Question on extreme vanishing points

[Cuddly]

Hi all,

I've been struggling a bit with perspective. I was just wondering what's the best way to draw vanishing points that are extremely distant? I've heard some artists actually tape extra paper around their boards to draw the VPs accurately. But surely this wouldn't work in every case? Some 2 and 3-point perspective calls for VPs that are waaaaay off the page. How can we draw the perspective lines correctly in cases where we can't draw the VPs?

I have David Chelsea's perspective book, but can't seem to find a practical answer for this. Or maybe I missed it? Any feedback or tips you can share would be very much appreciated.

[Fredzo]

Ive got aluminum metal (like a loooong ruler) about 5-7 feet long. I take metal tacks (like the kind people use to to pin-up posters on the wall), turn them upside down, Tape them to my table so the sharp end is pointing up, and use those as my vanishing points. This method is successful, but you have to have a BIG drawing table. The aluminum bars (about 1inch wide, 1/8th inch high) can be found at a hardware store. (i have literally made vanishing points 6 feet away from the page with no problems!). The page youre drawing on has to be taped (or somehow immobilized) to the drawing table while using this method.

These days i use my 3D program to set up the basic perspective, i have not used tacks and aluminum bars for a long time...

-Fredzo

[fusciart]

My table's 45"x 30". I never go beyond that.

I've found out that that the farther away your vanishing points are the better the result.

[Dash Martin]

Thumbtacks? huh, that's a damn good idea. Thanks.

[Chris Piers]

Yeah, just get a big drawing table. That's what works best.

[Cuddly]

Originally posted by Fredzo
These days i use my 3D program to set up the basic perspective, i have not used tacks and aluminum bars for a long time...

Sorry to sound like a pest, but would you mind elaborating a little on this? How do you use the 3D program to get the perspective lines onto the artboard? Do you actually print out the perspective guides directly onto the board?

[Dash Martin]

he may just print them out and lightbox them. Sometimes when my penciller hlaf asses his perspective, I'll open the page in photoshop, increase the width of the canvas by a few feet, but in the vanishing points and draw my perspective lines. Then I just print out the pencils with the perspective lines on em and lightbox it onto the ink page.

[Fredzo]

Hey Cuddly,
Methane is right; i lightbox the printout.

Currently im using 3D Studio Max (any 3D program will work great) to set up the very basic lines and shapes that will act as guidelines. It still takes a looong time to create good perspective scenes, maybe even longer than doing it by hand...

-Fredzo

[Fredzo]

AAAGH!! Cuddly, you just gave me an idea!! you could print out the 3D guidelines as BLUE and draw right over them without a lightbox! (and using scanning/photoshop procedures to get rid of the bluelines)

Hmmmmm.... this is going to bug me till i try it.

-Fredzo