Perspective Simplified For Fiber Artists
Perspective helps us create the feeling of 3 dimensions on a 2
dimensional pictorial surface.
In fiber art, perspective is especially important in providing
realism. People viewing a work with
poor perspective often
can't put their finger on the problem but find that the image
"feels" wrong.
Visual Examples of Perspective:
Imagine an image of a road across the prairies. The road is wide
at the bottom of the pictorial
because it is close to you. The
telephone pole beside the road is the full height of the material
backing within the
design. Way off in the distance, you can see
where the sky and land seem to meet, the horizon.
As the road progresses to the horizon, which you will see at your
eye level, it becomes narrower,
and the telephone poles become
shorter until they seem to vanish completely at the horizon. This
is called the
vanishing point.
Our eye level and vanishing points determine how we place objects
in our pictorials
to create a sense of depth and distance.
1. What is your eye level? The eye level is where your eyes rest
depending on rather you are
standing, sitting or laying down:
(a) Standing gives you a higher eye level;
(b) Sitting gives you
a lower eye level;
(c) Laying down you are looking up at objects and see underneath,
completely different eye level.
In creating your pictorial, keep in mind where your eye level is at
all times and your perspective will
start to take shape from the
very beginning.
2. Where is your vanishing point? The vanishing point is the area
that is the furthest away from
you, the most distant area in your
pictorial.
Let us combine the eye level and vanishing point.
Example 1:
--VP ------------^-------------------------------VP-
You are here
You are
closer to the vanishing point on the left than the right hence
the area on the left will be the weakest value.
Example 2:
VP--------------------------^--------------------------VP--------
You are here
You are approximately equal distance between the vanishing points hence
the area you're at or the part
of the picture that is the closest to you,
in your pictorial will be the stongest in value. You will gradually work
left
and right to weaker values creating distance.
Let us apply the above theory directly to our pictorials.
To make posts in a landscape:
1. Draw 2 posts that are the closest to you.
2. Draw a line from the top of post 1 to top of post 2 towards
the vanishing point.
3. Draw a line from the base of post 1 to base of post 2 towards
the vanishing point.
4.
Between these 2 lines fit the number of posts you want
in your pictorial. Note how the size decreases as they recede
towards
the vanishing point.
TIP: An easy trick to remember is to divide your pictorial into thirds
horizontally. Place your horizon
on one of those two horizontal lines.
See diagram below. (Additional information in composition and
design to come).
