Drawing Fundamentals – Building Basic Forms
First of all if you have not watched the previous video on One Point Perspective with Boxes, I would watch that first BEFORE proceeding with this video. Of course, if you are not a beginner but just feel like watching some interesting videos then by all means proceed.
Purpose of Exercise:
What is the purpose of this exercise? The purpose is to allow your brain to comprehend the basic shapes and get used to these shapes in one point perspective. You want to create a sort of muscle memory between the analytical part of your brain(left side hemisphere) and the creative side(right side hemisphere). It’s always a little painful at the beginning because you are also fighting your internal feelings of “I am not good at this” which has a direct impact on the very process of drawing. We will definitely dive into this subject and how your mind plays “tricks” on you when trying to draw.
We’ve covered one point perspective but in this tutorial, we are going to focus on building some basic and primitive forms. So I am going to ASSUME you have some basic knowledge of how to draw in two point perspective or at least know the idea behind it.
This is where a little bit of imagination needs to take place. As you stare at that blank sheet of white paper, you can do a few things:
1. Keep Staring at it
2. Start Drawing boxes again
3. Pick up an Object and break it down to basic shapes
I’d go for Option 3 in case you want to do all the above. Now because I don’t want to intimidate you with my carefully calibrated arm to the point of demoralizing you because I can draw perfect lines, I am going to use a scale for this demo.
Step By Step:
1. Use 8.5 X 11 sheet of blank paper
2. Draw a box in 2 Point Perspective and estimate the converging lines as best you can
3. Add a triangular shape to the box on the front face
4. Define the center point of the top face of your box using the Diagonal line method.
5. Draw the center-line section from the top of the box through the triangular face
6. Add a Curved Surface to the front face by offsetting the center-line section to the position shown in the video.
7. Draw your curve at the top and bottom of the shape
What you’ll notice in this demo, is that you can relate even a simple shape like this into an object such the front windshield of a semi truck. You can then begin to understand how to add radii to the edges of the shape. We’ll cover this particular topic of rounded edges in another video.
If you have any questions about this video, please comment below and let me know what you think. If you have any other suggestions for video topics, definitely contact me.
Just remember that I believe you can do this. Just focus, continue practicing and you will be amazed at what you can do.
Have a good one.
Arvind