you need to do is to fold it open or roll it out and you can see all your materials laid out in front of yo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Materials and Equipment
• Chapter 2 Location and Observation: The Basics
• Chapter 3 One-Point Perspective
• Chapter 4 Two-Point Perspective: Exterior
• Chapter 5 Two-Point Perspective: Interior
• Chapter 6 Populating Space by Adding Detail
• Chapter 7 Panoramic and Aerial Perspective
• Chapter 8 Atmosphere and Expression
• Chapter 9 Adding People
• Chapter 10 Reconstructing Space from Memory or Imagination
• References
• Index