Author: calder

Drawing — A sense of depth

There are several visual cues to show depth:

Contrast
Detail
Distance from bottom
Overlapping
Perspective lines
Shadows
Size

Drawing — M.C. Escher’s sense of depth

M.C. Escher is most famous for creating artworks that seem to be impossible. They are deeply loved by mathematicians for their precision, geometry, and the way they often contradict themselves.
They also have a remarkable sense of depth. Escher is an expert at using perspective. But he also uses changes in detail, contrast, and size to create a dramatic sense of near and far.

M.C. Escher, Waterfall, 1961

M.C. Escher, Drawing Hands, 1948

Notice that that the sense of depth is exaggerated: this will seem strange to you when you do this in your own artworks, but it is very effective!

M.C. Escher, Dream, 1955

M.C. Escher, Marseilles, 1936

M.C. Escher, Three Worlds, 1965

Drawing — Improving a sense of depth

The original photo

Reduce the contrast in the background

Artists not only show reality, they improve it.
When you are creating a sense of depth in your artworks, you should improve it as well. This means changing reality to make the sense of depth clearer.
Part of this is because humans use binocular vision to perceive a sense of depth in the three dimensional world. Of course, this does not work when you are looking at a flat piece of paper.
In this example, we:
Reduce the contrast of the background
Reduce the detail in the background
Increase the size of the foreground

Reduce the detail in the background

Increase the size of things that are near

The photo with an improved sense of depth