Introduction to the Composition

Whether fantasy, realism, science fiction, or the genre you like; every kind of construction you design will be governed by the perspective and composition criteria as a universal rule.

I know how scary the prospect can be for beginners, but don't be afraid! Once you understand the basic principles that make these rules work, the rest is in your hands and practices.

For this tutorial I will draw a small rudimentary fantasy villa and use CLIP STUDIO PAINT PRO.

Composition - First steps

First of all, remember that all part of a 3-dimensional volume or X, Y, Z axis (imagine a cube this time); A cube has vertical planes (walls), horizontal (upper and lower surfaces). Before composing let's review some theory. There are 3 types of perspective:

1) Perspective of a vanishing point: Imagine you have a cube in front of you. You can only see one of its front walls (or Z axis) right? Well, that is the principle of this kind of perspective: Only the volume can be seen from the observer's view, with a slight deformation as to how we perceive the depth of the volume.

2) Perspective of two vanishing points: Imagine the same cube, but now observe it from one of the sides. Similar to the previous one, we continue to see the volume with an observer view but in this case the volume is deformed in its X and Z axes (width and depth).

3) Perspective of three vanishing points: With 3 vanishing points, the three axes are deformed: height, width and depth. Therefore, it stops being an observer view and becomes an aerial view.

As you can see, the number of points leaks is according to which parts (which axes) of the volume you are going to deform. Therefore, I think that once you have mastered 1 vanishing point, the rest will become simple with practice and perseverance (and many references!)

 

For this tutorial I will use 1 vanishing point to make it easier to visually follow, but before that, to compose I usually follow 2 rules:

 

1) Choose how many perspective points to use

2) Choose the most suitable location to place vanishing points: This is very important. To make an interesting composition, the movement and dynamism of the image must be taken into account since that is visually very attractive in general. How to do it? Avoid that the center of attention is at the center of your canvas!

 

Here are some examples:

 

 

When your vanishing point is completely centered, the image is perceived static, therefore, there is not much to go through. Therefore, play with the locations, avoid the center if you want a more interesting and dynamic composition.

 

(*) This applies only when dynamism is required, since it is also possible to need static compositions in another class of projects.

Sketch

As I mentioned, I will make a small village with a vanishing point. Using the methods explained above I chose to locate my vanishing point semi-centered on the canvas and later I will gradually polish the sketch.

Since I have the location of my vanishing point, it will be easier to apply the perspective rule, for which you will need at least 2 guide lines (which is the same as a vanishing point; each vanishing point has two guiding lines). In [Rule -> Perspective Rule], you take the guides to where the lines that converge at the point of leak indicated. In this way:

Now that we use the tool, we can clean the sketch properly without worrying about spoiling the perspective by some curved stroke. (Personally, my pulse is not too good to draw straight lines so it is quite useful)

Lineart

In case the perspective rule is not enough reference to draw details, you can always activate the grid view: In [Operation -> Object -> Tool Properties-> Grid] you can activate the different XYZ axes mentioned above.

I will activate the XZ and YZ planes.

Now to draw!

You can always activate and deactivate the perspective rule whenever you want by hiding and activating the layer (If your drawing is in a different layer) or by deactivating the option [Adjust to special rule] I have deactivated it to be able to draw the arcs and other curves .

Using 3D Materials references

Now that we have the almost complete lineart of the villa, we can touch up some details.

When looking for references, they can be photos, videos, etc! In my case I will use the 3D Materials of Clip Studio Assets because it will be easier to get the exact reference according to the perspective of the drawing.

I found a model that is quite similar to what I was looking for so I will insert it into the drawing to finish drawing the windmill.

Go to [Materials -> Download] and drag the model to the canvas

This material has several models so to choose the appropriate model, select the icon that says [Select pre distribution setting] to open the catalog and choose the model that best suits your design.

I will choose the windmill.

Once we select the model, several icons will appear to transform. I have grouped them into 4 categories:

(1). Zoom in / Zoom out: This icon will increase and decrease the size of the model.

(two). Rotate: As its name says, this group of icons will rotate the model according to selections (sideways, its front faces, or the entire model)

(3). Move: To move the model

(4). Perspective rotation: The last three icons are similar to category (2). The difference is that rotations in this category deform any of the 3 axes.

 

All that remains is to rotate and transform the volume until it matches the perspective.

Now comes the easy part: Trace the model!

You can always add or remove things when you draw over. Remaining something like this:

Values - Grayscale

Grayscale values are important to get an idea of what shades you will have once you start coloring.

In this tutorial I will keep it simple and on black and white scales.

On a scale from dark gray to light gray, what is closest to the distance will be painted. (Logically, what is within your reach will be dark colors, while what is far lighter colors). Of course, you are free to be as detailed as you want (defining shadows or lights for example).

Remaining something like this:

Let's finish this tutorial with something simple.

Now that we have the values in black and white, join all the layers and in [Edit -> Tonal Correction -> Gradient Map] choose the colors you like.

You can always edit the colors until they are to your liking.

I chose these colors:

And ready! We already have a grayscale version and another with a notion of color.

Finally, I hope that with this tutorial you understand better how perspective works!

 

I will attach some of my social networks in case you are interested in seeing more of my drawings! Thank you for reading!