5. Shape, Plane, Volume, and Perspective

What do the depiction of a flying superhero, a tree, a building, and cones and cylinders floating in graphic space all have in common? Drawing them means you have to create the illusion of volume. To draw subjects you observe or invent—ranging from precisely rendered figures to geometric nonobjective forms—you need to learn how to create and manipulate shapes, planes, and volume. And you need to have a basic grasp of perspective.

Shape

If you prefer the silhouette of one car over another, you are responding to shape. A shape is the general outline of an object, figure, or form. Shapes are flat, without volume, like a triangle that you draw on paper. You can create them with line, value, texture, or color. ...

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