A New Perspective - in Drawing

After our drawing with Charcoal adventures, we moved into Perspective Drawing.
My apologies for the light {and skewed} photographs. I do tend to draw with a light hand. The teacher did mention this to me {a lot} ;-) and my drawings darkened some later in the class.  
{Please click pictures to enlarge.}

Our instructor had us follow-along and emulate what he drew on the white board as he introduced us to Perspective. Perspective is your point of view. It is affected by proximity and peripheral vision.
{The abbreviated explanations in this post are extracted from my class notes. Anything clever or accurate is probably a direct quote from the instructor. {wry grin}}

One Point Perspective 
{Worked well with my brain.}

In-Class Interior 1-Pt. Perspective Practice/Notes

• Everything retreats to one Vanishing Point (VP). VP does not have to be at the center of the page. 
• You need to see a flat side. 
• Each line will be parallel to the horizon. 
• If the line doesn't go to the VP, it will be perpendicular. 
• Above eye-line (horizon) - shade the bottom. 

In-Class Exterior 1-Pt. Perspective Practice/Notes

Two Point Perspective
{Challenging for me to apply in large scale.}

In-Class Interior 2-Pt. Perspective Practice/Notes

• There are 2 Vanishing Points (VP) & they may be off the page.
• You won't see a flat side - corners. Look for a corner facing you. 
• No parallel lines to side of paper - all lines go back to a VP.
• Consider what is greater - above/below the eye-line. 
• Find a scale. Worry about verticals and VP.

In-Class Exterior 2-Pt. Perspective Practice/Notes

Three Point/Shadow Perspective
{Fun and cool.}

In-Class Exterior 3-Pt. Perspective Practice/Notes

• When looking down at something, the "roof" is closest/biggest.
• Building corners come to a point somewhere below the ground. 
• No line going to a VP (9 times out of 10).
• Good 3-pt. perspective examples would be Escher or Julien Beeber.
• Shadows - identify light source - shadow takes direction from light source.
• Shadows - Use light as VP & draw/plot the shadow direction/curve.

In-Class Shadow 3-Pt. Perspective Practice/Notes

My Attempted Perspective Drawings:

Over several weeks we were assigned 1 and 2-point interior and exterior perspective drawings, a 3-point shadow perspective drawing, and a Creative Perspective drawing.
Oh, I forgot...our assignments got shifted due to the Rodeo Day Holiday so we didn't have to do the 3-point perspective with Shadow assignment and the Creative Perspective due date wandered a bit.
I was particularly challenged with the Creative Perspective drawing.
I'm afraid I wasn't very creative.
Well, we'll get to that.

First - One Point Perspective
Interior: A view from the entryway of my home to the back sliding-glass door. Uh, without all the cat-toys, helpful lounging cats, the pile of stuff to take to Bookman's and Goodwill, etc.
Oh - and I ran out of time to add the plant stand {past the piano} which you've seen in previous drawing assignment blog posts.

{That's my sister's piano on the left side in front of the window.}

Honestly, I very nearly rocked the Exterior One Point Perspective drawing.

I had thought I might draw this side of the Wilmot Library:

But the massive Eucalyptus (?) Tree, shadows and the radical changes in the scene {people parking in those empty spots {Tsk - how rude!} were boggling my limited 1-point perspective experience.

The Library Security Guard kindly confirmed that I actually had picked a good 1-point perspective to draw. He was "just doing his rounds".
Hmmm - only one round that I witnessed.
{To check on the odd woman sitting on the sidewalk with a couple of bags and a fair-sized sketch pad wearing a long black duster....{sigh} I expect I looked like a particularly odd "bag" lady.}

I continued to work on the library drawing that weekend but couldn't quite get it to work.

When I went to my other classes at the West Campus of Pima College that next Monday, I was struck with the obvious options for a 1-point perspective drawing.
Yep - it was raining. So I took a few pictures and hied myself back home after class.

 

 

I decided to draw the perspective from the last picture of the four above.
And it was almost - easy. For the most part, the lines went down on the paper with a comfortable flow, it made sense and it just worked.

It was rather like "zone" experiences I've had at work or the one I had during a Tennis Match in high school. The match was against a MUCH better-ranked player from another school {that had easily kicked my tuckus in a previous meet}. I don't remember most of the match. When I came out of the "zone" in the last set, we were nearly at match point - and I was leading. {?!?} I did end up winning that match and it's hard to say who was more surprised - my opponent or myself.
Anyway - this One Point Perspective drawing worked well with my brain:

 I am truly pleased with this drawing.

Two Point Perspective
Since the 1-point perspective drawing had gone so well, I went back to the PC West Campus for my 2-point perspective drawing.

I wonder if the presence of a Security Guard has a negative effect on my drawing mojo. {wry grin}
Yep, I sat in the back of my truck looking at the West Campus Arts Center and tried to apply the new-to-me 2-point perspective guidelines to drawing this cluster of buildings:

And...two security guards came to check on me. ;-) Neither, it appears, had previous art experience so no comments or approval of my choice of subjects were offered as had been the case with the Library security guard. But they were very nice and I felt pretty secure {and only mildly silly} drawing in the back of my truck in the parking lot.

There was a lot of erasing as I tried to apply scale and to shift my brain to drawing to multiple Vanishing points that were way off the page. I'd made some decent headway but I was at a loss on drawing the cars - or the bottom of the building that I couldn't see.

The pleasant mid-February late afternoon drawing environment became early evening.
It was getting dark, I was getting cold, and I  got a little bashful about wandering around the campus drawing.
I also couldn't seem to get much further on this working at home so the Exterior 2-point perspective drawing is not complete.

The Interior 2-point perspective drawing is of a corner of my living room. 

{grin} Again without cats, clutter, or chotskies.
{Anyone that knows me would laugh heartily at the idea that there is an empty bookshelf in my home.} This drawing came out reasonably well after a couple of poor starts and a lot of erasing.

As previously noted, we did not do a 3-point perspective. Hmmm - it might also have had something to do with folks being able to physically achieve that perspective {looking down onto rooftops...}. 

And, as previously confessed, I was not very creative for the "Creative Perspective drawing".
Several of my classmates' homework were a wealth of imagination, color, and talent.

I feel a bit limited by my drawing ability/knowledge to go with "imagination". So - since I am rather smitten with the lines of the Wilmot Library, I initially attempted to draw this:

From here, across the parking lot:

Yep, I got boggled with the 2-point perspective again.
I don't have a picture of that attempt because since February I have managed to smear charcoal all over it whilst it was stored here:

This was new for the Spring Semester.
{There's more duct tape inside too.}

During the in-class review of our in-progress drawings, the instructor noted with some disappointment that my "creative perspective" assignment should not just be an architectural drawing.

I worked on/erased/worked on the Library drawing more until 2 days before it was due. In frustration, I had to admit it really wasn't going well, and my drawing skills/grasp of perspective were simply not up to the task.

At that point, I abandoned that library view, turned the mondo sheet of paper over and took inspiration from the Library's back yard.

I shifted back to 1-point perspective.

I drew as much as I could of the yard and then worked out how to space the "iron work" over the drawing.

{Yeah, the banister is a little dark.}

I was still working on the "outside" wall/cactus but gave up around 2 AM the day the project was due.

When I turned in the assignment, the teacher did notice that my drawing had radically changed but he kindly didn't comment much there.
He did say the grid work over the drawing was a good addition.
I suspect that may have been the only thing that dragged my assignment into a "creative" range.
Since I was drawing from reality, I must admit again that this assignment was short on creativity, although certainly not short on effort.

So...my perspective shifted some. But obviously not well or entirely.
Portraiture/Figure drawing came next and will be outlined - in a later blog post.
Thanks for reading {especially if you made it down this far}!!