Understanding perspective is critical in developing the skill of VISUALIZATION, which is the process of constructing an illusionistic image of a subject that cannot be or is not drawn by direct observation. It is based on theoretical circumstances, allowing one to construct a form based on imagination, without the support of direct observation.

Geometric Solids and Transparent Construction

The Geometric solids known as the cube, the cylinder, the cone, and the sphere provide the basic forms from which all other forms are composed. All forms, to varying degrees, can be ultimately reduced to one of these geometric solids or a combination of these geometric solids. With an understanding of cube construction and ellipse construction as it relates to a cube, any off these basic forms can be created, as well as infinite variations of these forms.

What is Transparent Construction?

Geometric solids, along with gridded ground planes, cube multiplication, and cube division, also provide the foundation of understanding for transparent construction. Transparent construction involves the reduction of all three-dimensional forms, both simple and complex, to their basic geometric solids (figure 3-48) and depiction of these three-dimensional forms that suggests their transparency, essentially defining information that is not actually visible from a fixed viewpoint. For example, one may draw a shoe in which we see simultaneously both the near side of the shoe and the far side of the shoe-a perspective version of X-ray vision (figure 3-49). The most basic skill necessary for exploring transparent construction is the ability to draw a transparent cube in perspective, defining all six faces of the cube as if it were made of glass.

To apply transparent construction to the depiction of an object, it is best to start with a form whose relationship to a cubic structure is readily apparent--a form that is composed of simple planes and perhaps some curvilinear contours, which are rooted in ellipses. Certain children’s toys, for example, are excellent subjects for beginning to explore transparent construction because their inherent simplification and their obvious relationship to a rectangular solid. Examples include toy cars, trucks, or trains, cash registers, telephones, work benches, and other simplified versions of cube-based forms that are typically constructed of wood or plastic (figures 3-50 and 3-51). More complex forms may be introduced as the process increases.