Stairs Sketch Perspective

Danman · Mon 08/03/2010 19:59:37

I have been trying to do this Sketch of these stairs and I cant really think of how to do the Perspective of it.

Perspective is where I always fail. please help with this background.

Also just to say I don't usually sketch my pictures first but This one needed special perspective I could not do.

Dualnames · Mon 08/03/2010 20:34:52

Here's a very fast drawn example.

Al_Ninio · Tue 09/03/2010 00:55:26

Quick paintover

However, seriously: this tutorial seems fairly decent for what you are trying to do.

Anian · Tue 09/03/2010 01:00:09

Quote from: Al_Ninio on Tue 09/03/2010 00:55:26
Quick paintover

How many perspective points does that have...

Khris · Tue 09/03/2010 11:50:14

3

Danman · Tue 09/03/2010 12:05:58

OK Al_Ninio I will check it out. I am not really a artist. I am actually a really bad artist. But I am trying I practice a lot.
Thanks

Captain Ricco · Tue 09/03/2010 14:47:53

Quote from: Dualnames on Mon 08/03/2010 20:34:52
Here's a very fast drawn example.

wait, I think they're supposed to be going down no??

Danman, could you help us out here?

Danman · Tue 09/03/2010 15:37:21

Sorry I could not see the Pictures so I could not see the examples.

And ahaha Al_Ninio Funny that is too simple. But looks as good as my perspective

Here is maybe a better sample

But meant to go down stairs.

. I am a not at all a very good sketch artist.

monkey0506 · Tue 09/03/2010 16:21:41

Is the white portion of the new image lower (left-hand staircase going up) or higher (left-hand staircase going down) than the maroon portion?

I'm still not sure what I'm looking at here..

Just a quick Google Image search turned up some relevant images:

Looking down stairs

Looking up stairs

If you're looking down a set of stairs you're only going to see the tops of each step. If you're looking up a set of stairs then you're going to see the tops and the fronts of each step. Either way the top of each step will get progressively smaller the further from away from your position the step is.

Danman · Tue 09/03/2010 16:50:07

Actually they are both going down stairs. Just the left is to like the 3rd floor... then the right is to the 2nd.

This is why I am asking for help. I really cant do perspective but I am just reading Al_Ninio tutorial he gave me is kinda giving me an idea. I will try again just now.

Edit: Also the white area is the lower level.

Chicky · Tue 09/03/2010 16:51:01

Danman, google sketchup is your friend. Download it, make your bg in basic 3D and use that as a base to draw over.

Danman · Tue 09/03/2010 16:57:49

@Chicky I would but I think 3d looks a bit too perfect.

. Maybe I will do that if all else fails

Chicky · Tue 09/03/2010 17:09:59

Too perfect? Pah, you're just lazy. Admit it, LAZY...

Anyway, i made this after seeing your silly excuse about perfection.

5 minutes, uploading it took longer than making it. This way you don't have to start a thread whenever you get stuck on perspective.

Danman · Tue 09/03/2010 17:22:07

Not lazy. 3d is lazy. 2d is harder to me at least

. I got 3d programs like Maya 9. But just think 2d has character

. They didn't use 3d 20 years ago. Unless they were in engineering so I wont either.

Ali · Tue 09/03/2010 17:24:21

They didn't use PCs 50 ago. I think you should make a game using punch-cards. PCs are so lazy.

Questionable · Tue 09/03/2010 17:58:58

Quote from: Ali on Tue 09/03/2010 17:24:21
They didn't use PCs 50 ago. I think you should make a game using punch-cards. PCs are so lazy.

Stop stealing my ideas! ...back to the drawing board, AGAIN.

---------------------------------------------------

Seriously though Danny Boy, you don't have to USE the images from a 3D program as your background but you CAN use them as inspiration/models for the work that you create. I'm sure you aspire to look like George Clooney when you're in your 50s... Will you? No. Can you use him as the inspiration for your distinguished, gentlemanly, aged self? Absolutely! But, you will still be uniquely yourself.

I could never find my way around google sketchup but I am somehow capable of using the 3D effects in photoshop decent enough to get basic perspective visuals accurate. Sketchup is a good free program, however, which when learned has the capability to simulate architecture, furniture people scaling and so forth so it might (AT LEAST) be worth downloading it and trying to draw some inspiration from it...

monkey0506 · Tue 09/03/2010 18:00:07

Yeah Dan. 5 trillion years ago human beings didn't exist either. What do you think the dominant lifeforms back then did for fun? I bet it didn't involve being human. So why don't you stop being so lazy and stop existing already!!

[/sarcasm]

If the white area is the lowest level then both staircases, from the POV at the bottom of the image, are going up not down. That is what I was asking.

We are seeing the image as if we were standing in the white area looking at the stair cases. If they are both going down, relative to our POV, then we must logically be on the top floor. If one is going down and one is going up we must be on a level other than the lowest level or top level. If they are both going up then we must be on the lowest level.

If the right-hand staircase is going down, relative to our POV, then it must connect to the white area at the bottom, which it does not. Logically we must then assume the staircase on the right is going up relative to our POV.

The left-hand staircase however, connects to both the white area at the bottom and the maroon area. This creates the ambiguity as to whether it is going up or down relative to our position. You said that the white area is the lowest level. Therefore the left-hand staircase must be going up relative to our POV.

If the white area is the lowest level then the right-hand staircase, which we already determined must be going upward, must also connect to the white area.

Using a 3D modeling program to determine perspective is no more lazy than going and looking at an actual stairwell.

If you're painting over the 3D rendering then that would be no more lazy than using a sheet of tracing paper over a photograph.

It's not lazy, it's using available tools to meet the ends you seek.

Danman · Tue 09/03/2010 18:04:35

I meant that in like the best 2d games I ever played. Was in 1990's and they used 2d graphics.
not 3d.

monkey0506 · Tue 09/03/2010 18:08:34

You aren't being told to convert to using 3D graphics in your game. You were advised that using a 3D modeling program will help you visualize the perspective you need.

Continue doing your 2D graphics, but if you need help with perspective, what's the harm in using a 3D program just to see what it should look like?

Ali · Tue 09/03/2010 18:21:59

Quote from: Danman on Tue 09/03/2010 18:04:35
I meant that in like the best 2d games I ever played. Was in 1990's and they used 2d graphics.
not 3d.

I agree with monkey about using 3d as reference, but it's also true that plenty of the 2D classics used 3D graphics where they were needed. There were 3D elements in Full Throttle, Gabriel Knight: The Sins of the Fathers, The Curse of Monkey Island, Broken Sword, Space Quest 6 and more besides.