~*~  Black and White Art ~*~ 
~* A Lesson in Depth *~
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Have you ever wondered how an artist creates the illusion of being able to "step right into the picture" when you're gazing into it, the picture seeming to go back forever?

My way might not be the conventional way of doing this but it works. I was taught at school to start from the back and work forwards. I find this to be impossible with my art and all the detail I put into it. So I start from the top (closest to the eye) and work back (furthest from the eye).

I draw what I call layers (note... a layer can be as simple as one object). Before I go into detail have a look at the picture I'm going to use as my example. Let me explain that this picture was drawn on a 20" X 20" white board rather than paper. A white board is usually found in the kitchen or office where we write notes for a shopping list etc.

Because of it's size I scanned it into my computer in sections then put the pieces together again in an art program. You can clearly see the different sections in this example but I ask you to imagine this picture as a uniform and crisp, black and white drawing with silver pen high-lights.


The illusion of depth is created by drawing the closet to you bigger than the furthermost point from your eye, the same as it is in real life while remembering to keep your proportions right. Obviously a castle is going to look bigger than a man.  Depending on how far behind the man that castle is, is what decides us as to how big we draw it. If we want the man to look closer than the castle we draw him bigger than if he were standing next to the castle. Are you getting the idea of how it's done?

In the picture above there are 20 layers. You don't believe me? Then let's count them starting with the closest and working back. It's hard to see this detail so you'll have to take my word for it for now. On the next page I will show you closer detail.

1.   The closest layer/object is the black vine wrapped around the patterned frame.
2.   The patterned frame.
3.   The white behind the patterned frame.
4.   The four creatures holding the lamp at the bottom of the picture.
5.   The patterned area around the picture looking like vines or snakes.
6.   An area of white clouds/mist near the lantern holders head.
7.   The road leading to the castle.
8.   The hill before the castle.
9.   The cliff with the tree and the centaur.
10. The castle on the hill.
11. The silver and white clouds/mist behind the castle.
12. The lake.
13. The sun setting in the lake. (ok, I know that's impossible in our world, but in this world  it's not....:o)
14. The mountains behind the sun.
15. The flying Pegasus.
16. The mountain behind the Pegasus.
17. The white clouds behind the mountain.
18. The black mountain behind the white cloud.
19. The silver cloud behind the black mountain.
20. The black sky behind the silver cloud.

Looking at the picture above, it's hard to distinguish the silver color I mentioned. To see more detail click HERE.

For a comprehensive example of layers, click HERE.

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