The Artist’s Guide to Perspective

The Artist’s Guide to Perspective
Janet Shearer
New Holland Publishers
ISBN: 1-84330-686-7
Non-Fiction, Art, Drawing
Reviewed by Qetesh

If you want to improve your drawings, landscapes, and paintings you must have a thorough understanding of perspective. This book covers the fundamentals of perspective drawing in a step-by-step method. You will learn how perspective works, about the picture plane, vanishing points, aerial perspective, and how to foreshorten in figure drawings. Once these basic elements are mastered you will go on to more advanced perspective techniques. Perspective is a key element in painting that makes your 2D work appear real and believable like the 3-dimensional world. This is an excellent tutorial on perspective that breaks it down into manageable bites, that you can work on a little at a time. There are wonderful tutorials on how to draw round objects, clouds, shadows, and reflections. The tips on matching colored paint cards to the colors in your environment to get accurate color mixing results are invaluable. The section on how to create technical drawings for murals is a must read for any artist serious in trompe l'oeil. It is also something that will help you plan detailed large paintings. This book has beautiful photographs, practical tips, and advice. Any artist whether serious or hobbyist will find something of value in this book that will add to their work.