Drawing 3D: Prerequisites

Understanding this drawing 3D tutorial depends on reviewing our short 3D tutorial which explains new concepts to grasping the creation of three-dimensional form.

As with all of these 3D lessons, each one can be applied to any art form, whether drawing, painting or computer graphics.

Drawing 3D: Focus

Whether drawing 3D or taking a photograph, the use of focus creates "difference with distances" by the sharpening and blurring of a scene. (below)

The more different the levels of focus are between those depths, the more depth perception is created.

This also has the ability to indicate a specific depth within the scene by making it the sharpest part of it. (above) That gives us the benefit of being able to precisely direct the attention of the audience on one particular depth.

Focus creates less value as we go farther from the position of the subject rather than our viewpoint. (above) Because of this, levels of sharpness do not only reduce as the distance from us increases but also reduce as they approach us from that one depth.

Along with enhancing apparent depth, observe that this effect also emphasizes one’s subject.

Although we are accustomed to seeing parts of a photograph out of focus, in real life this is less detectable. As soon as something gains our attention, our eyes quickly bring that subject into focus.

However, note that the in-focus ball in our illustration still tends to look closer than the other two. This is because things that are less are usually perceived as being farther (since the largest and smallest balls are less sharp than the middle one). This means we may have to reinforce other depth cues to maintain their proper relationships with each other. So by overlapping these objects according to their distances, we may compensate for any visual inconsistencies.

The range of depth that we are able to see clearly in focus is referred to as our depth of field. This can be adjusted to be very small or expanded across a large depth for practically the entire scene.