Perspectives

Actual Size: real size, measured size

Apparent Size: the appearance of size.

               Example: The size of someone's head could appear the size of an apple. Or a tree could appear the size of your thumb extended at an arm's length.

 


Aerial or atmospheric perspective: creating a sense of depth by imitating the bluish tones that come from the scattered sky light seen in the distance.

Sfumato: Italian for smoky. An oil painting technique using thin layers of paint to soften the edges and background. Creates a dreamlike effect of atmospheric mist or haze. The Mona Lisa and The Virgin of the Rocks

Linear Perspective: creating the feeling of space and distance on a flat surface by utilizing angles and geometric balances.

Horizontal Line: a line drawn across the canvas at the viewer's eye level; the level where the earth meets the sky.

Orthogonal Line: diagonal lines drawn to connect the foreground to the vanishing point, they represent parallel lines, but are actually slightly angled. (Transversals are the parallel, horizontal lines that intersect with the orthogonal lines. They appear to be closer farther they are from the horizon).

Vanishing Point: the point in a picture where the lines that run from the viewer to the horizon line appear to come together.

Aerial Perspective

Linear Perspective 
 
 "Linear perspective is a mathematical system for creating the illusion of space and distance on a flat surface. The system originated in Florence, Italy in the early 1400s. The artist and architect Brunelleschi demonstrated its principles, but another architect and writer, Leon Battista Alberti was first to write down rules of linear perspective for artists to follow. Leonardo da Vinci probably learned Alberti's system while serving as an apprentice to the artist Verrocchio in Florence." Exploring Linear Perspective

Perspective Seen from Different Points of View, by Otto B. Wiersma