Vanishing Point: Perspective for Comics from the Ground Up (Paperback)

by Jason Cheeseman-Meyer (Author)
Key Phrases: vanishing point pair, bottom vanishing point, diagonal vanishing point, Vanishing Point Range, Use X-marks-the-spot, Magic Spot (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Gain a New Perspective on Drawing

Master perspective like the pros! Vanishing Point shows you how to conquer the fundamentals of perspective drawing and then equips you with technical tricks and tools that make dynamic and complex scenes a snap. This complete guide helps you build your understanding of perspective to an intuitive level so you can draw anything you can imagine. Inside you'll find:

• Complete instruction on drawing in one-, two- and three-point perspective and four- and five-point curvilinear perspective (where "straight" lines are drawn as curves). Curvilinear perspective has not been taught in any other perspective book--until now!
• Full-color, step-by-step demonstrations move you beyond the theories and let you practice the techniques in real scenes.
• A special chapter on drawing curves helps you break out of the box and draw cylinders, ellipses, cars and, most importantly, people in perfect perspective.
• Shortcuts and tips show you how to create believable perspective in no time flat.

No matter what your skill level, Vanishing Point offers you a new way of looking at perspective and lets you draw as though you have decades of drawing experience--even if you don't. You'll learn everything you need to know to pour your imagination on the page with power and confidence.

About the Author
Jason Cheeseman-Meyer is a professional artist who draws from his art, math, teaching and writing backgrounds for his expertise on perspective for comics and fantasy art. He knows how to approach technical subjects and present them in easy-to-understand formats. A Magna Cum Laude graduate of Oberlin College and the Otis College of Art and Design, he has written and edited teaching manuals, and has been working on the subject of curvilinear perspective for eight years, creating a practical system for drawing and teaching it.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Impact; illustrated edition edition (December 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581809549
• ISBN-13: 978-1581809541
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,560 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Perspective Book for Comic Artists on the Market, January 19, 2008

By	Thomas B. Chiaramonte "Wrongrobot" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is my first Amazon book review, but this product demands it!

Background: I am a comic illustrator and graphic artist with an educational background in architecture. I know my comics and I know my perspective. Yet, in execution, I find that without frequent practice, it's more difficult to capture proper hand-drawn perspectives than I'd like to admit. One of the key disconnects in my education has always been how to translate the technical perspective techniques as applied to large architectural renderings, and apply those methods to panel-based comic illustration, where your needs may more frequently be interior shots, unusual angles, and scenes where a technical perspective is not always the best fit. This book concisely and clearly helps you understand where those techniques work and where they don't, where to modify your image, your camera placement and your composition in order to maximize the visual impact, and best of all, reads equally well to the experienced artist and beginner alike.

This book is everything I expected, which is great, but there's more here than that. Sure, it covers the basics in an articulated, easy to follow manner, but Jason Cheeseman-Meyer delves into more advanced areas of perspective drawing that really impressed me. There's plenty of gorgeous, full-color art here,and there are many details that really work for a book like this appealing to artists exploring different genres. Cheeseman-Meyer drew sample perspectives in all sorts of cool fantasy genre styles, which not only allows it to cross over to, say, an artist drawing westerns who gets turned off by superhero art books, for example, but with more subtlety, it reinforces the real but not always obvious fact that good perspective makes, and poor perspective breaks, imagery of any style, subject matter and composition.

One of the aspects of accomplished comic illustration that has always impressed me personally has been three point curvilinear perspective, which always blows me away. I've never done this, and never really grasped HOW. Cheeseman-Meyer covers this extensively here. He also spends time discussing another aspect of perspective drawing that i studied in architecture school: how to address compositions where the layout causes an accurate perspective to look wrong, such as views beyond the cone of vision, or interior shots where the room doesn't look proportionately accurate on paper. Cheeseman-Meyer covers several illustration tricks that allow you to understand not only how to modify the illustration to look 'right' to the eye, but WHY. He also covers how to integrate figures into the perspective in ways that look like they are part of the image and not standing in front of it. All fairly simple sounding exercises that can be very challenging to the illustrator.

I'm not biased when i say this is probably the best perspective book aimed squarely at the comic artist I've got on the shelf. I'm very impressed. Production quality, layout, narrative and diagrams are all top notch, and of course, as a bonus, you get several full-sized pieces of color art from the main man, an accomplished and skillful comic illustrator in his own right.

I highly recommend this book to experienced and amateur comic artists alike!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect addition to any artist's library, January 29, 2008

By	Brian Miller (Sunny - Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews

I met the author, Jason Cheeseman-Meyer, at a comic book convention and had the pleasure to speak with him at great length about all the effort and info he put into his book. As a professional comic book artist, colorist, and illustrator I rely on good reference to help me take on the many challenges that come with each new project. I have a tattered old book on perspective that I have been carrying around with me for over ten years. That book has now officially been replaced with Vanishing Point. This is the de facto book on perspective drawing.

Vanishing Point is aimed at comic book artist and is easy to understand and execute but it also goes far beyond the basics. Students, illustrators, and even people working in the design & drafting fields will be surprised at how much information in this book could help them every day.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who aspires to take their artwork to the next level.

Brian Miller - Author
Hi-Fi Color For Comics: Digital Techniques for Professional Results

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book on Perspective, March 4, 2008

By	Selden Jones - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm an artist by hobby and have read 8 books on perspective but this one is exceptional. It's not just a book for comic artists but a great book for learning perspective. I was surprised when I received it. It covers topics that I have not seen covered in any other perspective book I've read. Such as, curvilinear perspective. It covers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 point perspective. I never saw any other coverage of 4 and 5 pt perspective before. Great book for any artist, comic or not and great illustrations. A+