There is no other field of study in which students fail in greater proportion than in art, because of by-passing the study of perspective.
The mere copying of anatomical drawings will not teach one to draw the figure or to create one without the model. One must know the shape of the parts of the body and be able to put them in perspective. If this were so, every good doctor would be able to draw the human figure. Knowing the names of the muscles and bones is not sufficient knowledge to draw the figure. The muscles of the human figure can be put into any of these shapes. The pyramid can be a church steeple or the pyramids of Egypt. The circle or sphere can be a pea, an observation balloon or a wheel. The square can be a cigar box or a sky scraper, or any form with six sides.
Every object fits into these three shapes or a modification of them. There are three basic forms in nature: the square, the circle and the pyramid. The knowledge of perspective makes it possible to create the illusion that objects and figures are three dimensional on a two dimensional surface such as a sheet of paper, canvas or wall. Too many students by-pass this phase of learning. Like the alphabet in a language, without it, one would not be able to write. It is the first thing a student must learn. Leonardo Da Vinci called it the “bridle and rudder of painting.” Every form, from a grain of sand to a mountain, exists in perspective. Without the knowledge of perspective, constructive drawing is impossible.