Mini Art Course. Art Skills in 9 Lessons
Mini Course Lesson on Near and Far

NEAR AND FAR
Examples of the Drawing Assignment
Method - Pencil, Chalk, Cotton Balls, Marker.

In the process of seeing,
we have an inner sense that things occupy
three dimensional space and have depth.
This comes from certain visual clues.
We use these visual clues to determine
that a picture has depth or 3 dimensional space.
I can call this technique simple perspective.

Here are the visual clues:

Overlapping forms or objects.
Size decreases with objects that are farther away.
Change of color or tone of objects that are farther away.
The Rising of objects on the "picture plane"
or  higher up on ground plane position.

 



The Horizon introduces the farthest point away from us.


The Horizon introduces the farthest point away from us.
There is both overlapping and size change above.



  There is raising and color or tone change in the above example. This is called aerial perspective. Meaning appearance of things is affected by the air.

 

The Oriental Approach to Perspective
RAISING ON THE PICTURE PLANE

Artists of Japan and China used this method of showing distance in space.
They positioned distant forms higher on the picture plane.
Size change however, did not seem to play too great a part in their method.

There is raising and color or aerial perspective, (tone change) in the above example. Aerial perspective is about how the appearance of distant forms
is affected by the atmosphere.


 
An Assignment Using Simple Perspective
(Include all of the methods listed above.)
Select forms (visual content) from among the following objects. 
Try to position these forms in an interesting and creative way. 
Any of these things can be repeated in different sizes.
Show a horizon line, to referance the most distant part of the scene.


 


 


 


 

You will also learn a new tone and coloring technique with this project. Pastels.
Pastels are soft and apply and blend together easily with cotton balls.
The appearance of pastels gives  a pleasant atmospheric look and also mass and shading with the tonal blends.
Work large on this picture. First, pencil in the basic shapes, then,
apply the color pastels with cotton balls or q-tips.
You may wish to add some marker to bring out some line details later on.
When you're done, spray the final project with hair spray to keep the powder from smudging off.

Froeliche D. Frog says,
"It's a big leap forward, when you learn
"Perspective and Depth of Space."
   


11 2005