If I say, "perspective," and you say, "no, thank you," believe me, I get it.
Perspective and creating accurate depth and space is a challenge. I struggle with it every time I take a crack at it. However, I have a few go to resources that I reference when I'm about to dive into the terrifying world of perspective and space-making.
Keep in mind I am not a master (Master? ...or a Missy...Though being an evil timelord would be pretty rad.)
Before diving into some pointers, let's get a crash course understanding of the difference between one point, two point and three point perspective drawing.
1. Don't avoid it
I know it's tempting to avoid it. Don't. Last week's blog was all about tackling artmaking that scares you so you can grow! Avoiding things that are scary or hard in art making is only going to hinder you. Perspective is a micro-skill that is critical for leveling up your work, and if you never try it, you will never grow. And that would be so sad! Art is about growth. So, open up that sketchbook and try it, Padawan!
2. Study artist work that you admire
Find an artist you admire who uses perspective and study their stuff. And, when I say "study," I don't mean casually look through it. I mean, get obsessed with it. Really see it. You don't have to study a master of the Renaissance, either. (Though, it couldn't hurt.) Find an artist on Instagram or YouTube or Deviant Art.
An artist whose work always inspires me is WL OP. This artist is brilliant. This particular piece is titled "Freak." Do yourself a favor and look at more of WL OP's work, if you love it as much as I do, make a contribution to WL OP's Patreon.
Or, purchase the printed book here.
3. Practice your micro-skills
What are micro-skills and why should you practice them? Listen to Jake Parker talk about it here before reading on.
Perspective is a micro-skill. One of many "mini" skills that an artist should develop. My mom always says, "How do you eat an elephant? A bite at a time." (Though, why anyone would eat an elephant is beyond me.) Practicing a micro-skill does't necessarily mean creating art, it means engaging in 30 minute drills that focus solely on one skill. In this case, perspective.
Start easy. Jump into one point drills before moving on to two point. Get really comfortable with two point before you move on to three point. Work at your own pace and step outside of your comfort zone. Like Jake says, your goal is just to be 1% better at it than you were the day before.
There are lots of perspective drawing tutorials and drills available on YouTube. Take advantage of them. Listen and draw along. The point here is not to create original work, but to learn; to be a sponge and absorb everything you can about the skill and get to a point where you feel confident enough in it to deploy it in your own work.
4. Take photographs of spaces, indoors and outdoors
Be a photographer! Take photographs of your favorite spaces, indoor and outdoor. Print them and use a ruler and red pen to figure out the perspective in the photograph. Paste them into your sketchbook and refer to them when you're beginning to utilize perspective in your own original works. This will create a unique reference library of your own that will be invaluable when creating your own art.
(Who doesn't love a weird animated dinosaur GIF?)
5. Start NOW!
Stop procrastinating! There's no time like the present to start honing your skills, especially the ones that scare you. If you're dragging your feet, you're wasting time that could be spent practicing. Conquer your art fear by facing it. If your biggest art fear right now is perspective, start kicking its butt by following these five perspective pointers.
Contact me, follow me on Instagram, or reach out to me via Facebook for answers to any of your art-making questions!
Now go knock out that fear!