Understanding the sphere - Drawing Lesson

[@jescollo]

Man, this was extremely helpful. I’ve actually been working on the blooks from fun with a pencil but have been getting frustrated due to getting the weird look you’re describing. Thinking of it as an ellipse seems so obvious now that at you mentioned it. I’ve just messed around with it for a couple minutes with the elipse in mind and and it’s so clear now! the elipse need to be so much smaller than I’ve been thinking it’s supposed to be. Thank you so much!

[@Johnmccoyart]

Wonderful! I’m so glad to hear that you found this video helpful. The ellipse shows up often in drawing so having a clear understanding is a definite advantage. Thank you for watching and happy drawing!

[@grudley]

a way to describe the arc that you draw in the initial circle to turn it into a sphere is that the ends of the arc have to be tangent to the circle. The wrong arcs you demonstrated are wrong because they intersect the edge of the circle at an angle

[@Johnmccoyart]

Thanks for your comment. That’s a good way of putting it!

[@Supernatastic]

You have no idea how much this helped me...thank you so much for this video

[@Johnmccoyart]

I'm so glad to hear that the video was helpful to you! It's always rewarding to know that my efforts can make a positive impact. If you have any questions or need further assistance, feel free to reach out.

[@emmahamilton1514]

Thank you so much, that was really helpful. I’ve been drawing them weird! Must practice drawing ellipses now.

[@Johnmccoyart]

No problem! I'm glad you found the video helpful. It's definitely a good use of time to practice drawing ellipses. They are found everywhere and are an extremely valuable shape to know how to draw.

[@Jewel.Mariii]

Thank you so much for these videos!! I can’t afford art school right now and so I have a playlist called “KZbin art school” and this was added instantly. Sometimes just reading Drawing the Head and Hands it won’t click for me so hearing it explained and demonstrated in real time is extremely helpful. Thank you again for sharing your knowledge and skills with us 😊

[@Johnmccoyart]

Awesome! Thanks so much for your kind comment. I definitely can relate with just reading not always clicking. It helps for me to have a visual/audio demonstration. I’m glad my video was helpful for you! Welcome to the channel :)

[@alleykittycat]

Thanks so much. I have been doing that weird arc. This helps

[@Johnmccoyart]

You’re welcome! I know, that weird arc thing is almost instinctual and I still have to put significant effort to avoid it each time I draw an ellipse. I’m glad to hear this video was helpful for you!

[@barbarakitto7532]

Very easy to understand how to draw spheres, thank you so very much for your sharing your knowledge

[@Johnmccoyart]

You're very welcome! I'm glad you found the information helpful. Feel free to reach out if you have any more questions or need further tips on improving your artistic techniques! Thanks for watching.

[@lynnduong7525]

I’ve always struggled making my spheres look right. Thanks for pointing out using elipses!

[@Johnmccoyart]

You're welcome! I'm glad the suggestion about using ellipses was helpful. They can really aid in visualizing the three-dimensional shape of spheres. If you have any more questions or need further tips, feel free to ask. Happy drawing!

[@cheesedabber]

Thank you so much! I just started learning to draw a couple days ago and I was really frustrated cause i just didn't understand perspective and this video finally made it click especially the sphere with a part cutout and I was able to draw them myself

[@Johnmccoyart]

Thank you! I’m happy to hear that my video was helpful for you, especially in clarifying perspective. Welcome to the wonderful world of drawing. It seems to me you are off to a great start! I encourage you to continue practicing and exploring different aspects of drawing. Please let me know if you have any questions or need further assistance. Happy drawing!

[@c0d3r1f1c]

Thank you, that was a great explanation.

[@Johnmccoyart]

You're very welcome! I'm glad you found the explanation helpful. If you have any more questions or need further clarification on anything, feel free to ask. I'm here to help!

[@mynhardtcronje8103]

Great lesson, thanks!

[@Johnmccoyart]

Thank you! I’m glad you liked it

[@prasertlutchanon7244]

Thank you so much. This is really good teaching

[@Johnmccoyart]

Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed the video.

[@TheCatGoesRawrMusik]

Came here to maybe figure out my problems with drawing sphere in 3 point perspective... not sure if this helps but either way the video is well made and informative! Thank you, now I will try putting it into practice XP

[@Johnmccoyart]

Thank you for your feedback! I'm glad to hear that you found the video informative. Drawing spheres in three-point perspective can be challenging, but practice will certainly help. If you have any specific questions or need further clarification as you work on it, feel free to reach out. Happy drawing!

[@larrya2909]

This was helpful. I knew logically how to draw the "back" part of the ellipse (dotted line), but while watching the video it hit me that by drawing the axis down the middle of the ellipse it shows how far back to draw the back half of the ellipse as a mirror image of the front.

[@Johnmccoyart]

Excellent observation! You are 100% correct. In theory an ellipse is a circle that has been skewed by linear perspective, and the axis which identifies the center line of the sphere divides each circle or ellipse in two equal halves. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and welcome to the channel!

[@ChroniclesOfFastCool]

This is so good, I’ve even been seeing so many videos now where they aren’t drawing the contours properly because if you finish the ellipse it doesn’t wrap around the circle 😅

[@ChroniclesOfFastCool]

I’ve also just purchased the book and am excited to watch the rest of the series 😊

[@Johnmccoyart]

Thank you! That’s awesome. You definitely won’t be disappointed with the book and I’m glad to hear your joining me in this learning process. As to the ellipse, yes it’s amazing how underlining of a form it is and in how many things it appears. When I really understand how the ellipse is and how to draw it, it is integral to so much!

[@Catastrophe699]

I am currently studying loomi's book on how to draw head and hands in proportions using the loomis method and i am currently struggling on how to visualize the circle and it's subdivided parts to make it a sphere.God bless you sir thx for the help

[@Johnmccoyart]

I’m glad to hear my video is helpful for you. Are you enjoying that book? Keep up the good work!

[@pauloalencar6139]

This is very helpful! It's funny that the hardest part is getting to make an elipse without messing it up lol Keep up the good work!

[@Johnmccoyart]

I’m glad to hear this was a helpful video for you. Hehe the ellipse is challenging but if you follow the technique with rectangle/square, drawing the ellipse within and not being afraid of having the curves come close to the inner corners you will have unlocked a sure way of drawing the ellipse (and in any perspective)!

[@clairestanfield-ui1fg]

nice video, SUBSCRIBED! 🥰🥰

[@Johnmccoyart]

Welcome to the channel! I'm excited to have you along for the journey.

[@scotturbanski740]

Question here: If you were to imagine the sphere you're drawing as the Earth's globe, it looks to me like you're drawing the equivalent of Earth's equator. What would you do if you wanted to draw a longitude line that's not the equator?

[@kkard]

Thank you, very helpful series for a beginner like me. I'd like to ask how you approach the curves when the axes of the sphere is not perpendicular to the line of sight. I'm talking about the third row of spheres on Loomis. Those curves are certainly not ellipses. Is there any construction method for them or is it just a matter of practice and eyeballing them?

[@Johnmccoyart]

Thank you for your comment. I’m glad you enjoyed the video and that you found it helpful! As far as the third row of spheres you see, those curves are in theory part of elipses, but the rest of the elipse is not visible. You can see in my top left initial drawing how I erased/made softer the “hidden part” of the elipses to illustrate this. In any case even when the axis is not perpendicular to the line of sight, the curves still in theory follow an elipse. To construct them, if you use the rectangle method I demonstrated it would be a rectangle not perpendicular with the line of sight (in other words rotated). I hope that makes sense! In any case eyeballing them will prove useful in combination with the other techniques discussed and practice is a must! Blessings and happy drawing! :)

[@Noel-lh1vi]

Thank you! i would really love to see how much i improve by the end of this series

[@Johnmccoyart]

Glad to be able to help. You can do it! :) let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for watching and happy drawing!

[@GabrielFrederikse]

We didn't even have Loomis in the library, let alone learning elipses 😢 thanks.

[@Johnmccoyart]

Loomis himself wrote at the end of the book “Fun with a Pencil”: “I can think of no field of endeavor so sadly lacking in simple organization of its working principles. Nothing quite so haphazard, hit-or-miss, as the whole field of artistic endeavor”. It was because of that that he wrote books like “Fun with a Pencil”, and he believed in artists contributing their collective knowledge to support the education of art. Having said that, I’m glad that my own contribution through videos like this one is helpful for others!

[@ShootFirstNS]

I watched a video recently, can't remember exactly what the take away was in detail but the gist of it was that an ellipse doesn't have it's center in it's center.. the center of an ellipse is slightly off center and I was watching your video wondering how that plays into this practice, is it something that just happens naturally or? Because I feel mine always end up having theirs centers in the center of the ellipse and that's why they don't look right but I'm not sure what I'm missing when pencil hits paper

[@Johnmccoyart]

An ellipse has a major and minor axis (an axis is like a diameter dividing the ellipse in 2 equal parters) the two axis are perpendicular at the center and the center is always at the center of the ellipse. The major axis is the longer one and the minor axis is the shorter one. So you are correct to imagine or draw the center as residing in the center. You can always look up a picture of the diagram of an ellipse as well to help. I hope that makes sense! If you have any questions let me know!

[@MandyyHxH]

what is that book?

[@Johnmccoyart]

“Fun with a Pencil” by Andrew Loomis

[@PhilWilkinsonMusic]

This was really helpful thank you. I was getting the "weird" looking ones.

[@Johnmccoyart]

Thank you! I’m glad this was helpful for you. It takes practice but I think the rectangle and marking the midpoints of the sides technique is very useful. Thanks for watching and happy drawing!

[@jetasokoli2670]

I dont know why but i just cant get the elipses right

[@Johnmccoyart]

Try to find ellipses in life and in nature. For example plates, cups, and dishes all have ellipses because they have circles, and an ellipse is basically a circle skewed by perspective. Doing some drawing studies from live observation may help!

[@Pew23t69]

You can learn ellipses with box

[@radtalks04]

Which book is that

[@Johnmccoyart]

“Fun with a Pencil” by Andrew Loomis

[@aidanayala2768]

i love you...

[@Johnmccoyart]

😁 Thanks for watching!