Hey guys, any chance you could maybe get in touch with David Malan for an artist spotlight episode? He's my personal favorite portrait artist, his economy of line and the expensiveness of his portraits are inspiring and unique. His iterative process could be super useful for Proko followers.
@@retardno002 We'll never say no to working with a new artist. But we're pretty full up on the videos we already have in the backlog to edit right now. Maybe in the future!
@@ProkoTV thanks for replying, I just wanted to put him on your radar, a short look at some of his work is all it took for me to become a fan, I'm really curious what you think. Fingers crossed for that future episode ❤️
@@ProkoTVHi Proko. Is this course suitable for someone who is a complete beginner? I haven't done any drawing in about 14 years, and was never really big into art when I was a kid (I did the occasional doodle and painted watercolour with my grandad sometimes), but I'm looking to pick it back up as a hobby.
@@lukepattinson3108 You're exactly the audience for it! We cover all the starting topics, even how to sharpen all the different pencils and how you can hold them for different line qualities.
I've been drawing (not professionally) for 20 years now, and I never knew that the centerpoint of an ellipse was "further away" than the major axis. Mind. Blown.
Attention. In reality the major axis of the ellipse passes perfectly through the center (it couldn't be otherwise); the center of the object described by the ellipse is not at the center of the ellipse. In other words, the ellipse is the geometric figure that represents the contour of the object and is "symmetrical". The central point of the object inside is not exactly halfway along the ellipse because it is seen in perspective and therefore the half closest to the observer's eye is larger than the one farthest away. Look carefully at the part of the video where there is the vinyl and clearly observe where the center of the ellipse and the center of the vinyl are located respectively, which are two different things.
@@ugosergio4520 Great explanation! Although I don't understand why. If you draw a flat square in perspective over the record, when the record tilts, the center point of that square in perspective will shift away from us. But an oval in perspective will shift it's center of axis towards the viewer? Logically this doesn't make sense to me, but as you've explained it, the visual representation of the center axis of the oval shifts due to the perspective in order to maintain it's symmetry, and the center axis of the oval must remain equidistant from the close and far edge of the box in order for the oval to stay symmetrical and touch all 4 sides. I'm not understanding how an oval doesn't "skew" like a box and how the visual center of the record can somehow visually be different than the external center of the oval?
@@arnedirlelwy HI. Try to think of it this way: The disk is the object. The circle is the geometric figure that describes the outline of the object. If you put the object in perspective, a visual deformation occurs whereby the half of the object closest to the observer's eye appears larger than the farthest half. and due to the same deformation the circle visually becomes an ellipse. This is where you have to be careful. The real center of the circle is located further from the observer's eye than the axis of the ellipse that describes its contour. We see two distinct things together: 1) the object observed in perspective and 2) the contour of the object, which we consider as a flat figure in frontal view, for this reason the two centers do not match: one is the center of the object in perspective and the other is the center of the geometric figure that describes its outline. Example to clarify further: Put a square in perspective. The geometric figure that describes its outline is an isosceles trapezoid. Measure half the height of this trapezoid and you will see that it will not match the center of the square (but compared to the latter it will be closer to the observer's eye). I hope I have clarified something and not complicated it even more :)
@@arnedirlelwy Hi. I believe that circles create more difficulty for understanding concepts, so I'll give you a similar example that I hope can help: Put a square in one point perspective and observe its outline. it is a trapezoid. So we have two different things that coexist: 1) the object in perspective (in this example a square) and 2) the contour of the object which is a flat geometric figure (in this example the isosceles trapezoid). If you see where half the height of the trapezoid falls you will see that it does not correspond with the center of the square in perspective, exactly as happens for the circle in perspective whose contour is an ellipse.
@@ugosergio4520 That's exactly where I find it confusing. Let's say the square is drawn to the left of the one point perspective. The center line of the trapezoid (the square in one point perspective) would be found by drawing a line from top left corner to bottom right corner and bottom left corner to top right corner, then finding the meeting point and drawing a vertical line. That vertical line would be further to the right (closer to the vanishing point) than the measured middle point between the left line and the right line of the trapezoid (square in one point perspective). So if a circle drawn in a square touches all 4 edges at the middle of the 4 edges, then why in perspective does it still not touch all 4 edges at those points?
Perspective is so important for artists to understand. I didn't do well in perspective class, but I went through art school before youtube was a thing. Thanks for what you do.
Car designers are often really good at ellipses and construction, I'd love to see one on your channel to show the perspective knowledge (and tricks) they know about drawing modern cars! Someone like Murad Baste for instance
This is one thing I had to figure out by myself. I used to "correct" myself by redrawing the round side of cylinders (like a car wheel) by aligning the major axis with the up and down axis, but then it would look worse than the intuitive sketch I started off with. When I really decided to figure it out, was when I had to draw cylinders at odd angles. I spent a good amount of time studying my cylindrical pencil sharpener, and drawing and redrawing, until I could pinpoint a solid rule for orienting the major axis of an ellipse. When I did figure it out, let me tell you, it was the most satisfying feeling. All that time spent, all that frustration, had paid off. And I took particular satisfaction in the fact that I figured it out on my own, by drawing, and studying real life examples.
It's a heady one! Don't worry if it doesn't sink in at first. You can can keep progressing with drawing, even without this particular bit and revisit it when it seems like it makes easier sense.
drawing the cylinder in a box section is by far the hardest thing i have ever seen. It feels like every time i have to do a cylinder i have to bring out a calculator and a math book everytime i will try to do this
I’ve been chasing down the major and minor access for a few years trying to draw better wheeled vehicles. I bought countless books and still it eludes but this is the most concise and digestible explanation out there! Bravo proko!!!
Okay, but once you know the 4 tangent points and the major and minor axes, how do you actually _draw_ the ellipse? The step at 8:26 might as well have been magic to me.
That was fantastic, just 100% solid content from start to finish. Like lots of us here I’ve watched a ton of drawing/painting videos but it’s so rare to have such a💡moment and reach for pencil and paper immediately after watching. Nice work Stan, I’ll be investing in one of your courses when I get some $ together. ❤
This just saved my life. I'm on chapter 5 of scott robertsons' how to draw book and I could not figure out how to properly place elipses within cubes. Thank you proko.
That’s crazy I was just searching ellipses in perspective I knew you’d have a video or two but this post was obviously for me. I’m so confused about everything I’m learning so this is amazing thank you!
I was trying to clear up the difference between an ellipse and an oval in particular and why another video I watched said that ellipses that are standing are vertically tilted apparently? It that in relation to the other perspective point to make the minor axis perpendicular cuz that what I’ve heard twice so far but it feels like if it wasn’t vertically tilted the minor axis would still be on the same angle. I’m suspecting that the other video and the brief explanation you gave is based on simplifying the ellipses to be isometric or orthographic or something of the nature. In other words no skewed because I don’t understand how any ellipse especially on that’s standing straight up in 3 point perspective would be a perfect ellipse. You’ll probably explain it after I’m done writing this and watch the rest of the video and I’ll end up deleting this comment
I’m just not understand how ur getting your major axis after finding the halfway points on the box. It’s not actually perpendicular(it’s perpendicular in perspective not on the page) and I feel like if I could eyeball it I wouldn’t need to do any of this is the first place lol
9:25 I still don’t understand why the long axis doesn’t meet the center point of the square, and I especially don’t understand why it’s a little closer to the viewer since in the vinyl example it‘s a little bit further from the viewer? ;_; help
major (long) axis of the ellipse should be exactly in the middle of the ellipse. In the video it's a mistake. But it's never goes through the center of the square in the perspective. The reason is: perspective foreshortening
@@ioga1977 I tried finding answers, I think it is because he is free handing it, the box needs to be completely perfect for it to line up perfectly. Also no one really draws a perfect box or elipse just close enough, from what I've heard.
It's the same rule I have about rectangles. A square is a rectangle, but not all rectangles are square. An ellipse is an oval, but not all ovals are elliptical.
One thing I thing I struggle with after seeing your video is : why the major axis is on the up-right of the center of the square (building the cylinder), as this part is closer to us (as it seems we look from right above) shouldn't we see more and the major axis be lower left ? When you moved the vinyl disc it was so and it "feels" more logical according to perspective rules (the farther, the smaller).
I did question that part for a bit and figured out an answer for myself: 2:07 When you look at the disc, the major axis is closer to us and the center of the disc is further from us. The reason is that the major axis divides the ellipse into two halfs: • The first half is FURTHER, hence appears SMALLER but shows MORE of the whole disc. That's why we see both one half and the center of the disc. • The second half is CLOSER, hence appears BIGGER but also shows LESS of the whole disc. That's why we only see the remaining half of the disc. 10:18 So when sketching out the ellipse from the box, he put the major axis closer to us and let the further half have the center. This is how I understand the video and I tried to explain the best way I can, hope this help! :)
Hi proko, I love your videos and content, the information in there is so valuable and well presented, I’ve been following you for a long time now a great deal of my anatomical knowledge comes from your tutorials! Nevertheless, and its pains me to say so, the affirmation "the minor axis of the ellipse is aligned with the axis of rotation" is unfortunately false (and that’s a bummer because it would be incredibely usefull!) I know many books (and good ones!) and content on perspective do say so but it is simply false, and can be proved mathematically. But more easily, just grab an image with a tilted circle where the perpendicular axis, or rotational axis can easily be identified and you’ll see that if you (very) carefully identify the ellipse and its minor axis (maybe major first because its easier to see), it’s not aligned with the axis... In your video that can actually be seen when pausing on the barbell image… Sure it’s pretty close but its less inclined. When the perspective becomes more distorted or when you’re approaching the 60° CoV its even more false. I’d be happy to discuss this further, that’s something that’s always bothered me: I try to spread the good (or rather "bad" in this case…) word when I get the chance!
You are absolutely right, that was also my recent discovery. However there is are few reasons, why this rule is used. 1. this simplification is rather useful for artists who don't aim to create a constructive drawing. 2. Human eye is capable to see things in focus in a very limited range (round 5 degrees). So in order to draw a picture we will move our focus on that object. And as soon as you move it to ellipse (as a cylinder base) this rule with minor axis will immediately work. Yes, if we create constructive drawing with wide CoV, than you should consider that this rule is not working. Also on photos you'll always see the difference, because photo can fit much more information in focus, than the human eye (and that you see on dumbbell pic example)
Yes, the minor axis will NOT always align with the rotation axis. I was thinking about this some time ago. I would use the major axis for reference. If you think about it, the major axis corresponds to the largest viewing angle that the viewer has on the ellipse. Thus, it must be perpendicular to the line of sight. The challenge is now to construct this perpendicular line in perspective - if I have time, I will come up with a method for that. It will be based on my idea that you can imagine the circle with a triangle standing on the circle's diameter, and then rotating (and stretching and tilting) that triangle until it meets the viewer's eye... Another thing that is not 100% corrrect in the video is that the major axes are parallel to each other. Actually, they must also converge to a vanishing point (which is usually far out).
@@andreyostr sorry for the long delay... yes I totally agree it can be a good enough approximation, and unless you do precise constructive drawing this is far sufficient. I personnaly almost never use a ruler or anything else and consider enough perspective so that it works ffor me and the viewer, so the right orientation is the least of my concerns considering all the other errors made... But, and maybe that's because I'm a scientist, I think people should present this as a good enough approximation, there's no shame in saying it's not strickly speaking true... The problem is (problem maybe is a strong word I admit, who cares really) I just don't like being "lied to", if that's not true i find asking myself whether something else in the book/the video is also false? I know it's a bit harsh but I don't see why not presenting things as they are... Actually, I think people - and good very artists too - repeat this hack without even bothering to know if it's true... But again, no big deal, I may have been to vindicative in my initial message...
@@saschagrusche8449 well I'm not sure what you consider "line of sight" is but there's not way the major axis is perpendicular to this one... if you're actually thinking about the axle or axis of rotation of the "wheel", saying the major axis is perpendicular to it is exactly the same thing as saying the minor axis is aligned with it... If you want to construct the ellipse right, there are other methods which consist in finding specific points of the original circle, using crossing lines defined within the square encompassing the circle. If my memory serves me weel I think there are at least 12 points you can identify. If you add the tangents, you got a pretty good guess for the ellipse. But I personnality think that's a waste of time...
@@queyrel05 I am not talking about the wheel axis. Instead, I imagine it like this: In 3D space, there is one line from the center of the circle to the viewer's eye. And, you will find exactly one diameter of the circle which will be perpendicular to that sightline. It is perpendicular in 3D, but not in 2D perspective projection. So the goal is to construct a perspective version of that perpendicular line. And, one needs to be careful because that diameter is offset from the major axis of the ellipse, as pointed out in the video... So, it gets tricky because one needs to construct the major axis as a line that is parallel to that diameter in 3D, but not parallel in perspective...
If you're starting with a box... Then how do you know the wall of your box is a square? Cause it has to be square not a rectangle to fit a perfect elipse inside (circle in perspective) 😉🧐 So actually the point for this exercise is to make 1st wall of your box look like a square in perspective 😊 I'm a drawing teacher and I watch your videos to refresh and strengthen my skills 👍Thanks for your videos!
9:27 I don't know about that. I think that when the minor axis is aligned in such a way that it points to the vanishing point, the center of the elipse has to be closer to the vanishing point and the major axis needs to be closer to the observer, not the other way around. The portion of the elipse closer to the observer and farther from the vanishing point is, as you mentioned before, bigger, so it pushes the center of the elipse away from the observer and closer to the vanishing point relative to the major axis. If there is no vanishing point, or if the minor axis isn't in the aforementioned alignment, then it's hard to determine the placing of the major axis and the center of the elipse relative to each other, at least that's how it seems to me. In that case, I think it's just best to follow the geometry of the square, keeping the center of the elipse over the center of the square, and eyeballing how the elipse needs to fill the square without thinking too much about the positioning of the major axis.
OMG, the part about minor axis of an ellipse aligning with axis of a cylinder was literally an eureka moment for me! It never made sense for me when I was drawing cylinders in perspective and cross sections appeared to be squashed because I was drawing them aligned vertically and not to the orientation of the cylinder
I was doing that as well, before figuring it out. Stupid thing was I'd intuitively draw it correctly in the initial sketch, and then when refining it, "correct" it by redrawing the major axis vertically
now the real challenge is to draw a cylinder that has been squashed to have an ellipse cross section... What does an ellipse in perspective look like? More ellipses?!?
Hi, just ignore the photograph of the disk and focus on the drawing of the ellipse. You can identify the major axis by joining the 2 points that are the widest appart (were the ellipse is the more "curved"). Hope that makes sense…
Muchas gracias por tus videos. Me ayudan mucho. Tengo debilidad por dibujar árboles y no consigo dar "vida" a las ramas. Tienes algo específico para ésto?
both claims at 2:41 are wrong. in most cases the minor axis neither goes through the center point, nor does it aim at the perpendicular vanishing point. He has chosen examples in this video where these claims appear true, for example by holding the vinyl record horizontally centered in front of the camera. Also a narrow camera fov helps conceiling this, as a narrow fov is closer to an orthographic projection, which has much nicer properties. You can easily confirm this by drawing multiple parallel cylinder columns standing on the floor and the boxes that surround them. At some point you notice that you cannot satisfy both conditions of - touching all 4 sides of the box at their center AND - having the minor axis go towards the vanishing point (the false claim)
Projected geometry gives simple solution. All what you need is point where ellipse tangents cross diagonals of square. Take half of side of perspective square and draw real rectangle over that side , draw diagonal , draw arc from one side of diagonal that has radius sam as side of square . Where diagonal and arc intersect , project that point to common side real square and perspective half square . Project that point in perscpective on diagonals , and you have point where ellipse meets diagonals . Than you draw tangents that are paralle to opossite diagonals . You have 8 point and 8 tangents . Its easy to connect that
remember, the long axis is referring to the *ellipse* which the 2D shape that describes the *circle* that is tilted in a third dimension. Finding the centre of the ellipse does not find the centre of the circle.
so how exactly do you find the center of the ellipse in perspective? Just only by eyeballing the intersection of the major and minor axes? Im confused…
I don't get it. I opened Blender and saw it's true, but I don't get it. How does it stays ellipse in any perspective? The centre point gets offset, that I get, since when a square got distorted into a trapezoid, the same thing happen; But no matter how hard the perspective distort a circle, it stays ellipse in any angle. HOW???
I'm very confused by this type of question tbh. Personally, I'd be flabbergasted if it became anything other than an ellipse at any point, I'd shout HOW??? then... What other shape would feel more intuitive to you?
@@13x666 Oval, since whatever closer to the camera looks bigger I know that the widest part in the eye is not the widest part of the object, but how does it stays perfect symmetrical in 2 axis??
It actually doesn't. At some point, the ellipse will turn into a parabola and then hyperbola (for a viewer inside the circle).These things are conic sections. This becomes clear if you imagine a cone based on the circle, and the interesecting plane being parallel to the camera plane.
There is a difference between an oval and an ellipse. Ovals, specifically with two simmetry axis are composed of circunference arcs. Ellipses, what this video is about, are different curves that can not be drawn with a compass.
borderline witchcraft! Thianks. I would have looked-without-seeing for ages that a tilted circle was a symetrical elipse but the middle wasn't the middle. (edit: was bad sentense)
wait, i though two side of the ellipse must have the same size as you said at 2:20 But the two sides of the ellipse you drew at 10:16 are not the same size
Okay, but Stan should have said how he placed the major axis, halfway between the bottom and top corners of the square, because here he's just guessing. Anyway, thank you very much, because I've been wrong for a while and I'm not the only artist in this situation. You can see perspective errors even in some books!
Okay i am looking, drawing along, observating what your doing and i still cant do it... Is there anywhere i can show you guys how i am doing it so that you can tell me what i am doing wrong here cus i feel like i need to learn this if i ever want to be good at drawing.
Absolutely! The Proko community is free and full of instructors, critiquers, the Proko team and other artists who can help you out with art you share and ask for help with. All for free! www.proko.com/community
He corrected the major axis but didn’t notice that now the ellipse is not symmetrical around that axis anymore. Also the farther ellipse should be rounder, corners outside it should appear to be of equal size.
@HrUtubel sorry for misunderstanding, i mean the half of ellipse from center toward to us is thinner than from center away from us? because in example of Stan at 10:00 he correct his previous drawn line and makes it thinner towards to us than the one that away from us.
Become a premium student and unlock even more perspective content at proko.com/drawing
Hey guys, any chance you could maybe get in touch with David Malan for an artist spotlight episode? He's my personal favorite portrait artist, his economy of line and the expensiveness of his portraits are inspiring and unique. His iterative process could be super useful for Proko followers.
@@retardno002 We'll never say no to working with a new artist. But we're pretty full up on the videos we already have in the backlog to edit right now.
Maybe in the future!
@@ProkoTV thanks for replying, I just wanted to put him on your radar, a short look at some of his work is all it took for me to become a fan, I'm really curious what you think. Fingers crossed for that future episode ❤️
@@ProkoTVHi Proko. Is this course suitable for someone who is a complete beginner? I haven't done any drawing in about 14 years, and was never really big into art when I was a kid (I did the occasional doodle and painted watercolour with my grandad sometimes), but I'm looking to pick it back up as a hobby.
@@lukepattinson3108 You're exactly the audience for it! We cover all the starting topics, even how to sharpen all the different pencils and how you can hold them for different line qualities.
Proko tutorials- the gold standard for all tutorials
Aww, shucks! Thank you.
😅⁹😅😅9😅⁹999@@ProkoTV
@@ProkoTV it's true!
I've been drawing (not professionally) for 20 years now, and I never knew that the centerpoint of an ellipse was "further away" than the major axis. Mind. Blown.
Attention. In reality the major axis of the ellipse passes perfectly through the center (it couldn't be otherwise); the center of the object described by the ellipse is not at the center of the ellipse. In other words, the ellipse is the geometric figure that represents the contour of the object and is "symmetrical". The central point of the object inside is not exactly halfway along the ellipse because it is seen in perspective and therefore the half closest to the observer's eye is larger than the one farthest away. Look carefully at the part of the video where there is the vinyl and clearly observe where the center of the ellipse and the center of the vinyl are located respectively, which are two different things.
@@ugosergio4520 Great explanation! Although I don't understand why. If you draw a flat square in perspective over the record, when the record tilts, the center point of that square in perspective will shift away from us. But an oval in perspective will shift it's center of axis towards the viewer? Logically this doesn't make sense to me, but as you've explained it, the visual representation of the center axis of the oval shifts due to the perspective in order to maintain it's symmetry, and the center axis of the oval must remain equidistant from the close and far edge of the box in order for the oval to stay symmetrical and touch all 4 sides. I'm not understanding how an oval doesn't "skew" like a box and how the visual center of the record can somehow visually be different than the external center of the oval?
@@arnedirlelwy HI. Try to think of it this way: The disk is the object. The circle is the geometric figure that describes the outline of the object. If you put the object in perspective, a visual deformation occurs whereby the half of the object closest to the observer's eye appears larger than the farthest half. and due to the same deformation the circle visually becomes an ellipse. This is where you have to be careful. The real center of the circle is located further from the observer's eye than the axis of the ellipse that describes its contour. We see two distinct things together: 1) the object observed in perspective and 2) the contour of the object, which we consider as a flat figure in frontal view, for this reason the two centers do not match: one is the center of the object in perspective and the other is the center of the geometric figure that describes its outline.
Example to clarify further: Put a square in perspective. The geometric figure that describes its outline is an isosceles trapezoid. Measure half the height of this trapezoid and you will see that it will not match the center of the square (but compared to the latter it will be closer to the observer's eye). I hope I have clarified something and not complicated it even more :)
@@arnedirlelwy Hi. I believe that circles create more difficulty for understanding concepts, so I'll give you a similar example that I hope can help:
Put a square in one point perspective and observe its outline. it is a trapezoid. So we have two different things that coexist: 1) the object in perspective (in this example a square) and 2) the contour of the object which is a flat geometric figure (in this example the isosceles trapezoid). If you see where half the height of the trapezoid falls you will see that it does not correspond with the center of the square in perspective, exactly as happens for the circle in perspective whose contour is an ellipse.
@@ugosergio4520 That's exactly where I find it confusing. Let's say the square is drawn to the left of the one point perspective. The center line of the trapezoid (the square in one point perspective) would be found by drawing a line from top left corner to bottom right corner and bottom left corner to top right corner, then finding the meeting point and drawing a vertical line. That vertical line would be further to the right (closer to the vanishing point) than the measured middle point between the left line and the right line of the trapezoid (square in one point perspective). So if a circle drawn in a square touches all 4 edges at the middle of the 4 edges, then why in perspective does it still not touch all 4 edges at those points?
Perspective is so important for artists to understand. I didn't do well in perspective class, but I went through art school before youtube was a thing. Thanks for what you do.
I think you are right 🤔....
"Both cylinder and a box are hard" ok this makes feel a lot better coming from someone like Proko😅😊
Car designers are often really good at ellipses and construction, I'd love to see one on your channel to show the perspective knowledge (and tricks) they know about drawing modern cars! Someone like Murad Baste for instance
You learn something new every day. I did not know that the elipses are perpendicular to the axis 🤯. Wheels, logs, I've been drawing them all wrong.
I always appreciate a precise explaination.
This is one thing I had to figure out by myself. I used to "correct" myself by redrawing the round side of cylinders (like a car wheel) by aligning the major axis with the up and down axis, but then it would look worse than the intuitive sketch I started off with. When I really decided to figure it out, was when I had to draw cylinders at odd angles. I spent a good amount of time studying my cylindrical pencil sharpener, and drawing and redrawing, until I could pinpoint a solid rule for orienting the major axis of an ellipse. When I did figure it out, let me tell you, it was the most satisfying feeling. All that time spent, all that frustration, had paid off. And I took particular satisfaction in the fact that I figured it out on my own, by drawing, and studying real life examples.
thank you for the beginner video (1st month of drawing)
Congratulations on starting drawing! Remember to always have fun with it.
I roughly knew how to draw ellipses, but i never considered the axis to help with the foreshortening... I always eyeballed it. Great tip
Eyeballing is more efficient
Ellipses…my enemy
🙄🙄.......
I've got an insight on ellipses today
You mean your nemesis?
@@reanozeon9459??💀
SAME 😫
FINALLY ! I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS FOR SO LONG
i just finished my 1st week of studying art via your tutorials and self-practise, and yeah this is like the hardest one by far
It's a heady one! Don't worry if it doesn't sink in at first. You can can keep progressing with drawing, even without this particular bit and revisit it when it seems like it makes easier sense.
proko my majestic goat
drawing the cylinder in a box section is by far the hardest thing i have ever seen. It feels like every time i have to do a cylinder i have to bring out a calculator and a math book everytime i will try to do this
This was so eye opening, Proko you are going to heaven for providing this for free
Yes! 😇
@@ProkoTV You replied! I love you ❤️
I’ve been chasing down the major and minor access for a few years trying to draw better wheeled vehicles. I bought countless books and still it eludes but this is the most concise and digestible explanation out there! Bravo proko!!!
this came at the perfect time for me I've been trying to work on my perspective more
Hope it helps!
I’ve tried to figure out how circles work in perspective for 2 years, and today i finally got it. Thanks Proko 🖤🖤🖤
Nice!
just wait another 2 years and you'll realise you only *thought* you understood circles in perspective
absolutely the best explanation, i'm shocked of what i didn't know in the past....thx a lot
Keep it up with the basics videos I believe that they are the most important thing to practice even when at a advanced level
Okay, but once you know the 4 tangent points and the major and minor axes, how do you actually _draw_ the ellipse? The step at 8:26 might as well have been magic to me.
i’ve been having sm trouble with finding major axis and all that BUT THIS HELPED SM THANK UUUU🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡
Glad to hear it!
As someone studying vector calculus, this is helpful. Thank you.
never skip fundamentals day
Understanding fundamentals, Helps,a great deal. 👍
That was fantastic, just 100% solid content from start to finish. Like lots of us here I’ve watched a ton of drawing/painting videos but it’s so rare to have such a💡moment and reach for pencil and paper immediately after watching. Nice work Stan, I’ll be investing in one of your courses when I get some $ together. ❤
This just saved my life. I'm on chapter 5 of scott robertsons' how to draw book and I could not figure out how to properly place elipses within cubes. Thank you proko.
thank you so much for this 🥺 i was just having trouble with this today. you have shed major light on it for me
Oh, boy. As a mathematician, this idea that any oval that has horizontal and vertical symmetry is an ellipse is hard to stomach.
I need an explanation
aversion to using a straight edge was quite strong in this video 😆. that graphic with the barbell was very helpful, thank you.
Great video! Awesome fundamental video
Well explained 👏
The Marshall course is real!
This one's from Stan's Drawing Basics course. But Marshall's course will be out this year.
@@ProkoTV Awesome!
That’s crazy I was just searching ellipses in perspective I knew you’d have a video or two but this post was obviously for me. I’m so confused about everything I’m learning so this is amazing thank you!
I was trying to clear up the difference between an ellipse and an oval in particular and why another video I watched said that ellipses that are standing are vertically tilted apparently? It that in relation to the other perspective point to make the minor axis perpendicular cuz that what I’ve heard twice so far but it feels like if it wasn’t vertically tilted the minor axis would still be on the same angle. I’m suspecting that the other video and the brief explanation you gave is based on simplifying the ellipses to be isometric or orthographic or something of the nature. In other words no skewed because I don’t understand how any ellipse especially on that’s standing straight up in 3 point perspective would be a perfect ellipse. You’ll probably explain it after I’m done writing this and watch the rest of the video and I’ll end up deleting this comment
I guess I’m starting to fucking understand 🙄 ughh.
I’m just not understand how ur getting your major axis after finding the halfway points on the box. It’s not actually perpendicular(it’s perpendicular in perspective not on the page) and I feel like if I could eyeball it I wouldn’t need to do any of this is the first place lol
I just want to draw realistic coffee mugs.
Same here 😂😂
Exactly, I was trying to draw a mug, and realized how confusing it is to draw the circle. Is it fully circle? But if u tilted it it'd be oval lol
@ It’s fun to look for these shapes. On water glasses mugs, , pots etc. Sketch the ovals or ellipses from all different angles.
Proko is great
This video came in handy, I'm currently learning to draw them
9:25 I still don’t understand why the long axis doesn’t meet the center point of the square, and I especially don’t understand why it’s a little closer to the viewer since in the vinyl example it‘s a little bit further from the viewer? ;_; help
major (long) axis of the ellipse should be exactly in the middle of the ellipse. In the video it's a mistake. But it's never goes through the center of the square in the perspective. The reason is: perspective foreshortening
10:03 here the elipse is bigger on the left half when you centre it on the major axis? Other than the centre of the box. A bit confused
I am confused too . looks totally opposite to what must be ?
@@ioga1977 I tried finding answers, I think it is because he is free handing it, the box needs to be completely perfect for it to line up perfectly. Also no one really draws a perfect box or elipse just close enough, from what I've heard.
Stan 😊 Always helps us in Our Artistic Expression.... through his Tutorials....classes......all stuff....Great 🎉 job Stan ...keep Guiding us !!!
It's the same rule I have about rectangles. A square is a rectangle, but not all rectangles are square. An ellipse is an oval, but not all ovals are elliptical.
Exactly
One thing I thing I struggle with after seeing your video is : why the major axis is on the up-right of the center of the square (building the cylinder), as this part is closer to us (as it seems we look from right above) shouldn't we see more and the major axis be lower left ?
When you moved the vinyl disc it was so and it "feels" more logical according to perspective rules (the farther, the smaller).
I did question that part for a bit and figured out an answer for myself: 2:07 When you look at the disc, the major axis is closer to us and the center of the disc is further from us. The reason is that the major axis divides the ellipse into two halfs:
• The first half is FURTHER, hence appears SMALLER but shows MORE of the whole disc. That's why we see both one half and the center of the disc.
• The second half is CLOSER, hence appears BIGGER but also shows LESS of the whole disc. That's why we only see the remaining half of the disc.
10:18 So when sketching out the ellipse from the box, he put the major axis closer to us and let the further half have the center.
This is how I understand the video and I tried to explain the best way I can, hope this help! :)
Thank you! I plan to do Proko very soon (finishing up DAB first).
Did a lot of these for the illustrations in “Inheritors: Ashes of Imidia.” Keep on spreading the knowledge!
Hi proko, I love your videos and content, the information in there is so valuable and well presented, I’ve been following you for a long time now a great deal of my anatomical knowledge comes from your tutorials! Nevertheless, and its pains me to say so, the affirmation "the minor axis of the ellipse is aligned with the axis of rotation" is unfortunately false (and that’s a bummer because it would be incredibely usefull!) I know many books (and good ones!) and content on perspective do say so but it is simply false, and can be proved mathematically. But more easily, just grab an image with a tilted circle where the perpendicular axis, or rotational axis can easily be identified and you’ll see that if you (very) carefully identify the ellipse and its minor axis (maybe major first because its easier to see), it’s not aligned with the axis... In your video that can actually be seen when pausing on the barbell image… Sure it’s pretty close but its less inclined. When the perspective becomes more distorted or when you’re approaching the 60° CoV its even more false. I’d be happy to discuss this further, that’s something that’s always bothered me: I try to spread the good (or rather "bad" in this case…) word when I get the chance!
You are absolutely right, that was also my recent discovery. However there is are few reasons, why this rule is used. 1. this simplification is rather useful for artists who don't aim to create a constructive drawing. 2. Human eye is capable to see things in focus in a very limited range (round 5 degrees). So in order to draw a picture we will move our focus on that object. And as soon as you move it to ellipse (as a cylinder base) this rule with minor axis will immediately work. Yes, if we create constructive drawing with wide CoV, than you should consider that this rule is not working. Also on photos you'll always see the difference, because photo can fit much more information in focus, than the human eye (and that you see on dumbbell pic example)
Yes, the minor axis will NOT always align with the rotation axis. I was thinking about this some time ago. I would use the major axis for reference. If you think about it, the major axis corresponds to the largest viewing angle that the viewer has on the ellipse. Thus, it must be perpendicular to the line of sight. The challenge is now to construct this perpendicular line in perspective - if I have time, I will come up with a method for that. It will be based on my idea that you can imagine the circle with a triangle standing on the circle's diameter, and then rotating (and stretching and tilting) that triangle until it meets the viewer's eye... Another thing that is not 100% corrrect in the video is that the major axes are parallel to each other. Actually, they must also converge to a vanishing point (which is usually far out).
@@andreyostr sorry for the long delay... yes I totally agree it can be a good enough approximation, and unless you do precise constructive drawing this is far sufficient. I personnaly almost never use a ruler or anything else and consider enough perspective so that it works ffor me and the viewer, so the right orientation is the least of my concerns considering all the other errors made... But, and maybe that's because I'm a scientist, I think people should present this as a good enough approximation, there's no shame in saying it's not strickly speaking true... The problem is (problem maybe is a strong word I admit, who cares really) I just don't like being "lied to", if that's not true i find asking myself whether something else in the book/the video is also false? I know it's a bit harsh but I don't see why not presenting things as they are... Actually, I think people - and good very artists too - repeat this hack without even bothering to know if it's true... But again, no big deal, I may have been to vindicative in my initial message...
@@saschagrusche8449 well I'm not sure what you consider "line of sight" is but there's not way the major axis is perpendicular to this one... if you're actually thinking about the axle or axis of rotation of the "wheel", saying the major axis is perpendicular to it is exactly the same thing as saying the minor axis is aligned with it... If you want to construct the ellipse right, there are other methods which consist in finding specific points of the original circle, using crossing lines defined within the square encompassing the circle. If my memory serves me weel I think there are at least 12 points you can identify. If you add the tangents, you got a pretty good guess for the ellipse. But I personnality think that's a waste of time...
@@queyrel05 I am not talking about the wheel axis. Instead, I imagine it like this: In 3D space, there is one line from the center of the circle to the viewer's eye. And, you will find exactly one diameter of the circle which will be perpendicular to that sightline. It is perpendicular in 3D, but not in 2D perspective projection. So the goal is to construct a perspective version of that perpendicular line. And, one needs to be careful because that diameter is offset from the major axis of the ellipse, as pointed out in the video... So, it gets tricky because one needs to construct the major axis as a line that is parallel to that diameter in 3D, but not parallel in perspective...
If you're starting with a box... Then how do you know the wall of your box is a square? Cause it has to be square not a rectangle to fit a perfect elipse inside (circle in perspective) 😉🧐 So actually the point for this exercise is to make 1st wall of your box look like a square in perspective 😊 I'm a drawing teacher and I watch your videos to refresh and strengthen my skills 👍Thanks for your videos!
9:27 I don't know about that. I think that when the minor axis is aligned in such a way that it points to the vanishing point, the center of the elipse has to be closer to the vanishing point and the major axis needs to be closer to the observer, not the other way around. The portion of the elipse closer to the observer and farther from the vanishing point is, as you mentioned before, bigger, so it pushes the center of the elipse away from the observer and closer to the vanishing point relative to the major axis.
If there is no vanishing point, or if the minor axis isn't in the aforementioned alignment, then it's hard to determine the placing of the major axis and the center of the elipse relative to each other, at least that's how it seems to me. In that case, I think it's just best to follow the geometry of the square, keeping the center of the elipse over the center of the square, and eyeballing how the elipse needs to fill the square without thinking too much about the positioning of the major axis.
Just practising this in art school, coulnd't be better timing 😂❤
OMG, the part about minor axis of an ellipse aligning with axis of a cylinder was literally an eureka moment for me! It never made sense for me when I was drawing cylinders in perspective and cross sections appeared to be squashed because I was drawing them aligned vertically and not to the orientation of the cylinder
I was doing that as well, before figuring it out. Stupid thing was I'd intuitively draw it correctly in the initial sketch, and then when refining it, "correct" it by redrawing the major axis vertically
@@ookami5329 exactly, I was doing the same
@@capsey_ I mean it sounded logical, but then when you actually apply that logic, it looks trash 😂
Omg ellipses my enemy BUT as a 2d animator beginner is so important to learn perspective 😤 thanks proko like always ! 😭💗
Your video is very nice and imformative
Thanks!
Realizing that the long axis does not cross the center point of the circle is like when your older brother tells you that Santa doesn't exist
this is genius. thank you!
The text on the thumbnail is incorrect, "ellipse" and "oval" should be reversed.
Like he says here 0:36
Edit: it has been fixed
Good catch! Should be fixed soon
Nice proko! I’ve been working on my wheels
That's a great practice!
Thankyou ❤❤❤
Wooooo we're coming full circle again hahah.
😆
Amazing❤
Great video!!
10:04 are you sure ? I am confused . U made close part of the ellipse smaller, than far one ?
just a free hand drawing mistake.
Hello! So in izometric view the circles center should be the center of the ellipse too, right?
Yep! Isometric is an odd little beast where there can be a rotating form but there won't be any really diminution.
Me: skipping box drawing and going for fun with ellipses
Boxes: "Where Did That Bring You? Back To Me"
now the real challenge is to draw a cylinder that has been squashed to have an ellipse cross section... What does an ellipse in perspective look like? More ellipses?!?
Any ellipse will be another ellipse in the perspective.
I need to know how you knew how much to move the major axis from the center on the squished diamond square... thats the confusing point for me
Hi, just ignore the photograph of the disk and focus on the drawing of the ellipse. You can identify the major axis by joining the 2 points that are the widest appart (were the ellipse is the more "curved"). Hope that makes sense…
Very useful!
please do a dip pen tutorial
Muchas gracias por tus videos. Me ayudan mucho.
Tengo debilidad por dibujar árboles y no consigo dar "vida" a las ramas. Tienes algo específico para ésto?
Thank you sir...
both claims at 2:41 are wrong.
in most cases the minor axis neither goes through the center point, nor does it aim at the perpendicular vanishing point.
He has chosen examples in this video where these claims appear true, for example by holding the vinyl record horizontally centered in front of the camera. Also a narrow camera fov helps conceiling this, as a narrow fov is closer to an orthographic projection, which has much nicer properties.
You can easily confirm this by drawing multiple parallel cylinder columns standing on the floor and the boxes that surround them. At some point you notice that you cannot satisfy both conditions of
- touching all 4 sides of the box at their center AND
- having the minor axis go towards the vanishing point (the false claim)
Projected geometry gives simple solution. All what you need is point where ellipse tangents cross diagonals of square. Take half of side of perspective square and draw real rectangle over that side , draw diagonal , draw arc from one side of diagonal that has radius sam as side of square . Where diagonal and arc intersect , project that point to common side real square and perspective half square . Project that point in perscpective on diagonals , and you have point where ellipse meets diagonals . Than you draw tangents that are paralle to opossite diagonals . You have 8 point and 8 tangents . Its easy to connect that
Learning perspective at 12 am
Nice video
0:17 Iltempo Gigante!!
Can someone explain how the major axis was isn t going through the square corners and it was placed more to the right ?
How does the long axis move towards us? It should move away right
Can you drop a time code for which part you mean?
remember, the long axis is referring to the *ellipse* which the 2D shape that describes the *circle* that is tilted in a third dimension. Finding the centre of the ellipse does not find the centre of the circle.
@@ProkoTV no problem I had to rewatch it a few times! I get it now.
@@merlin9240 thanks
When is the new perspective course coming out?
so how exactly do you find the center of the ellipse in perspective? Just only by eyeballing the intersection of the major and minor axes? Im confused…
I don't get it. I opened Blender and saw it's true, but I don't get it. How does it stays ellipse in any perspective?
The centre point gets offset, that I get, since when a square got distorted into a trapezoid, the same thing happen;
But no matter how hard the perspective distort a circle, it stays ellipse in any angle. HOW???
I'm very confused by this type of question tbh. Personally, I'd be flabbergasted if it became anything other than an ellipse at any point, I'd shout HOW??? then...
What other shape would feel more intuitive to you?
@@13x666 Oval, since whatever closer to the camera looks bigger
I know that the widest part in the eye is not the widest part of the object, but how does it stays perfect symmetrical in 2 axis??
@@Evitrea read about conic sections. There you'll get an answer, since conic sections (with two other cases) are ellipses.
@@andreyostr Thanks
It actually doesn't. At some point, the ellipse will turn into a parabola and then hyperbola (for a viewer inside the circle).These things are conic sections. This becomes clear if you imagine a cone based on the circle, and the interesecting plane being parallel to the camera plane.
There is a difference between an oval and an ellipse. Ovals, specifically with two simmetry axis are composed of circunference arcs.
Ellipses, what this video is about, are different curves that can not be drawn with a compass.
borderline witchcraft! Thianks. I would have looked-without-seeing for ages that a tilted circle was a symetrical elipse but the middle wasn't the middle.
(edit: was bad sentense)
Salamat po
Does anyone know when that perspective course he mentioned will be available?
came right on time for geometry for me :0
Cool video
IDK why but the shape you drew for the thumbnail reminded me of the Taken King's Dreadnaught from Destiny.
Brings to mind the DVD logo, where the center isn't in perspective
Omg, I never noticed that. Good eye
@@laurie.55 yep now it can drive you crazy too lol
Beautifulllll
0:11
wait, i though two side of the ellipse must have the same size as you said at 2:20
But the two sides of the ellipse you drew at 10:16 are not the same size
You still young sir❤❤
Okay, but Stan should have said how he placed the major axis, halfway between the bottom and top corners of the square, because here he's just guessing.
Anyway, thank you very much, because I've been wrong for a while and I'm not the only artist in this situation. You can see perspective errors even in some books!
Okay i am looking, drawing along, observating what your doing and i still cant do it... Is there anywhere i can show you guys how i am doing it so that you can tell me what i am doing wrong here cus i feel like i need to learn this if i ever want to be good at drawing.
Absolutely! The Proko community is free and full of instructors, critiquers, the Proko team and other artists who can help you out with art you share and ask for help with.
All for free!
www.proko.com/community
Just a thought, you could implement perspectives to identify the next square but it's honestly too much work. Anyways, great vid!
Does the side of ellipse toward to us is thinner than far from us?
You can see a breakdown of this with examples at 3:44 of the video.
Hope that answers your question.
He corrected the major axis but didn’t notice that now the ellipse is not symmetrical around that axis anymore. Also the farther ellipse should be rounder, corners outside it should appear to be of equal size.
@HrUtubel sorry for misunderstanding, i mean the half of ellipse from center toward to us is thinner than from center away from us? because in example of Stan at 10:00 he correct his previous drawn line and makes it thinner towards to us than the one that away from us.
@@HrUtubel on example on 02:44 he shows on disc that half of ellipse from center toward is thicker that the other
Is it helpful in drawing bottles and glasses I'm confused?
I just realized I've been drawing ellipses wrong this whole time😭
But I know this can help me draw the head more correctly I guess (Loomis Head)
Hey proko! I have hard time figuring out where the major axis has to be in the square? It would be so good if you respond to my text!!
How do I master the box? How do I practice properly