Form & Space / 3D Drawing & Perspective
Brent Eviston · Master Artist & Instructor
Learn the three primitive volumes and perspective rules every complex form is built from
What you will learn
- Constructing spheres, cylinders and cubes from axis lines and ellipses so they read as volumetric
- Using line weight (darkening one side of an ellipse) to signal which way a form faces in space
- One-point, two-point and three-point linear perspective, vanishing points and the eye level (horizon) line
- Recognizing why objects appear smaller and closer to eye level as they recede, and applying that to lined-up forms
- Breaking down real and imagined objects into combinations of sphere, cylinder and cube before drawing them
Standout ideas
- The 1981 Palmer/Rosch/Chase canonical-perspective study, showing people draw their mental assumption of an object (like a coffee cup with the handle on the right) rather than what they actually observe, and how naming the underlying shape breaks that habit
- Constructing a cylinder by tapering its vertical sides and opening the bottom ellipse slightly more than the top, since the far edge is both smaller and rounder from a raised viewpoint
- Building volume with three distinct line weights: dashed construction axes never meant to be seen, a medium line for the base shape, and a heavier line on whichever edge should read as coming forward
Best for: Beginner-to-intermediate artists who already have basic drawing mechanics and want a structured, project-based path into volumetric and perspective drawing.
This is a methodical, diagram-then-demonstration course that isolates exactly why beginner drawings look flat and gives repeatable construction steps (axis lines, ellipse pairs, tapering sides) to fix it, backed by genuine teaching experience and a cited perceptual study rather than just technique demos. It assumes the viewer already has basic mark-making control from an earlier course in the series and leans heavily on daily practice quotas (50-100 shapes per lesson), so it rewards patience more than quick wins. The 165-minute runtime for only five topics covered in this transcript excerpt suggests thorough, unhurried pacing rather than breadth.