The science behind wide-angle sketching

[By Paul Heaston] I’ve been getting ready to teach my workshop The Big Picture and the Tiny Details at USk Manchester 2016 in just a few weeks, so I’ve been doing a little research to prepare.

I do a lot of wide-angle sketches that incorporate curves where we might normally anticipate seeing or sketching straight lines. I recently sketched this view of a coffee shop here in Denver, Colorado using curves to show more of the space to my right and left.

Thinking about spaces in this unusual way is what my workshop is all about. Sometimes when I teach this approach to seeing and sketching I’m met with either a little bit of skepticism that centers around whether or not this method is “true” to how we see the world around us, or just plain confusion about what I’m talking about. Fortunately I found a terrific video from the YouTube channel VSauce that talks about this very subject, and uses some wonderful visuals as well. If you’re taking my workshop or one from Arno Hartmann, Paul Wang, Swasky, Veronica Lawlor, Stephanie Bower, Lapin & Gerard Michel, Norberto Dorantes, or any other class where these kinds of visual issues show up I think it’s a great resource. I hope you enjoy it and I hope to see you in Manchester!