[Novice] Information on the fundamentals? Perspective?

[Oakenwise]

I'm new to drawing. I used to draw a lot as a child, but I've decided to pick the hobby up again at 19.

I've started reading Loomis' Successful Drawing and I found beginning chapter concerning the fundamentals to be particularly insightful. I now know what makes a good drawing:

The five P's = proportion, placement, perspective, planes and pattern
The five C's = conception, construction, contour, character and constitency

But I've hit the next chapter which concerns perspective. The problem I'm having is that Loomis isn't actually teaching me how to do the perspective drawings. He has stressed throughout the book that chief among the above elements is perspective, that it is key to understanding how to draw. Now, I'm one for doing everything the "right" way, so I want to practice perspective drawing before I go on to light on form and everything else. Are there any tutorials out there that teaches perspective and how they relate to art in general? Chapter 2 of Loomis' book is basically a whole bunch of perspective drawings with very little text and I'm finding it to be of little use to me, a beginner.

If not perspective, what else would CA members suggest I begin to practice as a novice?

[Black Spot]

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...13-Assignments

[Oakenwise]

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...13-Assignments

I appreciate the swift response, Black Spot. Perhaps I should have spent more time looking through the forum?

I am interested to know, though, how other beginners found there way and started to noticeably progress. I'm the type of person that like structure and I need to have assignments or a good clear list of things to practice. Does anyone share a similar mindset?

Thanks again, Black Spot.

[Oakenwise]

Thanks, Black Spot. I guess I should've looked further into the forum.

I'm someone who values structure and I have this deep seated need to do everything the "right" way. Because Loomis has stressed the importance of perspective, I feel like I need to go out of my way to practice it. It's just a shame that he doesn't actually teach the novice how to construct the perspective scenes/objects in his examples.

Is there anyone else who has a similar mindset, in that they need to follow a list of assignments or something in a similar format? If so, what started you off on the right path?

So, if anyone could link me to a list of extra threads on the fundamentals, maybes other books or tutorials, that'd be great. Apart from perspective, I don't really know where to start...

[Black Spot]

There's loads of them here, but they are kind of scattered. I'm trying to compile a list of them just for people like you, but I've only just begun. Try the 101 in the Fine Arts. Look through the tutorial section. Have fun.

[Lyraina]

I am interested to know, though, how other beginners found there way and started to noticeably progress.

To answer this question, I found it helpful to browse the sketchbook section here at CA. There are so many threads from absolute beginners to mindblowing professionals, and also threads from beginners who became professionals over the years! You can see how other people learn, what kind of exercises they do, and many also share their thoughts about what worked for them and what didn't. Just make sure you don't get lost reading and looking for hours instead of drawing on your own!

[Oakenwise]

I've been looking for quite a while on the forum, to no avail. I'm looking for articles concerning the very basic elements of what makes up a drawing, that leads to what could be considered the very first assignments for a novice. I'm not even sure if perspective is considered the first and most important aspect to learn. I need articles that teach the very basics of perspective, lighting, form, etc, whilst giving me tasks on each of those to draw for myself. You'd think information like that would be more readily available on CA.org for the beginner, hm?

Anyway, thanks for all the help so far.

@Lyraina, that does sound like a good idea, it's just that I'd rather spend time drawing than having to weed through the ones that go from novice to professional and clearly show me how they went about it. I'd just prefer an article specifically for the sole purpose of teaching the basics of art.

[Black Spot]

Well it's going to take a while to compile. Maybe some of the other members could chime in with links for me (to stow away) and for all beginners. I quite appreciate how hard it is for beginners to find every thing here.

[Oakenwise]

Is there anyone on Loomis' Successful Drawing book who, as a beginner, copied his examples? I don't see how I'm supposed to follow them because I don't really know how to do perspective. I wish it was a bit easier to follow here, especially since he just delves into insanely complex 3D architecture near the end of the chapter. I think I'll just practice some perspective for a while and then go on to his next chapter on lighting. That is, of course, if there isn't a better presented tutorial here.

[arenhaus]

Is there anyone on Loomis' Successful Drawing book who, as a beginner, copied his examples? I don't see how I'm supposed to follow them because I don't really know how to do perspective. I wish it was a bit easier to follow here, especially since he just delves into insanely complex 3D architecture near the end of the chapter. I think I'll just practice some perspective for a while and then go on to his next chapter on lighting. That is, of course, if there isn't a better presented tutorial here.

Um, last I checked, he actually shows how to do it. Starting with plotting boxes and proceeding to the use of diagonals and architect's method.

I am getting an impression that you have only looked at the pictures and haven't read the text, or that Loomis's text was too difficult for you.

If you want a slower introduction into perspective, with more detail in little baby steps, you can get Norling's "Perspective Made Easy".

[Kamber Parrk]

Um, last I checked, he actually shows how to do it. Starting with plotting boxes and proceeding to the use of diagonals and architect's method.

I am getting an impression that you have only looked at the pictures and haven't read the text, or that Loomis's text was too difficult for you.

If you want a slower introduction into perspective, with more detail in little baby steps, you can get Norling's "Perspective Made Easy".

Loomis skips important stuff like how to properly determine "midpoints" which allow for the laying out of a perspective drawing in actual scale units. (True, he includes midpoints, but he doesn't tell the reader how he arrived at them).

But, he does have a dang good take on how to actually use perspective drawing in placing figures in the grid space, and tips on relating photo ref to proper horizon/eye lines.

It's a mixed bag. You have to read a LOT of books to make sense of perspective!

Norling is good. So is D'Amelio's Perspective Drawing Handbook.

[Medelo]

Those beginning chapters in Successful Drawing put me off them when I first started studying his book about six years ago too. They're really quite daunting to a beginner. Like the others I recommend norling's book, but I also think it's crucial to draw from real life as well once you have familiarized yourself with the principles. And I know this might sound crazy, but I actually found that playing first person games helped me understand the principles further-- if only because there IS a lot more distortion in a first person game than in real life, and seeing it presented on a screen helped to solidify my understanding of what vanishing points and point of view are. You must back this up with observational drawing from life, of course, but I found that actually playing a game and noting where and when things got distorted or the perspective shifted as I moved around the game world was very helpful.

But start with Norling's book.

[Qitsune]

Yes, Loomis has this thing where he goes: this is important, do this, followed by a super simple explanation, and then something complicated, and then you are supposed to be able to do it by magic. Perspective made easy is better on that side.