advanced perspective question

[Joseph Dredd]

Is there a way to tell the distance between two people based on their height difference?

I.e. in the above picture, if all the men are six feet tall and the second man appears to have shrunk to 75% of the first man's height, is there a way tell what the distance between them must be?

I.e. If I needed to draw a series of these people 10 feet apart from each other, can I just draw the second man
at ____% of the first man's height and know that it works out to ten feet between them?

[Symson]

Draw a grid in perspective with each square representing a foot.

[Smitty]

If a formula existed, you wouldn't want it; too much icky math (and I like math.) You'd need a variable P (Point of view) determined by your placement of the horizon. The horizon's placement is arbitrary. You'd need to run the formula over for every drawing. There's also variable A (Angle of view. Is the second character at 12:00 O'clock (maximum reduction) or 3:00 O'clock (NO reduction) or is he at 7:23:18....

Beyond that, get the calculator away from the drawing and get down in the mud where you belong

Symsom's got you half way there for the fast and dirty method (and in this biz, fast and dirty is great) but, I'd recommend 10' squares to keep things simple. Perspective is two arbitrary decisions with everything else being carved in stone. Here the decisions are placement of horizon and the depth of the first square. Everything else projects out from there.



If you need greater accuracy you can go the long way (slow and clean?) with the use of a scaled ground plan such as Loomis gives us in Successful Drawing or, as seen here, Fun With a Pencil.

[Joseph Dredd]

Thanks for the input, guys!

What I've been doing is projecting floor plans, but it's much slower than I'd like. I think Smitty is right: I just need more time in the perspective trenches.