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Imagine yourself sitting in an airplane looking out the window when a bunch of faces begin fl oating toward you.

Naturally, as an artist, your fi rst thought is to capture this scene in a drawing (Figure 1).

ISBN: 978-1-927365-40-3Copyright © 2011 Drawspace Publishing and Brenda Hoddinott. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including

electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, photocopying, or otherwise, without the purchase of a licence from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Brenda Hoddinott and Drawspace Publishing.

Figure 1

ArtSpeak

Overlapping: A component of perspective and composition used to create or enhance the illusion of a three-dimensional reality on a two-dimensional surface by rendering a subject so it visually appears to be in front of another.

Three elements of perspective helped create the illusion of a three-dimensional reality in this ironically unrealistic drawing:

• Overlapping: many faces overlap others.

• Size differences: faces that are farther away appear to be smaller.

• Atmospheric Perspective: faces that are farther away are lighter in value.

Creating Depth with Overlapping

Exploring overlapping as an invaluable tool to create or enhance the illusion of a three dimensional reality in artworks

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 9.5Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease: 59.5Drawspace Curriculum 4.1.R7 – 4 Pages and 8 Illustrations

2 Drawspace Curriculum 4.1.R7

ISBN: 978-1-927365-40-3Copyright © 2011 Drawspace Publishing and Brenda Hoddinott. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including

electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, photocopying, or otherwise, without the purchase of a licence from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Brenda Hoddinott and Drawspace Publishing.

When one object is behind another, it is obviously farther away from the viewer.

A noticeable clue is provided when a section of the object seems to be missing. Of course, it’s not really missing ‒ the object in front of it is merely blocking your line of vision.

Three spheres of different sizes appear to be sitting on a level surface along the same point in space (Figure 2).

Figure 3

Figure 2

As an Aside

The horizon line is not visible in the drawing in Figure 1. Even so, perspective (4.1.R4 Above, Below, and On the Horizon Line) suggests that it may be located above the faces. Those faces that are closest to you are not only larger, but also appear closer to the bottom of the drawing space. Those that are in the upper section of the drawing space seem farther away because they appear to be closer to the vanishing point (which is located on a horizon line).

When the two smaller spheres are moved a little higher in the drawing space, a viewer has to decide if they are farther away than the large one or if they are simply fl oating in the air beside the large one (Figure 3).

Without further clues, the viewer can’t really tell with any degree of certainty.

An ideal way to show viewers that the two small spheres are behind the large one is to use overlapping.

When sections of the two smaller spheres are placed behind the large one, viewers know that the small spheres are behind the large one (Figure 4).

Drawspace Curriculum 4.1.R7 3

ISBN: 978-1-927365-40-3Copyright © 2011 Drawspace Publishing and Brenda Hoddinott. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including

electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, photocopying, or otherwise, without the purchase of a licence from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Brenda Hoddinott and Drawspace Publishing.

The magic of overlapping!

At this point, viewers may even consider all three spheres to be the same size.

After all, objects that are closer to a vanishing point only appear to be smaller ‒ an illusion created by perspective.

Still-life subjects are good practice for using overlapping in drawings. In Figure 5, a drawing of three wooden objects uses overlapping to enhance the illusion of depth.

Figure 4

Figure 5 Figure 6

In Figure 6, each of the three objects is outlined in black. The knick-knack case in the front (1) overlaps both the pencil case (2) and the bell (3). The bell appears to be farther back in space than the other two objects. Its base is slightly higher and therefore closer to the vanishing point.

Overlapping also works well to enhance the illusion of depth when different types of subjects are grouped closely together.

Check out the drawing of a kitten in Figure 7.

To create the illusion of depth, four points in space were identifi ed during the planning stage (Figure 8).

The fl owers and foliage in the foreground (1) overlap everything else in the drawing.

The kitten (2) is in front of the fl owers on the right and the log on which she is perched (3).

And, of course, the background (4) is farther away than everything else.

By drawing some subjects behind others, the illusion of depth is successfully achieved.

Figure 8

Figure 7

Overlapping is a natural part of seeing.

We know that we cannot see through solid (opaque) objects, but we can see through transparent ones. So our brains assume that if part of an object is out of sight, it might be behind an opaque object.

Look around you and see how easily your eye decodes these overlapping messages!

ISBN: 978-1-927365-40-3Copyright © 2011 Drawspace Publishing and Brenda Hoddinott. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including

electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, photocopying, or otherwise, without the purchase of a licence from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Brenda Hoddinott and Drawspace Publishing.

4 Drawspace Curriculum 4.1.R7