Basic principles of perspective drawing 1 – Diminution
Objects Appear Smaller As Their Distance From The Observer Increases
Street appears smaller than the person next to you, someone down the street appears still smaller, and so on. A good way to see this is to extend your arm forward with your hand held upright. Notice how someone close by (say 20 ft. away) stands about equal to your hand height, while someone 50 ft. away approximately equals the length of your thumb, someone 200 ft. away equals your thumbnail, and finally, someone 1000 ft. away (several blocks) equals possibly a hangnail on that thumb.
The cross-ties of railroad tracks, autos in a parking lot, heads in a theatre, and the cars of a railroad train are just a few other examples of things that we know are approximately equal in size yet which appear to diminish with distance. This “truth” of seeing, when applied to a drawing, is a fundamental means of producing a sense of space and depth.
diminution examples
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