If you’ve taken a drawing class, you might have learned to draw with 1 point, 2 point, and 3 point linear perspective. With this perspective method, objects that are farther away are drawn smaller, and perpendicular lines recede to common vanishing points in the distance. In inverse perspective, objects that are farther away are drawn larger.
1 Point Perspective
Inverse Perspective
2 Point Perspective
Inverse Perspective
It’s not as weird as it seems
(The blue lines highlight reverse perspective)
If you’ve become accustomed to Western or Renaissance style linear perspective, you might think inverse (or “reverse” or “divergent”) perspective looks naive and awkward, but about 50% of adults who haven’t learned Western perspective drawing, when told to draw a box, draw it using reverse perspective.
Inverse perspective is commonly seen in Byzantine and Russian Orthodox icons, Chinese and Japanese art, and sometimes in children’s drawings. In religious artworks, one reason behind drawing objects that are farther away larger in size is that they are growing closer in relationship to god. In contrast, the linear perspective method that started in the Renaissance put primary importance on the point of view of each individual, and on science and logic.
If a person was to stand still without moving and only look within a small area in front of us, Renaissance perspective might be similar to what we see, but as our bodies are built to move around and think about things from varying viewpoints, the argument could be made that showing multiple perspectives is inherently more natural.
Artistically, inverse perspective allows us to convey the tops and sides of objects along with the front for instant multi-dimensional and narrative gain. Basically, unless you’re using your drawing as a blueprint for building, inverse perspective allows you to describe more of an object in relevant detail. Cubism also took advantage of this idea, and showed objects from various points of view.
There are other methods for linear perspective, such as isometric, axonometric or orthographic, oblique or parallel, and convergent perspective. All of them have different applications, are interesting, and are visually useful to communicate a space or object. With all the different ways to draw things, I wonder how Renaissance perspective became the only one taught in most art classes?
Torii Kiyonaga, Shogi, Go and Ban-Sugoroku c.1780 shows use of oblique or parallel perspective
Examples of Inverse Perspective in Art
Apologies for the poor video quality. This is a snippet of David Hockney talking about reverse (aka inverse) perspectiveDavid Hockney
These optical tricks in the video below are not the same “reverse perspective” as the reverse or inverse perspective I’m describing above. Spoiler alert: don’t skip ahead!
30SAL Challenge: Inverse Perspective
Today’s Challenge: Create something using Inverse Perspective. #inverseperspective #30sal
Post it
To be eligible for prizes (yes prizes!) at the end of the month, post your work to Instagram with #30sal and #inverseperspective so we can find your post.
To find more followers for your page, you can cut/paste these to your post:
Right now at the Seattle Art Museum, there’s a show of Alberto Giacometti‘s artworks. His drawings, paintings, and sculptures will be on display at SAM until October 9th. This is the second in a series of posts about Alberto Giacometti, who lived from 1901 – 1966. In the days since my last post about Alberto Giacometti’s brother …
I posted recently about how originality is not really what we’re built for. You can read that post here. After saying how natural copying is, I thought I should follow up with some conversations about copyright issues. Typically these conversations go straight to talking about the legal system. I personally find the artistic, personal, and moral …
[image_with_animation image_url=”9160″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Siobhán Wilder, Indian Alley, oil on panel, 10×8″ League painter Siobhán Wilder was chosen for an online critique through Clara Lieu’s Art Prof site, which now offers critiques for artists. Clara Lieu is an adjunct professor at RISD and the critique was given by Lieu’s associate Lauryn Welch, painter and performance …
COMING SOON TO A WALL NEAR YOU! We’re getting ready to paint our name on the side of the building, and ended up finding this little gem of a video about the disappearing art of sign painting. I’m disappointed that human hands so rarely touch the common objects in my life, dismayed that makers of things …
Day 15: Inverse Perspective #30SAL
If you’ve taken a drawing class, you might have learned to draw with 1 point, 2 point, and 3 point linear perspective. With this perspective method, objects that are farther away are drawn smaller, and perpendicular lines recede to common vanishing points in the distance. In inverse perspective, objects that are farther away are drawn larger.
It’s not as weird as it seems
If you’ve become accustomed to Western or Renaissance style linear perspective, you might think inverse (or “reverse” or “divergent”) perspective looks naive and awkward, but about 50% of adults who haven’t learned Western perspective drawing, when told to draw a box, draw it using reverse perspective.
Inverse perspective is commonly seen in Byzantine and Russian Orthodox icons, Chinese and Japanese art, and sometimes in children’s drawings. In religious artworks, one reason behind drawing objects that are farther away larger in size is that they are growing closer in relationship to god. In contrast, the linear perspective method that started in the Renaissance put primary importance on the point of view of each individual, and on science and logic.
If a person was to stand still without moving and only look within a small area in front of us, Renaissance perspective might be similar to what we see, but as our bodies are built to move around and think about things from varying viewpoints, the argument could be made that showing multiple perspectives is inherently more natural.
Artistically, inverse perspective allows us to convey the tops and sides of objects along with the front for instant multi-dimensional and narrative gain. Basically, unless you’re using your drawing as a blueprint for building, inverse perspective allows you to describe more of an object in relevant detail. Cubism also took advantage of this idea, and showed objects from various points of view.
There are other methods for linear perspective, such as isometric, axonometric or orthographic, oblique or parallel, and convergent perspective. All of them have different applications, are interesting, and are visually useful to communicate a space or object. With all the different ways to draw things, I wonder how Renaissance perspective became the only one taught in most art classes?
Examples of Inverse Perspective in Art
Do Not Do This
These optical tricks in the video below are not the same “reverse perspective” as the reverse or inverse perspective I’m describing above. Spoiler alert: don’t skip ahead!
30SAL Challenge: Inverse Perspective
Today’s Challenge: Create something using Inverse Perspective. #inverseperspective #30sal
Post it
To be eligible for prizes (yes prizes!) at the end of the month, post your work to Instagram with #30sal and #inverseperspective so we can find your post.
To find more followers for your page, you can cut/paste these to your post:
#30sal #perspective #reverseperspective #inverseperspective #vnotes #creativechallenge #januarychallenge #drawingchallenge #drawing #art #sketch #artchallenge #artist #draw #artistsoninstagram #sketchbook #instaart #artwork #drawingoftheday #dailydrawing #oilpainting #mixedmedia #drawingsketch #artoftheday #creativity
Padlet
Don’t have Instagram? Post your work to Padlet.
DAY 15: INVERSE PERSPECTIVE https://seattleartistleague.padlet.org/SAL/80vscqhmgee5j1nn
DAY 14: TRIUMPH OF PAN https://seattleartistleague.padlet.org/SAL/kr04aa7bsfsekk2j
DAY 13: OP ART https://seattleartistleague.padlet.org/SAL/ky6dylz5wp7vi7uq
Deadline for Prizes
Deadline for submissions: 3 days after each challenge post.
January prize winners will be announced in February.
To learn more about the 30SAL Challenge, click here.
Related Posts
Giacometti: More about Diego
Right now at the Seattle Art Museum, there’s a show of Alberto Giacometti‘s artworks. His drawings, paintings, and sculptures will be on display at SAM until October 9th. This is the second in a series of posts about Alberto Giacometti, who lived from 1901 – 1966. In the days since my last post about Alberto Giacometti’s brother …
Painting from Photographs: Copyright Considerations
I posted recently about how originality is not really what we’re built for. You can read that post here. After saying how natural copying is, I thought I should follow up with some conversations about copyright issues. Typically these conversations go straight to talking about the legal system. I personally find the artistic, personal, and moral …
Siobhán Wilder’s Critique
[image_with_animation image_url=”9160″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Siobhán Wilder, Indian Alley, oil on panel, 10×8″ League painter Siobhán Wilder was chosen for an online critique through Clara Lieu’s Art Prof site, which now offers critiques for artists. Clara Lieu is an adjunct professor at RISD and the critique was given by Lieu’s associate Lauryn Welch, painter and performance …
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