MASTER CLASS PROGRAM

Illustrating Tech
The Mech in Pseudo Perspective

THE MECH IN PSEUDO PERSPECTIVE

As an illustrator / designer of technical material, it is imperative that we develop a process to

test our ideas out in 3-D form. Though the steps are essentially the same for you who work
digitally using layers, I am using the old standard pencil on tracing paper overlays.

The first step is to develop a general smudgy shape that has an interesting overall silhouette
and the characteristic general parts we need…body, jointed leg shape and feet. In this first
demonstration of the concept, a very simple analog shape is being used minus the feet.

The second step, on an overlay, is to more carefully define the parts in simple outline.

The third step is to draw short lines from all of the key points, all of which are to be parallel to
the first one drawn. The angle is absolutely arbitrary, but not too extremely horizontal or too
vertical. They can also angle downwards if you prefer to see your object from a viewpoint from
below. Consider your object to be transparent and draw even hidden diagonal lines, but keep
them fairly light.

The common tendency with technical subjects is to use straightedges and templates for every
line. It is a good idea to draw everything by hand at these early stages. Learn to draw reasonably
fresh straight and curved lines, from one point to another point. They need not be perfect, and
in fact a slightly casual look is consistent with the early design stage. Using tools to draw takes
your attention off of design and places it on precision finish drawing.

The final steps in the process require tracing a twin of your original outline which will be placed
on the board taped down so it doesn’t move. Place the sheet with the diagonal lines over this and
position it so that any chosen diagonal line endpoint is exactly over its corresponding line origin
point on the taped down twin. Align it carefully so that the overlay is not rotated in relation to
the twin drawing underneath. Trace the outline on the overlay. In the simple diagram below you
will see how this should work.

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Illustrating Tech
The Mech in Pseudo Perspective

You will see that in order to achieve the final image a number of extra, also parallel, lines have
to be drawn from the leg outlines on the near and the far sides of the object. The overlay was
moved to two additional new positions in relation to the twin underneath. The twin underneath
is used to add the far surface of the far leg and the near surface of the near leg.

This next diagram takes the process a bit further towards an actual Mech.

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The Mech in Pseudo Perspective

In the upper left frame is the master outline of the mech in profile.

In the upper right frame is a tracing of the master outline with short arbitrarily angled, but
parallel lines leading back into the picture from all key points.

In the bottom left frame note that the lines ‘B’ and ‘C’ are equal in length and the master outline
is slid underneath the drawing from the last step so it fits exactly as shown at points ‘AA’ and
‘CC’. Trace the entire outline at this position. When done, connect all key points and draw a
short line back into the picture from the leg of the just completed tracing. Keep it parallel to all
other short lines and a bit shorter than line ’B’. Side the master outline again so the same point
you made a short line from rests at the end of that line. Trace all parts of the far leg that are
visible and join the key points with short lines as shown.

The last step is to draw a short line forward in the picture from a key point on the near leg shape,
and slide the master outline one more time until the same point you just made a short line from
rests exactly on the near point of the line. Trace the leg only and connect all remaining key
points, as shown in the lower right frame. Tone has been added to the near sides of all forms for
clarity. Construction lines can all be left visible through the shading as they will help you visual-
ize all the spatial relationships…I suggest tracing one of the outlines on the next page and going
through this step by step again. Taping the overlay sheet, while sliding the master outline, will
make it easier to draw. You will have to move the tapes often, so the master can slide under
freely.

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Illustrating Tech
The Mech in Pseudo Perspective

Below are three different conceptual mech shapes extruded in paraline (no perspective) along
the same developmental steps we have previously used. In the bottom images however, the
bottom left is still paraline, but a rough land form hides what would be the bottoms of its feet.
This kind of trick is not always available, so in the bottom center and right images one-point
perspective to the vanishing point shown has been substituted for the parallel lines. This is a bit
more labor, for we cannot simply slide a profile and trace since the shapes now become smaller
as they recede. We draw short lines as before, but they now radiate toward the vanishing point.

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 MASTER CLASS PROGRAM
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The Mech in Pseudo Perspective

In these images we are using a profile and one-point perspective (the series of lines that con-
verge to the upper right). The profile is placed at the center line of the mech. The most difficult
new problem here is that unlike the one-point examples on the previous page, the profile is not
a flat side view anymore. All lines that are parallel with the ground (like the bottoms of the feet)
are now angling up and to the left, but at least they are still parallel. If they converged we would
then have a two-point perspective.

There is an ellipse at what is the ‘HIP’ and there is a line from the vanishing point through its
center (the minor ellipse axis). Two new leg profiles will be drawn along this line…one closer
and one further away, both equally distant from the center line (CL) profile. Note the box with a
diagonal line from corner to corner. This is how we duplicate a distance on either side of the
center point; more on that in the next video. This is a very complicated step forward, so don’t
worry if you don’t quite understand as we will be talking a lot more about this. Colored pencils
are a good way to make things clearer to you as you draw, with different colors meaning different
things. An example is drawing the grid of perspective guidelines in light blue.

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 MASTER CLASS PROGRAM
Illustrating Tech
The Mech in Pseudo Perspective

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 MASTER CLASS PROGRAM
Illustrating Tech
The Mech in Pseudo Perspective

In the top image the legs have been added and by adding a short line going from a key point
towards the profile we can, due to the short distances here, just slide a traced image of the near
leg as before to the end of that line, trace it and connect the key points. Repeat for the far leg,
but instead draw the short line towards us from a key point and trace the far leg shape at the
near end of that line.

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 MASTER CLASS PROGRAM
Illustrating Tech
The Mech in Pseudo Perspective

Here is the same mech you saw in the video. All the complicated angles can be simplified to rec-
tangular shapes as we are designing, then removing areas of these rectangles to form angular
components. It is all done a piece at a time and worked out on overlay sheets. We will be working
more on this as we go along. Although we are not in full two-point perspective...it is starting to
look more believable, and can fool the casual eye.

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