Perspective

Written 2011/10/30


At the beginning of the year, I was given my first assignment for all my classes. So, excited to start university. I was seeing big. I always liked challenges and I started my very first project with one big. It may sound bad, but I'm in Fine Arts and I can't draw. Ok, I can draw, but I have absolutely no practice. How shameful! Saying this, you may understand more how much of a challenge it was. 

The assigment was for my printmaking class. It was the only course in which the project was free. I could do my personal work. I started with an idea I had for a conceptual photo that was really complicated to do in real size. Here is the project. 

You can already see where I would have struggled. First, you can't find the eggs at the local grocery store. I had to build it. Second, I wanted here to play with perspective, so I decided to do it an ''esay'' way: drawing a tilled floor with 2 perspective points. Yes, this is coming from the girl who can't draw. I had to calculate and take mesurements in order to complete the floor. I must also add that I had some help from my engineer boyfriend. I must say I sweared, frustated, blamed myself for liking complicated  things and promised I wouldn't do this again. I actually spend a week trying to find a solution and draw it. I finally managed to finish it and I may admit that I am proud of my achievement. I mean that I haven't burnt it down or teared it appart! Ok, seriously, I do like the outcome and I received a good mark for it. 

What made me smile later, was to hear about this in my art history class. Yes, in the Renaissance, some people went into the same process as me. They ended up with a result that is quite close to mine. Back in their time, they might have sweared as much as I did. It seems that the problem is still the same today for those who start trying to understand it. Many years later, I come to the same process and thoughts as they did. Understanding perspective still is something that is very important today. Now, we are lucky, books have been on this subject. Its very easy to find the info we need. People have also pushed it further and everything is more detailed. 

This is one good thing about evolution. But still, the problems remains the same for everyone that is too lazy to do their own research and for those who really want to understand the process by themselves.