Chapter 6, Natural Perspective

From my upcoming new edition of The Art Studio Companion

In this study, we observe how objects are either larger or smaller depending on their closeness to or distance from us. I call this natural perspective. It is how we naturally perceive the world around us. In drawing and painting, it fosters a sense of realism and a feeling of rightness.

Drawing manmade objects in technical perspective, such as buildings, furniture, and interiors, is a complex and specialized skill. However, it is important to note that having a strong grasp of perspective does not guarantee that your drawings or paintings will be good art—rather a basic understanding of natural perspective is fundamental. The simple rule is: closer equals bigger, further equals smaller. 

Adhering to this simple rule can greatly improve the depth and space in your art.

48 Newberry. Demo illustrating circles in depth, showcasing the effect of depth perception on the size of objects.

In my circle demo #48, the idea is that all the circles are the same size, but it is their place in space that dictates their size in relationship to us—the smaller the circle, the more it recedes, and making it larger brings it forward, from tiny dots to circles filling the page.

There is a lot of artistic flexibility in making closer objects too large and distant objects too small. You cannot go wrong doing this; exaggeration results in a more dramatic image, and more precision results in more realism.

Warning: This process does not work in reverse. Artists shrinking forward objects and expanding distant ones run the risk of the artwork appearing incompetent and may alienate the viewer. Instead of inviting the viewer to journey through the artwork, it can confuse their visual perception, hindering their engagement with the piece. This confusion may lead to frustration, potentially causing the viewer to disengage from the painting.

Van Gogh is a Genius of Natural Perspective

49 Van Gogh, The Harvest, 1888, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Holland. WC

Van Gogh is extraordinarily good at creating natural perspective. It doesn’t take a trained eye to feel that the depth feels natural. But to an artist’s eye, this van Gogh is a master class in how objects diminish in the distance and get bigger as they come forward.

In the following demos, I am using cut and paste to move foreground objects into the background, next to their counterparts, demonstrating the disparity in sizes—illustrating the distortion if the artist doesn't shrink objects as they go back in space.

In the next demo, #50, notice the row of bushes circled in red under no. 1, and observe their counterparts, closer to us, no. 2. Their sizes look absolutely natural. But in demo #51, notice what happens when we move the front bushes indicated by the three red arrows into the background.

50 Demo using Van Gogh's The Harvest: circling a smaller row of bushes deep in the scene (1) and its larger equivalent row closer to us in space (2), demonstrating the impact of perspective on size.

51 Demo using Van Gogh's The Harvest: arrows indicate the replacement of front bushes to the back in space, illustrating the distorted size they acquire.

52 Demo using Van Gogh's The Harvest to showcase the dramatic distortion achieved by copying and pasting the front row of bushes further back in space.

Those five-foot bushes in front become towering giants when placed midway in the landscape, becoming 7 to 8 times bigger than their counterparts. That is a very dramatic difference.

53 Demo using Van Gogh's The Harvest with an arrow indicating the intention to move the closer cart and horse back in space

Now let's do that with the two carts each with a horse and a human. In the painting they are not too far apart in distance. Observe what happens when the closer cart and horse is moved back to its counterpart, as indicated by the by the red arrow.

54 Demo using Van Gogh's The Harvest: a close-up detail highlighting the dramatic size difference between carts and horses when they are misplaced.

In that relatively short distance, the closer cart, horse, and person are twice the size of the others. The obvious lesson here is that there is a dramatic difference in sizes of objects as they recede or come forward. It should be clear now how important it is for the artist to adjust the sizes of objects through space.

Practice

As always, it is crucial to reinforce your understanding through practice. We studied the size of objects in natural perspective. I recommend making 10 small sketches (postcard size) of anything you like, intuitively increasing the size of objects the closer they are to you. You can play with exaggerating the size difference, like an ant-sized person in the far distance contrasted with a giant in the foreground.