How to...Suggest depth

Painting is often a case of trying to depict a 3D object on a 2D surface. AL GURY reveals four simple principles that will help you create a true sense of depth

- AL GURY

Illusion of depth is one of the hallmarks of representational painting. The genres of landscape, still life, portraiture and figurative painting often depend on illusions of three-dimensional forms existing in a perceptual space. While some art does not require illusions of depth to convey its visual narrative, many do, particularly in traditional genres.

Creating a visual sense of perceivable depth in a painting depends on several artistic principles working in combination with each other. A very important area is colour, but colour in and of itself might not create the full illusion of depth in a painting unless it is combined with the elements discussed below.

Colour must be modified by – and added to – chromatic intensities, edge descriptions, brushwork types and details, and the size of colour touches in the image. This complete package creates aerial perspective or illusions of depth via relationships between these several visual and technical elements.

The four descriptions on pages 58 and 59 are designed to support an increased understanding of the formal and visual elements of colour in creating depth in painting. The same concepts can be used across oil, acrylic, watercolour, gouache, pastel and other colour media.

1 CHROMATIC INTENSITY