Essential Guide to Drawing: Perspective & Composition

By Barrington Barber

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
• Release date: Jun 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781839405020

Barrington Barber

Born 1934, Barrington was educated at Hampton Grammar School and later Twickenham Art Schoo for which he received a National Diploma of Design. He then practised as an illustrator (Saxon Artist) and Graphic Designer, was Art Director at Ogilvie & Mather and S.H. Bensons, and was a lecturer in Graphic Design at Ealing Art School. Other credits include freelance work, designer, illustrator, animator and painter at Augustine Studios. He was awarded a one man exhibition in 2000 at St. Oswald Studios, and also exhibited in Putney in 2003 and Cork Street in 2004. He was Head of Art at St James's Independent Schools. He now paints, draws, writes about art, and enjoys sports, walking, philosophy and meditation.

Book preview

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

Introduction

Using perspective is the technique of making a two-dimensional drawing – with length and breadth – appear to acquire a third dimension – that of depth. Perspective was the great discovery of the Italian Renaissance artists, based upon mathematical principles. The renowned architect and engineer Filippo Brunelleschi was the man generally considered to be the prime tester and discoverer of the laws of perspective. He painted a picture of the Baptistry in Florence according to his own system of horizon lines and vanishing points.

Compare the two pictures shown above, one drawn without much attention to perspective, and the other based on the system of single point perspective.

Note how the trees and gateways are all the same size in the first picture, whether they are close to the viewer or far away. Also, the road stays the same width even as far as the horizon; nor is there much difference between the texture of the nearest trees and hedges and those in the distance. The result is the effect of a rather flat landscape.

The second version shows what happens when you devise a method of interpreting the same landscape seen in terms of space. The nearest objects are both larger and more textured than those further away, and already this gives a sense of depth to the picture. The road appears to narrow as it recedes into the distance, eventually disappearing to a single point far off on the horizon. Although this is a fairly simple drawing the effect is immediate.

Perspective

Reviews for Essential Guide to Drawing

[Tiana Marie Frederick · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great for beginners and easy to learn on your own.

[booktsunami · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a very short but also very practical introduction to perspective in drawing. It takes us through the basics and ends up with a few examples of works by skilled artists. Not enough there for me to want to keep the book so I'm donating to charity. I give it three stars.