Beyond Vanishing Points: Visual Reading

Knowledge fuels perception, enabling it to grow stronger. This means we cannot bypass studying essential methods—especially linear perspective, which involves a mechanical process. Yes, it requires patience and effort, but studying perspective builds a useful and powerful repertoire—one that can be accessed at any time (or even consciously set aside).

Yet, there is a tool that might help capture the world before us - what I call “visual reading”.

Visual reading is the act of examining and distilling a scene into an organized collection of angles and measurements – or simply, shapes. These two-dimensional elements are geometric abstractions of planes, volumes, masses, or voids inherent in the scene we observe.

When this specific type of perception is well trained, everything can be translated into rectangles, triangles, ellipses, or any nameless shapes. With experience, this act becomes internalized and employed naturally, without effort or taking up much space in our minds – meaning more room for intuition. The more we create a fertile ground for intuition to grow, the more expressive we become.

I decided to use the main building of the school as a subject as well, especially the section shown in the picture beside, which had deliberated left the bottom of the building off the limits of the frame.

Although it looks challenging, this detail provides valuable opportunities to explore the visual reading method, without neglecting key aspects of mechanical perspective, such as eye level, vanishing points, and the nearest edge. 

See in the pictures above the sequence of visual analysis of the subject: first (A), we observe the negative shapes around the bulk of the building, especially around the roof. Second (B), we begin to read the multiple angles against horizontal and / or vertical references. Finally (C), applying our knowledge of linear perspective, we can establish some very important connections (ones we wouldn’t figure out otherwise).

Apart from the workshop’s technical background, I also wanted to share a few ideas to make things more interesting, both in terms of technique and concepts, which I’ll cover in my next post.