TRSE: How To Draw Tutorials: The Basics of 3D Drawing
First thing, have you read the "Reading
the Patterns in the Pictures" article?
If you don't, you would have no idea what I'm talking, so start reading
that important article and then come back to here, because you need to
understand how to read and use the patterns in order to be able to understand
the concepts of 3D drawings.
Now that you have some understanding
of the fact that everything makes up of imaginary patterns like triangles,
squares, circles and other polygons. Let's take step further by learning
to THINK IN 3D where everything are made of imaginary cones, boxes, cylinders,
balls and any other 3D forms. It has been my observations that many people
tend to forget to think in 3D considering the fact that we're living in
the world of 3D. Learning to think in 3D may be quite tough for anyone
but I will my best as I can to show you the basics of 3D drawings.
If you look ahead as you walk around around in your
schools/universities/long buildings, you can see how the hallways
narrow over distance. A box in the foreground always seem to be bigger
than a box in the background even they're of the same size! The lines of
the box is always parallel to each other, but since we have natural lens
in our eyes, our eyes distorted the way we see a box on purpose to give
us a perceptive of depth.
This is a photograph I took of 1225 ("Polar Express")
Engine train from 1940s that was passing through my home village. Compare
it with the second one with red lines on it. The "Vectors" lines are the
lines that meet at the "Focus Point", and they are very important tools
to 3D drawings. The Focus Point is the limit of how far you can see. If
you stand between the rails, the rails will seem to meet at the distance,
but if you keep walking, the rails will stay parallel to each other no
matter how far you have walked. Note how the "boxes" making up the train
cars seem to shrink over distance, and it's same for the spaces between
the vector lines. The "triangle" represents the front of the Engine Train
which two vector lines will form lower corners of the triangle. The steam
engine itself is cylinder shaped with circles on the both sides, but if
we look at the cylinder from an angled point of view, the circle would
seem more of an oval. The circle would seem to "change" its shape as we
walk back and forward even the actual shape of the circle stay the same.
This is a sketch of train I drew as it travels at the
foothills of the mountains. Notice how the mountains seem to shrink over
distance. But since the train is making a slow turn (rails are arced),
the vector lines have to curve to "follow" the curving rails.
So yes, the 3D drawings are very complicated and
is not something for novice drawers unless you're confident enough to take
on the challenges of 3D drawings. But there are basic ways you can make
your simple drawings look bit 3D.
