Making it stick? (perspective skills)

[JustinBeckett]

Hey guys,

I have been studying perspective quite a bit lately. I have been doing perspective studies with 1, 2 and 3 point perspective. Practicing with basic cubes, as well as putting my knowledge towards images, architecture and different types of buildings.

Basically I am wondering how to make it stick. I would love to become an environment artist one day. So I want to learn how to draw different architecture from my imagination. Just by doing the above, by drawing different architecture and practicing different perspective from images and life. Is this enough for it to stick. Or is there a different approach to learning imaginative environments. Is it like everything else, the more you do it, the more you can and better?

~JB

[Hyver]

the more the better, obviously
but also a great help in this department, is to draw still life setups with plenty of straight edges and cylindrical forms! since you have studied the basics of it, you know how it "works".. it will help so much to put down those still life objects quickly.
as added binus, it'll also help boost your measuring skills

win-win!
enjoy the trip - i wish i had more time to do the same ;)

ps: edited the subject for clarity and moved to the art discussion forum

[Farvus]

It might feel like there is some special path but I think this is much simplier.

To be good at drawing perspective you need to draw lots of perspectives. Both freehand and with ruler.

[deepbluehue]

Environments that are believable reflect the scale of life that exists within those environments. In other words, when you draw a street scene you should relate the size of the buildings, its doors and windows and cars to the scale of a person walking around in space. If you are drawing a jungle, know how big a monkey or frog is in comparison. Anything you draw from your imagination, like a space station for example, will be more believable if you can relate it to the imaginary creatures that will occupy it.

The other thing to consider is good structure. Draw your forms as if you could see through them, thinking of the front, sides, tops, and bottoms. Everything has a certain degree of depth and your drawings will feel more solid if you are drawing them with depth. Details are superfluous if your structure isn't solid.

[s.ketch]

Learning all the perspective you can is the first and most important step. Learn to draw any shape or learn so that you anticipate any form obstacle you might come across. I think doing organics in perspective is the toughest part. Then I would learn architectural history, not from an architect's point of view, but simply learn the visual language that describes each style and period, much like art history. Look at engineering too, bridges, roads, tunnels, anything that you might find in a city or town. Then, of course, what every artist should know, plants, trees, foliage, rock formations. Keeping in mind, all of this is simply remembering the visuals over anything. That'll make you a decent well rounded environment artist. However, if you want to be the best, I suggest once you get a good foundation learning they "why?" and "how?" of it all. That way you can create entirely new environments without having to build on and modify things that exist.

Just become comfortable and very familiar with it. Build your knowledge and ti will be easy to bend and break the rules into fantasy environments. Once perspective and knowledge of architecture, engineering, and landscape become second nature, it will be 100x easier to put new ideas down on paper because you wont have the technical skill roadblocks in your way. Good luck.

[JustinBeckett]

Thanks guys!

~JB