One-Point Perspective Part Two: Dividing Vertical Space

After spending 12 days on the New England to Quebec sketching holiday cruise with some lovely students, I'm now back in the studio. If you want to see some photos of the trip, go here. I'll be uploading some of my sketches soon.

100^th post, 10-year anniversary

This month we are covering dividing vertical space in perspective. But before I begin, I’d like to celebrate a bit. This is my 100^th newsletter post, plus the 10^th anniversary of Glastonbury Studios! I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you. Thank you all. It’s been an absolutely wonderful adventure. I've grown a lot and I hope you have too. Wahoo!!!

Now onto the subject at hand:

Dividing Space
So far we've learned how to find the horizon line, the vanishing point and convergent lines. For instance, here's one of the photos from last month's issue with  all the perspective ingredients.

Notice in the picture how everything close to you is very clear and easy to see but as you go further toward the vanishing point (white dot), things get smaller and less distinguishable. How is that done? Well, you could guess-t-mate, which I often do when I'm drawing outside on one of my sketching holidays, fixing it all when I get back in the studio. You could also use your compass as a measuring tool to determine the distance, which is doable, but awkward. Or you could create dividing lines using the following method:

Dividing Vertical Space:

• Step One:  Find your horizon line, convergent lines and vanishing point.
• Step Two:  Draw your first vertical line, then find the  center. Draw a line from the center to the vanishing point. (In the example below, the horizon line and the mid-way point share the same space.)
• Step Three:  Draw a second vertical line, which may be arbitrary.

Click to view larger graphic

©2016 by Jill Jeffers Goodell

• Step Four:  Draw a line from A, crossing over mid-point (B) to C. Draw third vertical line.
• Step Five:  Draw a line from D, crossing over mid-point (E) to F.   Draw your fourth vertical line.
• Step Six:  Continue the same method until all vertical lines are built.

Click to view larger graphic

©2016 by Jill Jeffers Goodell

This may seem very tricky and hard, at first. But in this instance, practice makes perfect. In order to help you, I've uploaded a handout that you can use to practice. 

What I've shown you above is the "skeleton" of vertical spacing. Just for fun, I took the base layout and created a scene using gouache and marker.  Here's what it looks like:

Click to view larger graphic

©2016 by Jill Jeffers Goodell

I also have a fun handout that you can use to do the same thing. Color over the lines for the fence and then let your imagination run wild. 

One final thought. I was playing around with the division of space and wondered what it would look like with people instead of fences. Here's what I learned:

Click to view larger graphic

©2016 by Jill Jeffers Goodell

Now isn't that fun! But this only the beginning. We'll return to the fence again when we cover two-point perspective. For next month, let's build a room.

Until then, practice, practice, practice.

What's Coming Up!

Studio Classes
My studio classes have started and we've got a lively group this term. The next five-week term starts the first week of November. 

PCC Workshops

The Saturday workshops at PCC are usually held at the Sylvania campus from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Please contact PCC for details: call 971-722-6266 or visit their website at: www.pcc.edu/community.Please note: Workshops fill up early. You can email me to see if you can get in if the workshop is full.

Sketching Cats

October 15

Visual Journaling

November 5

Realistic Drawing

November 19

Pen and Ink

December 3

Sketch'n on the Go ™ Tours

England in 2017 

Back by popular demand!

Sketching the English Village
Chiseldon, UK

September 3-10, 2017

See details at: http://sketchingenglishvillage.blogspot.com/

There is a $50 deposit to reserve your place.

One-Point Perspective

Source: James E Homans, New American Encyclopedia of
Social and Commercial Information (New York: P. F. Collier & Son, 1908)

One-point perspective is fairly simple and straightforward. You have a horizon line (HL or EL--eye level) and one point (VP--vanishing point) on that line. All the parallel lines converge on this point, as illustrated above. Now let's  look at the same drawing with all its parts. The blue line is the horizon, the yellow lines are converging  and the red dot is the vanishing point.

Also notice that everything closer to you has more detail, whereas those objects further away become less distinct. 

The photo below is a very dramatic example of how everything goes to a point in the distance. I just love this picture. The photographer has truly captured that zooming feeling. Observe how the ties, rails and rock are so detailed immediately in front of us. Then move your eye further down the track and suddenly everything gets smaller and narrower--even the telephone poles. Also notice how the clouds nearest you are larger, while those in the distance get smaller. Believe it or not, drawing clouds using one-point perspective can be very, very helpful.

See how the lines all go toward the point in red.

More importantly, you can do so much with one-point perspective other than just railroad tracks. Check out all of these other examples.

Observe how all the yellow lines converge to the white vanishing point. By the way, when you determine where the vanishing point is located, you have actually found the horizon line (white horizontal line).

Can you see how this photo is in one-perspective?

In this photo, you can see that the pears are receding in the distance--although not that far away. But what else can you see? The horizon line and vanishing point are off the edge of the photo. This happens a lot. So how can you determine where the lines are going and where the vanishing point is located?

I'm glad you asked because I usually place a piece of paper behind the photo and then draw the convergent lines until they meet. That determines the vanishing point, which as I said before, establishes the horizon line. In this example, the horizon line is above the pears 

When it comes to still life or outdoor sketching, I use a protractor to determine my angles. It's a great little tool, especially if it comes with an arm. 

Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Angles-in-Math-Using-a-Protractor

Below is another example of one-point perspective but this time with a rolled cake. As I said, we're not limited to just structures and buildings when exploring perspective.Again the horizon line is above the cake.

But why bother even finding the perspective? Is it really necessary. Yes, it is. For one, it will help you create a better picture. How many times have you looked at a painting or a drawing and known things weren't right? Often it's because the perspective is off.

But there is another reason. I like to set up the lines to serve as a grid for me. I can visualize right off how all the elements fit together. For example, let's review that city photo again.


Everything is in line with everything else and most importantly, objects are more detailed and larger further away from vanishing point. All I have to do is pay attention to the vertical lines to help me create the building, lamps, windows and so on.

Things seem simple enough, but there are some challenges to one-point perspective and that's the distance between objects that are next to each other, such as with a fence. 

See the fence below? By now it should be easy to establish the convergent and horizon line, along with the vanishing point, but notice how the space between each post gets smaller into the distance. Although it's fairly easy to draw, it can be tricky. Learn how in our October issue.

What's Coming UP?

Back by popular demand: 

Sketching the English Village

Chiseldon, UK

September 3-10, 2017

See details at: http://sketchingenglishvillage.blogspot.com/

There is a $50 deposit to reserve your place.

******************

Fall Studio classes begin  Week of September 25, 2016

Limited to six students per class.

Register by email:

jjgoodell@gmail.com

Please note: Limited space per class. Payment reserves your seat.

See www.jillgoodell.com for details on any of the studio classes.

Pencil to Brush

Every Tuesday morning

Drawing and Painting

10 am to 12:30 pm

$75 per five-week term

The Morning Draw (Full with waiting list)

Every Wednesday morning

Animals

10 am to 12:30 pm

$75 per five-week term

Fun with Acrylics

Every Thursday evening

Painting Structures

6:30 pm to 9:00 pm

$75 per five-week term

For more information email: jjgoodell@gmail.com

***************

PCC Workshops

The Saturday workshops at PCC are usually held at the Sylvania campus from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Please contact PCC for details: call 971-722-6266 or visit their website at: www.pcc.edu/community.

Please note: Workshops fill up early.

Basic Drawing Workshops

October 1

Sketching Cats

October 15

Visual Journaling

November 5

Realistic Drawing

November 19

Pen and Ink

December 3

Sketch'n on the Go ™Tours

England in 2017 

Back by popular demand!

Sketching the English Village
Chiseldon, UK

September 3-10, 2017

See details at: http://sketchingenglishvillage.blogspot.com/

There is a $50 deposit to reserve your place.