The impact of different viewpoints and approaches. Interpreting the rules for your artistic purposes.

In the preceding two lessons I’ve focused on the basics of linear perspective: predominantly one and two-point. There is also of course, three-point perspective, however I thought that in this lesson we’d take a break from new vanishing points and look at some uses of the principles. I’ll cover three-point perspective later in the course.

Setting the creative tone

I’ve alluded to my inclination not to let perspective get in the way of artistic purposes and I encourage you to use, bend and break the principles with flair. A couple of related tenets:

1. Plausible is often better than perfect – something from the eye of the artist rather than the ruler.
2. Consistency builds the illusion – “Nicely out of tune” (to quote a now little-known song by a 70s folk/rock band, Lindisfarne).

In the following video, I introduce some ideas on playing with perspective and taking a creative approach:

Examples

Here are a couple of examples in which I’ve created a new perspective on a motif by changing the rules of perspective, in both cases curving space, and then following my new rules – sort of.

Maybe many would not overtly intend to change perspective in this way, however mildly changing perfect perspective can often create astounding results.

In 1889 Van Gogh painted his room at Arles, for the third time. Previous versions had followed all the rules of perspective, which he knew well. In this last version however, he tilted the chairs towards the viewer showing the tops more than called for by linear perspective. Who knows why he did this….perhaps he just liked the green of the seats. However in this he created a second viewpoint, essentially multiple perspectives in the same picture space. Had he lived on, maybe cubism would have not seemed so radical, those 20 years hence.

Painting with Perspective

In the following video, I paint with some consideration to perspective. I do follow perspective, however notice that I just loosely refer to my vanishing points, being more interested in the paint quality and effect without preoccupation with accuracy. Should I have painted the same motif in perfect perspective, something might now have been lacking.

Multiple single-point perspective

In this video, I use multiple cases of single-point perspective to create the illusion of a road traversing a valley and discuss how this principle can be applied to real-world landscape settings:

Did you notice my (not so deliberate!) miscalculation in the discussion? – not that it changes the principle!

Exercise

1. Take a previous two-point perspective study and redraw the main elements with different vanishing points: wider apart, closer together or on different level(s). Note how reality is distorted.
2. Develop a drawing or painting without formal reference to vanishing points, keeping the flow of perspective drawn to your imaginary or perceived vanishing points. By all means, start with some loose construction. The intent is not to totally ignore vanishing points, but rather to explore the way your eye sees and develops the picture space.
3. How many vanishing points do I use in the final video (the answer is not 4)?