A-8 Transferring Patterns

For this assignment I am going to show you a practical example of how to use this technique by creating a special ruler to transfer some sort of pattern or design onto a receding plane. This allows you to accurately transpose any front facing design onto a plane that is receding towards a vanishing point. The process is a little more involved than previous assignments, but this technique will allow you a lot more freedom when designing.

Let’s look at a few designs that would be hard to recreate by simply duplicating or dividing the plane in some way. These designs are, asymmetrical or irregular in nature, something you might come upon during your adventures. These are visually interesting, if not impractical; which happens to be a staple in fantasy design. I’ve purposefully created these windows without measuring or using any device we’ve learned so far to ensure their irregularity.

Let’s use the second design to create a special ruler so that we can use it to transfer this design onto our plane.

To start this off, establish the boundaries of the ruler. I find it easiest to put the ruler right up against the design, encircling the window, and removing any excess so that the ruler is nice and clean.

Now it’s time to denote all of the necessary landmarks along both the vertical and horizontal lines; in this case that is going to include the positions of the outer frames for both of these windows, as well as the height and widths of the four smaller rectangles within those outer frames. The only positions I’m not accounting for are ones that already align with the boundaries of the ruler. With this in mind, there are a total of 8 landmarks down the vertical side of the ruler, and 6 along the bottom of the ruler. Remember to include landmarks for both the left and right window panes, not just the ones nearest the ruler.

Once all of your landmarks are in place, it is time to create your plane. Draw out a receding line to establish the bottom of your plane. Moving your special ruler, align it with the line you just drew to determine the height of your plane. I estimate the width of the plane when drawing it in, based on the proportions of the ruler. With practice, this will become second nature.