Basic Drawing

PERSPECTIVE

Without the knowledge of perspective, constructive drawing is impossible. Leonardo Da Vinci called it the bridle and rudder of painting. Every form, from a grain of sand to a mountain, exists in perspective. It is the first thing a student must learn. Like the alphabet in a language, without it, one would not be able to write. Too many students by-pass this phase of learning. The knowledge of perspective makes it possible to create the illusion that objects and figures are three dimensional on a two dimensional surface such as a sheet of paper, canvas or wall.

There are three basic forms in nature: the square, the circle and the pyramid. Every object fits into these three shapes or a modification of them. The square can be a cigar box or a sky scraper, or any form with six sides. The circle or sphere can be a pea, an observation balloon or a wheel. The pyramid can be a church steeple or the pyramids of Egypt.

The muscles of the human figure can be put into any of these shapes. Knowing the names of the muscles and bones is not sufficient knowledge to draw the figure. If this were so, every good doctor would be able to draw the human figure. One must know the shape of the parts of the body and be able to put them in perspective.

The mere copying of anatomical drawings will not teach one to draw the figure or to create one without the model. There is no other field of study in which students fail in greater proportion than in art, because of by-passing the study of perspective. Its importance cannot be over-stressed. Every great painter understood its laws.

In the following pages I have. tried to show a simple approach to the subject.

With the knowledge of a few simple squares such as a radio, a match box and a package of cigarettes put together becomes a group of buildings. As shown on Page 9, Page 12 and Page 13 two photographs of a shipping department are changed into two cities. The interior of a room is nothing more than looking into a box. If one is able to draw a tube in