John Montague - Basic Perspective Drawing: A Visual Approach, 6th Edition

Cover Image: Courtesy of John Montague
Cover Design: Michael Rutkowski

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Copyright 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Montague, John, 1944
Basic perspective drawing : a visual approach / John Montague. Sixth Edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-118-13414-6 (pbk.); 978-1-118-41412-5 (ebk); 978-1-118-41503-0 (ebk);
978-1-118-41502-3 (ebk); 978-1-118-41294-7 (ebk); 978-1-118-41292-3 (ebk);
978-1-118-50284-6 (ebk); 978-1-118-50285-3 (ebk)
1. Perspective. 2. DrawingTechnique. I. Title.
NC750.M648 2012
742dc23
2012013721

PREFACE

Basic Perspective Drawing is now in its sixth edition. Over the years the book has been expanded and refined in response to the direct feedback from artists, architects, designers, illustrators, teachers, and students who use the book as a reference, a self-learning tool, or as a text book.

With this edition the Online Supplementary Material (available at www.wiley.com/go/perspectivedrawing ) has been expanded with the addition of several demonstration and tutorial videos. The videos address some of the particular techniques that students have often found difficult. The new videos are extensions of the text and address some of the basic concepts in paraline drawing, dropping plans into views, geometric tools, slopes, curves, and shadows. The following icon is used throughout the text to indicate topics that are featured in a corresponding tutorial video:

The Online Supplement includes units on Learning to Look, Thinking in Three Dimensions, a demonstration of the Sketchbook Project and an extensive reference Perspective Photo Gallery.

Previous users of the book will notice some subtle changes and clarifications in the illustrations and general presentation. In the interests of keeping the book within a manageable size, a number of step-by-step illustrations in the Appendix have been combined and condensed. Also in the interests of space and in keeping with the book's mission to focus on the basics, the chapter Perspective Drawing and the Computer, first added in the 3rd edition, has been eliminated. Fortunately, since that 1998 edition, a plethora of information on digital perspective programs is now readily accessible making the inclusion of the material here less critical. In this regard, it is important to remember that perspective drawing is as much a way of seeing and understanding the visual world as it is a technique for reproducing it. Thus an understanding of the fundamentals of perspective presented here promises to provide an essential foundation for exciting new digital tools that are still evolving.

Basic Perspective Drawing is organized such that it can be studied sequentially and/or used as a reference. The first chapters provide an orientation and overview while subsequent chapters address more specific problems and techniques. For greatest effect, the book should be treated as a learning tool to be drawn in, written in, highlighted, and even colored in. Like reading and writing, perspective drawing is a learnable skill. And, like any other skills, mastery and fluency are gained with practice and patience, by moving from the known to the unknown, and from the simple to the complex.

This book is designed to lead the user through that rewarding process as directly and efficiently as possible.