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Vanishing Point: Perspective for Comics from the Ground Up
Master perspective like the pros! Vanishing Point shows you how to conquer the fundamentals of perspective drawing and then equips you with technical tricks and tools that make dynamic and complex scenes a snap. This complete guide helps you build your understanding of perspective to an intuitive level so you can draw anything you can imagine. Inside you'll find:
128 pages, Paperback
First published December 5, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 5, 2012
(More pictures at parkablogs.com)
For comic artists who want to start on perspective, this is the book for you. This is a step-by-step tutorial book that teaches perspective drawing, specifically for comics. And that means creating perspective from concept rather than observation.
It explains all the foundational perspective rules (those point perspectives, drawing eclipses etc.), as well as tips on drawing characters in perspective. The explanations are simple and illustrated examples clear.
This book even teaches curvilinear perspective, where "straight" lines are drawn as curves, such as the cover illustration. This is more commonly used in comic books and are not taught in other basic perspective books. In photographic terms, this is the fish-eye effect.
Right at the end are pages of tricks and techniques aimed at solving perspective problems, such as fixing distortions, good places to place vanishing points etc.
This is a recommended book for artists at all skill levels.
January 4, 2017
Good for learning perspective
I gave this book a 4 because although it goes over quite a bit of information on perspective drawing, it can be a bit hard to follow at some points. I found myself drifting off as dome of the perspectives were explained. This could be just my own fault here, but I would still recommend this book to anybody trying to learn perspective drawings. I dont know if I would necessarily recommend it to a beginner, but an experiences artist who struggles with the book's basic concept, such as myself, can gain some really good knowledge.
I gave this book a 4 because although it goes over quite a bit of information on perspective drawing, it can be a bit hard to follow at some points. I found myself drifting off as dome of the perspectives were explained. This could be just my own fault here, but I would still recommend this book to anybody trying to learn perspective drawings. I dont know if I would necessarily recommend it to a beginner, but an experiences artist who struggles with the book's basic concept, such as myself, can gain some really good knowledge.
December 29, 2012
Vanishing Point Perspective for Comics from the Ground Up is a hands-on guide to drawing in perspective. I enjoyed the no-nonsense, sometimes tricky approach of the author, and felt I learned much at the end of the read. Good tutorial for starters!
The book is structured as a tutorial on perspective, and covers the most common types of perspectives, plus tips and tricks around them. Technically, there are chapters for 1- (front), 2- (human head), and 3-point (bird's eye and worm's eye) perspectives, plus the 5- and 4-point curvilinear (fish-eye) perspectives.
Notably, the book also discusses on the setting of perspective elements (various vanishing points) in practical situations, which I found very useful and not seen elsewhere. Sprinkled throughout the book, there are simple technically incorrect, yet visually pleasing and time-saving techniques that will benefit comic designers.
What I missed in this book was a more in-depth set of tutorials and a larger stock of examples, especially for the more difficult perspectives (definitely 4- and 5-point, but perhaps also 3-point). I would have also enjoyed a set of exercises at the end of each chapter, rather than just one.
Thumbs up!
The book is structured as a tutorial on perspective, and covers the most common types of perspectives, plus tips and tricks around them. Technically, there are chapters for 1- (front), 2- (human head), and 3-point (bird's eye and worm's eye) perspectives, plus the 5- and 4-point curvilinear (fish-eye) perspectives.
Notably, the book also discusses on the setting of perspective elements (various vanishing points) in practical situations, which I found very useful and not seen elsewhere. Sprinkled throughout the book, there are simple technically incorrect, yet visually pleasing and time-saving techniques that will benefit comic designers.
What I missed in this book was a more in-depth set of tutorials and a larger stock of examples, especially for the more difficult perspectives (definitely 4- and 5-point, but perhaps also 3-point). I would have also enjoyed a set of exercises at the end of each chapter, rather than just one.
Thumbs up!
December 14, 2012
Quote from the book,
“Before you can draw anything, you need to learn how to draw with perspective.”
Regardless of what sort of artworks you do, if you’re going to draw/sketch or paint, you need to know perspective; it doesn’t matter if you draw people, objects, environments, you cannot have a successful art work without a good understanding of perspective.
Certain books teach that sort of information and I find that Vanishing Point is one that achieves this brilliantly.
As most art books, Ian Roberts starts his book by showing the tools you need to do all the exercises shown in the book. Yes, I said it: exercises! Roberts includes exercises for the reader after he discusses each of the different types of perspective: One-Point, Two-Point, Three-Point, Four-Point, and Five-Point.
He gives step by step guides to each topic and explains how to draw different objects. What I also like is how he includes examples of his artworks that accompany what he has explained which makes it easier to understand.
Note: This book gives examples mainly of comic style art but the information on perspective can be applied anywhere else.
It is a really good book and I highly recommend it!
Check out more reviews at Kredentis Blogs
“Before you can draw anything, you need to learn how to draw with perspective.”
Regardless of what sort of artworks you do, if you’re going to draw/sketch or paint, you need to know perspective; it doesn’t matter if you draw people, objects, environments, you cannot have a successful art work without a good understanding of perspective.
Certain books teach that sort of information and I find that Vanishing Point is one that achieves this brilliantly.
As most art books, Ian Roberts starts his book by showing the tools you need to do all the exercises shown in the book. Yes, I said it: exercises! Roberts includes exercises for the reader after he discusses each of the different types of perspective: One-Point, Two-Point, Three-Point, Four-Point, and Five-Point.
He gives step by step guides to each topic and explains how to draw different objects. What I also like is how he includes examples of his artworks that accompany what he has explained which makes it easier to understand.
Note: This book gives examples mainly of comic style art but the information on perspective can be applied anywhere else.
It is a really good book and I highly recommend it!
Check out more reviews at Kredentis Blogs
January 12, 2010
Very nice book for vanishing points. At first I thought it was a little hard to follow but it has taught me things I never knew.
April 21, 2011
Cheeseman-Meyer...one of a kind author and TALENTED artist. In a sea of blue fish, he is the neon orange. Take the time to add this book to your collection and ENJOY!
December 17, 2023
This book introduced me to perspective. It was such an enjoyable guide that I didn't want to put it down. The author gave clear examples of how to go about perspective that were quite illuminating and insightful.
It was one of the first books I ever picked up. Overall a great buy, I don't regret it. The best part is that most of it is in color. Very interesting.
It was one of the first books I ever picked up. Overall a great buy, I don't regret it. The best part is that most of it is in color. Very interesting.
March 19, 2024
Great coverage of a fundamental topic, including 4 and 5 point perspective. The Chapter 8 (Putting It All Together) and Chapter 9 (Tricks and Troubleshooting) are particularly valuable and worthy of mention.
October 20, 2018
Not this book! Various Podcasts
48 Hours
Court Junkie
Crawl Space
48 Hours
Court Junkie
Crawl Space
April 2, 2024
This book breaks down in pictures perspective step by step which is nice. however I feel like the text that explains the pictures can be a bit dense or techinical but I would like to follow along since I liked how it showed the process
March 3, 2014
as a comic artist, I found myself having to learn perspective and make it work well. In illustration background can be just that, but in comics, it is environment, it has to be part of the scene. So no excuse for not being proficient with perspective. However, I struggled with manuals who teach perspective because I lacked the very basis, and most manuals don't give much help with that (for example, the 2-dimensional projections are never explained well; for example, how do you determine the lenght of edges in a cube in perspective?)
Finally I found a manual that cover that basis well. When you need to learn from the beginning, this is the best manual you can find in my opinion.
Finally I found a manual that cover that basis well. When you need to learn from the beginning, this is the best manual you can find in my opinion.
May 24, 2012
I always struggle with perspective and have struggled with some of the overly technical books on the matter. Cheeseman-Meyer's book was clear, straightforward and I shall be referring to it regularly from now one.
Already it has solved some of my past problems.
Would I recommend it? Yes, but I'm not lending this book out.
Already it has solved some of my past problems.
Would I recommend it? Yes, but I'm not lending this book out.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews