Drawing: Remember these

Concepts that help artists imagine subjects as 2-Dimensional and therefore easier to "copy:"

A) The Picture Frame; Selected area of space which limits the composition to a specific format. When observing (perceiving/viewing) a viewfinder can help. When drawing (recording/rendering), placing a margin around the page you're drawing on can help.

B) The Picture Plane; An imaginary plane (pane/facet) of 2-dimensional space a few inches in front of your face onto which artists imagine their subjects are flattened: so that instead of a model sitting several yards ahead with mountains several miles behind that, foreground, middle-ground and background are all just a flat picture, as if they're a photo, poster or already a drawing that the artist merely has to copy. Other things that help include closing one eye to reduce the interference your natural of stereo-optic depth-perception.

Review pages 98-101 in Edwards' 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain' to help you further understand these concepts.



REVIEW- The 5 Perceptual Skills that make up the global skill of Drawing;

1) Perception of Edges, contours, frontiers between forms and spaces (deals mainly with the sensory element of line)
2) Perception of Spaces, not just figure/ground or foreground/background but placement and arrangement within a format or composition (deals especially with the sensory element of space, negative-space in particular, bur also with the general application of the formal principles of design)
3) Perception of Relationships, parts-to-whole and subject-within-context (deals with informal perspective, placement, and especially the formal principle of proportion)
4) Perception of Light & Shadows, shading and "light-logic" concepts like density, contrast, range, modeling, chiaroscuro (deals with the sensory element of value)
5) Perception of Gestalt, a sense of completion or closure, cohesion and "oneness." (deals mostly with the formal principles of unity and harmony)