Drawing Basics: Drawing Cylinders

Tuesday 11 November 2014

Drawing Cylinders

Drawing Cylinders

The eye cannot see halfway around a cylinder, just as it cannot see the houri

tidally with its elliptical cross sections. Notice that the ellipses become rounder as they drop further below eye level in such a way that the bottom of the cylinder appears rounder than the top. The right side of Illustration 8 shows the same cylinder oriented on a diagonal. The same principle applies—ellipses become rounder as they move away from the eye, in this case from left to right. In any cylinder, no matter what its orientation, the major axis is always at a right angle to the minor axis. The minor axis also coincides with the axle running through the middle of the cylinder. Illustration 9 shows three cylinders, each in a different position: tipped away, vertical, and tipped downward. In the straight-on view, the axis (the dot- ted line) running through each cylinder

zonal middle of a cube when looking straight on—the front plane blocks the eye. The eye sees the widest part of a cylinder, which is in front of the per- perspective middle. Illustration 6 shows the process of building a cylinder out of a cube—you must be able to draw a good cube in per- perspective before you can build a successful cylinder. Imagine finding a cube and drawing a circle on top of the cube with a compass so the circle touches all sides. After drawing the cube, draw an imaginary vertical axis through the middle of its top and bottom planes. Draw the ellipses with very light lines using the midpoint as a guide to find both the minor and major axes. You will notice that as before, the major axis is in front of the cube’s per- perspective middle (dotted line). Illustration 6 shows the cube with both ellipses connected at their widest extremities (the ends of the major axis) with dotted lines. Again, notice that the major axis is always at exactly right angles with the minor axis. No matter how the cube is turned around the cylinder, the circle retains its perfect roundness, as shown in Illustration 7. The left diagram in Illustration 8 shows an extended cylinder oriented vet

appears vertical. However, the shapes of their elliptical ends show their different positions in space. The right side of the illustration shows a side view of the same cylinders.