Some help with 2 point perspective wanted.

[Jokor]

I think I got a decent grab on the theory oft he 2 point perspective. But I honestly don't know how to start with it if you want to use it to draw something. Especially when trying to draw things that don't have any lines you can use as a guideline to find the perspective.. like if drawing a cylinderlike shape for example..

Thanks for any help in advance

[WingedZephyr]

Some tutorials I like:

Perspective + Composition Pt.1

Perspective Basics

Perspective study of cylinders and spheres

And this is useful too:

Drawing Ellipses and Cylinders in Perspective


The basic idea is that if you can draw a cube/rectangular prism with two-point perspective, you can draw any shape really.  You just have to draw the cube first and then cut out or add shapes to it while sticking to the basic perspective rules. By turning any two (opposite) square sides of a cube into a circle, you get your cylinder.

[Jokor]

That makes a lot of sense, the examples in the tutorials are also easy to follow. Thanks Zephyer for the help

[WingedZephyr]

No problem.

[Jokor]

I don't know if this needs to be in another thread. (since I'm not talking about 2 point perspective anymore). But how does one actually add texture to something? I want to draw a battered steel/stone wall but I never quite get the hang of it.

Speaking of drawing walls, I searched the internet but I haven't managed to find a tutorial on how exatcly to start drawing stuff from scratch opposed to from reference... I just can't get started.

as before, thanks in advance for any help.

[WingedZephyr]

That can heavily depend on what medium of art you're using. Pencil, paint, charcoal, digital art, etc. all have different techniques even if the end result is more or less the same. I'll assume you're talking about pencil though, since that's what most artists start drawing with.

The best way to figure out texture is to just to play around with using your pencil in different ways. You don't have to draw anything specific in order to practice it; just try covering some square inches of paper in texture swatches. Drawing with the tip of your pencil will give you sharp, hard lines. Drawing with the flat side of your pencil will give you smoother, very thick lines. Find out what happens when you draw a bunch of long thin lines. Find out what happens when you draw a bunch of short thin lines. Find out what happens if you make a random combination of long and short lines. Try thin lines, thick lines, light lines, dark lines, making dots with the point of your pencil, and try combining any or all of these together to see if they look different. Try spacing the lines/dots out farther apart or closer together. Try using your finger or a blending stick (if you have one) to smudge lines or patterns together. Try drawing out these patterns and then using an eraser to remove random areas from the texture swatch.

Consider the way the nature of the surface you're drawing and experiment. Bumpy or rough surfaces have more visible texture, smooth surfaces will have less visible texture. Here are some examples that may inspire you:




As for drawing from your head instead of reference, it mostly just takes practice. As you draw from reference, you'll learn where things are supposed to go and how they are supposed to look, as well as the basic shapes to start from that will allow eventually allow you to draw anything.

Actually, as I write this, I'm reminded of a very useful tutorial I found somewhere that would probably help you even more: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/magicalcow17/HowtoDrawAnything_zps05015671.jpg

[Jokor]

Once more thanks for the helpful (and quick!) response winged zypher, I really appreciate the time you pulled out for this. .  I might not get everything what you meant with texture but I guess you can't really understand it without the screwing around with the pencil to see how things look like.

[WingedZephyr]

No problem.

Best of luck on your future drawing efforts!