Creating an Illusion of Depth

• Diagonals and Linear perspective - we perceive diagonal lines as receding into the distance. The diagonal lines in this painting of a bridge create a extraordinary sense of depth.

Perspective

• Diminishing scale - the largest statue appears closest and the smallest appears further away.

Diminished Scale

• Vertical placement - we perceive objects that are placed lower in the image as closer to us, and objects that are placed higher as being further away. The boat placed lowest in this work by Japanese artist, Hokusai, is perceived as closest to us. As we move up vertically in the image, the boats seem further and further away.

Vertical Placement

• Overlapping - when objects partially overlap other objects, we perceive them as closer than the covered objects. Overlapping "overrules" the other indicators of depth - we know that the smaller pyramids are closer because they overlap the larger pyramids. Overlapping most clearly establishes proximity.

Overlapping

• Diminished detail: Objects have less detail as they get farther away.

• Saturation of colour: Close objects are brightest and sharpest. Objects in the distance appear pale and washed out.

Atmospheric Perspective

• Objects in the distance become obscured by our atmosphere, including humidity and particulate (dust, pollen, smoke, and pollution). This effect is called atmospheric perspective. Distant objects viewed through clean air will take on a blue or blue-gray color. Humidity and fog shift the color more to gray. Brown, violet, or orange can be used to mimic pollution and smoke.

• Color - we perceive warm colors (red, orange and yellow) as closer than cool colors (green, blue, violet). Psychologically, the red and yellow objects in both works appear to be in the foreground, while the cool-colored backgrounds recede.

Colour

Egyptian Art

Egyptians used size variation only to show order of importance, not to show depth. 5000 years ago, artists did not understand how to show images going into the distance.

Additionally, Egyptians did not overlap, especially parts of the human body. If you tried to actually stand like these people, it would be impossible.

Medieval Art

In Medieval times, artists did understand that the higher images were on the picture plane, the farther away they were, however, they did not change the size of the objects so as a result, the picture plane was still very much flat.

Renaissance

“School of Athens” by Rafael

It was not until the 1500’s that Renaissance artists understood how to make their paintings look three dimensional. Artists such as Rafael used all of the methods to create an illusion of depth.