How Maths Can Help You Learn to Draw

How Maths Can Help You Learn to Draw Can Drawing Lead to Mastering Maths and Vice Versa? ChaptersMaths and Art: Kissing CousinsUsing Equations to Draw HandsDrawing to Understand Mathematical ConceptsUse Maths to Learn How to DrawMaths: Indispensable for Perspective DrawingThe Final Word is PhiAre you a right brained, creative type?If so, learning how to draw gives you another creative outlet; another reason to daydream and keep your head in the clouds.Which means you don't have much patience or aptitude for dry-as-sticks subjects like maths... right?If that is the case, you might be surprised to learn that maths and art are intimately intertwined!Proportion, symmetry, the ratio of light to shadow in each piece; dimensions, perspective and gradients of color: the vocabulary of art is the language of maths!Let us now delve further into the similarities â€" and differences of these two disciplines.Maths and drawing are kissing cousins! Source: Pixabay Credit: Bess HarnitiEven negative space has a place, both in art and in maths!The shared values of abstract versus figurativ e art, at the junction at where they intersect: their common denominator is maths. Another reason to learn to draw, and a new reason to rediscover maths!Using Equations to Draw HandsYou might know of the the fellow across the pond named Jason Padgett. He was grievously injured one night, after karaoke and, when he woke up, he discovered he saw the world through an intricate filter of  geometrical patterns.Prior to that, he was quite happy as a furniture salesman with no desire to even consider the shape of furniture, let alone drawing any.We do not encourage getting beaten into savant syndrome to gain the same perspective as Mr. Padgett.Instead, you could just enjoy his geometric patterns, most drawn in a one point perspective.Here is a bit more on the unique Mr. Padgett, who before had never had the faintest interest in anything academic, let alone maths.He started drawing what he was seeing and, curiously enough, he attracted the attention of the scientific community.The consensus : everyone unanimously agrees that every bit of his line drawings and other renderings were geometrically accurate and depict mathematical equations.Today, this amazing artist continues to draw mathematically satisfying   artistic equations that are the envy of every geometry professor.For many of us, his work remains among the finest expressions of symmetrical art.Surely you know of the premier example of such?It would be Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, a pen and ink on paper, which, incidentally is the basis for validation of the value phi, also known as the perfect proportion or the golden ratio.Whether through art or maths, learn what jobs you can land if you can draw...Start drawing better by taking the new drawing lessons here.Can you spot the horizon line in this landscape? Source: Pixabay Credit: ManeeG place it in perspective to the horizon. And then, note the rising sun: how does it relate to the cottage and the horizon line?And, just like that, you have created a one point pers pective in your mind!Hopefully, you will have your sketchbook handy; these geometric revelations don't happen at the drop of the hat!Unless your name is Jason Padgett, of course. The Final Word is PhiIn all of your drawing tutorials, as you hone your drawing skills; while you charcoal your next still life or use Conté crayons to add textures and light shade... Whether you know it or not, every figure drawing you have rendered is driven by phi (pronounced fee). This is the golden ratio we mentioned before; the one that Leonardo da Vinci was so obsessed over that he reputedly dug up freshly buried cadavers  for dissection, study and measurement. Consciously or not, everyone who is any kind of an artist, from cartoonist and manga to portrait painter and architect, seeks to find and recreate this mathematical value in art simply by following their artistic sense. We find the golden proportion in the columns of the Parthenon, and the structures of Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright.Gra phic designers have appropriated this perfect proportion, that you will find among the most famous company logos, in particular the famous apple's Apple. Not to mention the National Geographic logo. You know, the yellow rectangle, hard to make simpler ... It is not only yellow, it is also a golden rectangle!With phi all around us, it is easy to see how maths influences art.  Or is it the other way around?