The Basics

Circles

If you connect the start and end of a line, you will end up with a circle. The circle is as wide as it is tall when it is not being affected by perspective. This means that we are looking at the circle from front on and not at an angle. Once the circle starts being viewed from an alternative view point, it starts getting affected by perspective. When we see a circle in perspective we start seeing what is called an ellipse instead. Because we are not working with perspective yet, we are only going to look at the circle.

Exercise Eight

If you take a look at the example there are four points when a circle touches the square it is sitting in. An accurate circle will only ever touch that square at four points. If your circle touches the square for any distance beyond that single point, you do not have a circle. The goal is to practice creating an accurate circle without ending up with any flat sides.

One technique to approach this exercise is to try and get the circle out in one fluid movement, moving at a speed that allows for both speed and accuracy. A second technique is to draw each quarter of the circle independently so that you are drawing the circle from dot to dot as opposed to one fluid movement. Both techniques have their drawbacks and can lead to their own unique sets of inaccuracies. Experiment with different approaches and see what works for you.