10 Proven Ways To Draw The Illusion Of Depth

Are you looking for some tips to improve your drawings? Drawing the illusion of depth is an important skill when it comes to art. It's not always easy to master, but with these 10 tried and true techniques, you'll be able to create stunning 3D illusions on any flat plane.

1. Size

One of the best ways to start incorporating depth into your drawings is through size ratios. For the best results, you want to follow this simple rule of thumb - objects in the foreground should be larger than objects in the background. For example, in a spiral (seen in those trippy hallucination videos), if you’ve had the chance to look long enough at it without your eyes feeling to explode, you’ll notice that the outer layers of the spiral appear larger than the middle or inner layers. This is because our eyes have this awesome ability that as distance increases as distance increases, objects appear smaller and it’s all thanks to linear perspective.
TIP: You can use a technical pen with a small nib size for background elements and one with a larger nib size for foreground elements.

2. Overlap

Did you know that overlapping is a great technique for creating depth in your artwork? Here’s why - when objects overlap, object #1 in the foreground conceals part of object #2 in the background which in turn suggests that object #2 is further away from the viewer.
TIP: When drawing overlapping objects, the easier option is to start by drawing object #1 (the object in the foreground) first followed by object #2 (the object in the background).

“Connection” //Photography// by 3rd Edition Submitter, Stacy Honda

3. Contrast

Artist Bill Martin illustrates it so perfectly - “Contrast describes the relationship between light and dark values. To understand contrast, make a value scale. Draw ten squares, making the first one white and the last one black. Then create a range of eight grays between them, progressing from light to dark. It is the distance between values on such a scale by which we measure degrees of contrast. The farther apart two values are on the scale, the stronger the contrast between them.”
The contrast between light and dark values decreases as an object’s distance from viewer increases. You’ll notice that the most contrast will be in the foreground, and the least in the background. Contrasting values placed side by side will accentuate each other; lights will appear lighter and darks will appear darker and in turn create a 3D illusion.

4. Detail

Detail is also a lovely inclusion to create the illusion of depth in art. Objects in the foreground tend to have more detail and as compared to objects in the background which usually have detail. This is because it’s easier for the eye to see intricate details at close range. You also want to avoid (at all costs) adding detail to every single element in your drawing because it will quickly become an overwhelming amateur piece. Just like in painting, the best method to integrate is making use of feature details (pockets of detail that attract the viewer’s attention).

5. Edges

Edges and focus go hand in hand when it comes to depth in artwork. While drawing, you should keep in mind that elements in the foreground typically have sharp/ hard edges making them look more in focus. Meanwhile, elements in the background have soft edges and appear blurry or lost edges such as between the horizon line between the sea or ocean and the sky (where you can’t actually see the edge because of the seamless, natural merge). Sharp edges have a sharper and abrupt transition from one object to another; meanwhile, soft edges have a gradual or smooth transition between objects.

6. Colour

As it relates to colour, you want to consider the significance of atmospheric perspective which simply refers to fact that the number of air particles increases as distance between you and the object increases. Chroma or colour intensity allows you to replicate this in your drawings and it’s a useful way to incorporate a wonderful array of depth in your piece. An important aspect to consider regarding the interplay between colour, atmospheric perspective and depth is that colour intensity decreases as distance increases due to the greater quantity of air particles in between you and the object. This in turn means that in order to create depth, colours in the foreground should be more intense than colours in the background. When using charcoal, pressure variations help to decrease and increase the intensity of hues (i.e. if you apply a lot of pressure, the chroma will be higher; whereas, if you apply minimal pressure, the chroma will be lower).

“Train” //Wood burning// by 4th Edition Finalist, Minisa Robinson

7. Temperature

Colour temperature is another element commonly used to create depth in a piece. It refers to the warmth or coolness of a colour. According to colour temperature rules and as a result of atmospheric perspective, colours that are in the foreground i.e. closer to you are generally warmer and colours in the background i.e further away from you are cooler but please note that this rule is dependent on the subject matter. The colour wheel is your handy guide to colour temperature because as you may have already noticed, warm colours such as red, orange and yellow are located on opposing sides of the colour wheel to cool colours like blue, purple and green. For example, when using coloured pencils,

8. Value

Value is a property of color that signifies how light or dark a colour is and they are best understood as spectrums, scales or gradients. Just like with other mediums, when following the rules of value, typically you will notice that objects in the foreground are darker and objects in the background are lighter. Artist Susan Jenkins has a wonderfully helpful rule of thumb - vertical elements (for example, trees, mountains, etc.) are usually darker in value; whereas, elements on a flat plane will have lighter values. Essentially, this captures the light play as a result of the direction of the source of light.

“The Silent Things” //Oil on Wood// by 4th Edition Finalist, Manuel Dampeyroux

9. Cast shadow

Drawing the cast shadows on objects in your work will also create an illusion of depth and make your work pop with realism. The best guideline to follow is this - cast shadow of an object close by in the foreground will appear than that of an object in the background/ further away and keep in mind the direction of the light source as this will determine where the cast show forms. For example, if the light is on the top left of your piece, you’d typically expect the shadow to be cast on the right side (i.e. the opposite side) to the light source.

10. Foreshortening

According to creativebloq.com, foreshortening is “all about realistically conveying three dimensions in a 2D medium by showing objects moving away from the viewer”. When viewed from the front, objects appear to be smaller as distance increases. The key thing to note though is that the ratio between height and width remains constant to avoid creating a distorted effect. Whereas, if you view the object from a different angle, it will be along the line of sight and will appear shorter and a little distorted from that direction because of the viewing angle. Use creativebloq.com’s guideline - the more an object is in our direction of sight, the more it will be distorted (becomes much shorter in that direction).

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many ways to draw the illusion of depth for your drawings. Now that we’ve gone over some popular methods, it's time for us to let you go! But before we do, leave a comment below telling us which one is your favourite or if you have any other tips on how fellow artists can create the illusion of depth in their art. We want to hear from you!