Ceramics 1
Ceramics 1
Unity-Principle of Design
Unity-Principle of Design
Unity-Principle of Design
Unity-Principle of Design
Unity-Principle of Design
Unity-Principle of Design
Line- Element of Art
Line- Element of Art
Classwork & assignments
Presentation slideshow
Presentation slideshow
Classwork & assignments
Classwork & assignments
Lines are everywhere. You can see lines in the grain of a piece of wood or in the cracks on a sidewalk.
In art, Line is an element of art that is the path of a moving point through space.
Lines are used to:
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Create boundaries between shapes
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Create boundaries between colors, textures or values
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Lead the eye from one space to another
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Create textures
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Suggest emotional qualities
Lines are everywhere. You can see lines in the grain of a piece of wood or in the cracks on a sidewalk.
In art, Line is an element of art that is the path of a moving point through space.
Lines are used to:
-
Create boundaries between shapes
-
Create boundaries between colors, textures or values
-
Lead the eye from one space to another
-
Create textures
-
Suggest emotional qualities
Classwork & assignments
Grid drawing is a very old technique of transferring images (from sketches to a full size canvas or fresco, etc...)
Always make sure that the number of squares on the original picture and your working area are exactly the same (even if the size of the squares are bigger on the paper). This is because no matter how many times bigger (or smaller) you make the drawing, the proportions and dimensions can only stay the same if the number of boxes (squares) matches exactly.
Make sure you follow all steps below.
2.3.2 The Van Eycks and Rogier van der Weyden
1.1.2 Getting Perspective
Getting Perspective
Perspective is one of the most important tools in the artist's toolbox, and to study art, you need to know about it. So, that's where you'll start.
In art, perspective is a technique used to represent space and depth on a flat surface. In order to paint realistically, perspective is a must. It's the difference between a flat image and one that seems to jump off the canvas and recede into the distance at the same time.
It's the difference between old-school video games — think original Mario Brothers — and the fairly lifelike video games of today.
Perspective is a crucial principle necessary to make two dimensions (length and width) look like three (adding depth).
Pre-Perspective
Titled Pond in a Garden, this ancient Egyptian painting (a fragment from the tomb of Nebamun, ca. 1350 BC) is a prime example of early lack of perspective.
In art, perspective helps artists create a realistic representation of something on a flat surface. You'll learn more about the technical points of perspective soon.
First, it's important to know that artists didn't always create perspective in their art. Check out the painting to the right. Why doesn't it look realistic?
When children start to draw, they often put the closest objects on the bottom of the page, with the farthest objects up high. That's how early artists did it, too.
This image isn't realistic because the objects within it are not placed realistically, such as the trees that are sideways. Also, their sizes are not changed to account for how close or how far away they should be from the viewer.
Bigger Is Better
You just learned that early painters did not always create perspective in their art. But, it didn't much matter back then. That's because showing things as they really were was not an important goal of early art.
Look at the image of the horse and chariots. What do you think the artist was trying to communicate?
What's the Goal?
In ancient Egypt, one of the most important things to communicate to the viewer was the power and importance of the main subject.
To represent power, ancient artists would generally make the most important objects the largest. So a king or something of great importance would be larger than anything else in the painting.
Important objects also tended to be placed higher on the canvas. This is in direct contrast to how perspective is created. Modern artists trying to create perspective will adjust the size of objects so that the higher they are, the smaller they are painted.
(1350 B.C) This drawing represents a King and his chariot much larger than both his enemies in front of him and his armies behind him.
This ancient Roman painting of a scene from the Odyssey was painted around 60 BC. It shows an early attempt at perspective in painting.
Birth of Perspective
So when did artists start using perspective?
The ancient Greeks were very focused on math and science. Due to this focus, they decided that in order to better communicate their artistic messages, the canvases should be as exact and realistic as possible.
So, ancient Greek artists and mathematicians are generally credited with creating the first mathematical system of perspective in painting. The idea was then refined during Greek and Roman times. This took place from about the 5th century BC until the end of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD.
Compare and Contrast
1.) Compare the trees in these images. What's different? And, what difference does it make?
2.) What do you notice about the placement of the trees in each painting?
3.) Although the colors are faded, what do you notice about the colors and shapes of the trees in the painting to the right?
4.) Which trees look more realistic to you?
In this medieval painting by an unknown artist, are the figures floating above or sitting on the bench? It's hard to tell.
One Thousand Years of Darkness
After the fall of Rome, perspective was almost completely lost. Figures in paintings looked as if they had been pasted onto the canvas. There they floated and there they stayed.
But why?
In this medieval painting by an unknown artist, are the figures floating above or sitting on the bench? It's hard to tell.
In western Europe, the Dark Ages (also called the early Middle Ages) took place from about AD 500 to 1000.
During this time, there was a lot of warring going on. This resulted in a general decline in culture. There was a widespread lack of education. Creating art, playing music, or writing literature were not considered important pursuits.
So, it was a dark time because of war and violence, and it was a dark time for the arts.
Painters in the Dark Ages did include perspective in their art to some degree, but it was generally done poorly. That's because it was not a priority to make realistic art.
The primary focus was religion, and almost all surviving works are scenes from the Bible as created in books, manuscripts, and tapestries. In many ways, it was a return to the early goal of representing the power and importance of the main subject.
The Renaissance: A Rebirth
The arts finally re-emerged as a primary cultural focus during the early Renaissance.
Artists in the 15th century rediscovered perspective as a way to show more depth in their paintings. Through this technique, objects in the back recede in the distance, while objects in the front seem ready to jump off the canvas. The rediscovery of perspective was one of the most important events to transform art.
Also, the invention of modern oil paint opened new doors. Suddenly, painters had access to a wider range of colors. A paint that didn't dry as quickly could be used to create layers, which also helped with the realistic look of Renaissance art.
Finally, another important feature of Renaissance painting is the realistic form in which shapes were painted. Through the use of perspective, combined with the new colors available through oil paint, figures seemed fuller and rounder. This allowed for the human figure to be painted much more realistically.
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This 14th century painting is of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus in her arms. Although it does show a very basic attempt at perspective, it does not use the mathematical system that the Greeks created.
This Masaccio fresco from the Brancacci Chapel in Florence shows how he used parallel buildings to form a set of angled lines. This is part of using geometry in perspective.
Based in Geometry
Interestingly, mathematicians — not artists — took the first steps toward figuring out perspective using geometry. Around 300 BC, the Greek mathematician Euclid wrote Optics, the earliest known written work on perspective as it relates to math. His research on how the eye perceives angles and interprets shapes was very influential for artists trying to make more realistic art.
Although the ancient Greeks started to apply mathematics to painting, it was the Renaissance painters who really figured it out.
Since the Renaissance was based on a renewed interest in all kinds of learning, from math to literature to art, people dedicated themselves to a variety of studies. So, many artists were also mathematicians, scientists, architects, or writers as well.
The Renaissance artist who is credited as the first to intentionally use mathematics in painting is Filippo Brunelleschi. His paintings unfortunately did not survive to present day, but his techniques did. Masaccio, his contemporary, used the same techniques, and there are many surviving works to prove it. (For said proof, see above.)
Check Your Understanding
Answer a few questions about the history of perspective before moving on to learn the technical points of how perspective is created in art.
1.) What is perspective?
2.) What was a more important goal of early artists than realistic representation?
3.) What was a more important goal of early artists than realistic representation?
4.) Who created the first system of perspective in painting?
5.) Why was perspective ignored during the Dark and Middle Ages?
Principles of Perspective
In the image to the right of Christ Handing the Keys to St. Peter, where do your eyes look first?
Putting It in Perspective
Were your eyes drawn toward the small doorway of the building in the middle? Do you see how the lines on the bottom half of the image very naturally lead your eyes right to the center?
Odds are that each time you look at a canvas that was painted using perspective, you already recognize some of the techniques being used. You just didn't have the words to describe them until now.
There are two kinds of perspective: linear and aerial. Artists who want their paintings to look realistic usually rely on a combination of both techniques. To get more perspective on perspective, move on to learn about both.
An illustration of Christ Handing the Keys to St. Peter, a 1481 painting by Renaissance master Pietro Perugino.
Linear perspective isn't usually drawn out for you like this, but if you know what you're looking for, it doesn't matter.
Horizon Lines
Artists use linear perspective to give two-dimensional (flat) surfaces the appearance of being three-dimensional (deep). This creates the illusion of depth in a flat surface.
Linear perspective isn't usually drawn out for you like this, but if you know what you're looking for, it doesn't matter.
To create linear perspective, an artist first draws a horizon line. This line helps ensure accurate perspective on the canvas. It also divides the viewer's vision.
The horizon line is always assumed to be at eye level to the viewer. That means that everything above the horizon line is above your eyes, and everything below is below your eyes. "Why does this matter?" you might ask.
Depending on where the artist places the horizon line, the viewer will feel as if he or she is above, below, or at eye level with the objects in the painting.
Vanishing on the Horizon
Once a horizon line is drawn, the artist arranges the perspective of the canvas around a vanishing point on that line.
The artist then creates perspective lines that converge on the vanishing point. These serve as guidelines for how to arrange the rest of the painting.
Most (but not all) of the parallel or perspective lines on the canvas will appear to meet at the vanishing point, creating this trick of the eye.
Linear perspective isn't usually drawn out for you like this, but if you know what you're looking for, it doesn't matter.
Going, Going, Gone
An example of these principles at work in the real world occurs when you look down a long, straight highway. The sides of the road seem to move closer and closer together until they appear to meet at the horizon.
But what about an example in art? Keep reading to learn more about linear perspective and see it in action in the art world.
Linear Perspective: Single Point
Linear perspective can use one or more vanishing points. When using single-point perspective, artists trace an image to a single vanishing point on the horizon line. It is a highly mathematical technique based on geometric principles, and it's very effective at making a flat surface seem to jump into real life.
See if you can find where the vanishing point is in the illustration on the right.
Linear perspective isn't usually drawn out for you like this, but if you know what you're looking for, it doesn't matter.
Find the Vanishing Point
Where do you think the vanishing point is in the image on the left?
First, locate the horizon line. Once you have identified that line, try to find objects in the image that lead you back to the horizon line. If you can follow more than one line to the same point on the horizon line, that's your vanishing point.
Linear Perspective: Multiple Point
If single-point perspective uses one vanishing point, then it makes sense that multiple-point perspective uses more than one vanishing point, most commonly two or three.
In two-point perspective, an artist creates perspective based on two vanishing points located at either end of the horizon line.
In three-point perspective, there are two vanishing points on either end of the horizon line and a third point either above or below the horizon line.
Check out the boxes on the right. How many vanishing points do you think each one has?
Three-Point Perspective
In three-point perspective, the vanishing points usually do not appear on the canvas itself. That would make the image look distorted. So, to find where these points are, you have to think about how the lines would extend out beyond the canvas.
Remember, the best way to find a vanishing point is to first find the horizon line. Then, find any lines that lead you back to that horizon line. If you can connect several perspective lines to the same spot on the horizon line, then you have a vanishing point.
The only difference in multiple-point perspective is that you have to do this process more than once!
Breaking the Rules
Of course, vanishing points and perspective do not always play by the rules.
The Dutch graphic artist M. C. Escher used multiple-point perspective in his famous woodcut print Day and Night (1938).
None of the vanishing points appear on the print. That's probably no surprise. But there are several horizon lines in this piece, and none of them appear on the print either!
MC Escher's woodcut print Day and Night (1938)
What's the Point?
What made Escher create such mind-boggling images in the first place? He wasn't just doing it for the sake of perfecting multiple-point perspective.
Starting around 1937, Escher transitioned from creating art that he could "see with [his] eyes" and started drawing "mental ideas." As he said in a 1968 interview, "It became more important to make the things I see inwardly." So, his dizzying images are based on imagination, not reality.
On the Web...
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Want to learn more about M. C. Escher's work? Check out his official Web site.
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The artist Patrick Hughes plays with perspective to create optical illusions in a way similar to M. C. Escher.
Real-Life Persepective
Check Your Understanding
Check out this photo of the Tam Dao mountain range in Vietnam on the left. What do you notice?
Answer a few questions about "perspective in Life" before moving on.
1.) Describe what you see.
2.) How can you tell which mountains and trees are closer?
3.) This is a photo of a real mountain range. How do you think the mountains relate to art?
Aerial Perspective
When thinking about aerial perspective, remember the mountain range example.
Leonardo da Vinci called this technique the "perspective of disappearance," since the canvas seems to disappear gently from view.
Jean-Francois Mille's The Gleaners (1857) uses aerial perspective to foreground the women walking the fields for leftover grain.
The most common way to show aerial perspective is to use brighter, warmer colors in the foreground and duller, cooler tones in the background.
In order to increase the sense of depth even more, an artist might make background forms gradually smaller and more fuzzy, while giving objects in the front more texture and detail.
Jean-Francois Mille's The Gleaners (1857) uses aerial perspective to foreground the women walking the fields for leftover grain.
Check Your Understanding
The Dutch artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted The Harvesters in 1565. It is a perfect example of aerial perspective, which was a relatively new technique at the time. Answer some questions about it below.
1.) What differences do you notice between the colors in the foreground and the colors in the background?
2.) What can you say about the level of detail in the painting? Is it the same overall, or do some spots show more detail than others? Explain.
3.) What difference would it make if the colors and the level of detail were the same throughout the whole painting?
The Harvesters is an oil painting on wood completed by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1565. It depicts the harvest time, in the months of July and August or late summer.
Check Your Understanding
The Dutch artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted The Harvesters in 1565. It is a perfect example of aerial perspective, which was a relatively new technique at the time. Answer some questions about it below.
1.) What differences do you notice between the colors in the foreground and the colors in the background?
2.) What can you say about the level of detail in the painting? Is it the same overall, or do some spots show more detail than others? Explain.
3.) What difference would it make if the colors and the level of detail were the same throughout the whole painting?
In Review
Before moving on, review what you have learned in the study. Go over the notes you wrote on the study sheet. Ask your teacher any questions you might have.
If you have not filled out your study sheet, do it now before moving on to the next activity.
Study sheets are a very useful tool to help you study for quizzes and tests.
What Did You Learn?
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Perspective helps artists create realistic, three-dimensional representations on flat surfaces.
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Creating realistic images was not always a priority for artists. The goal of ancient art was mostly to show power and status.
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Efforts to create realistic images started with the ancient Greeks, who were interested in math and science.
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During the early Middle Ages, perspective and realistic representations were not a priority.
-
With a renewed interest in math and science, Renaissance artists returned to the Greeks' efforts to create realistic images. They developed mathematics-based techniques that used perspective to give a sense of depth to their images.
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There are two kinds of perspective, linear and aerial. Linear perspective is either single point or multiple point. Both types use horizon lines, vanishing points, and perspective lines.
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Aerial perspective uses color and scale to convey a sense of depth.
Take this opportunity to check your work.