Original subtitles

In this lesson we're going to be talking about tangents. And what tangents really are, are when lines touch

each other and prevent the viewer from distinguishing what is in front from what is behind, or it creates

a really kind of weird looking shape to them.

So I'm going to use a very familiar shape here.

Perhaps it looks like an "M" or a logo of a popular food franchise.

Let's assume that these are supposed to be two mountains. Because of the way the lines touch in the center

here,

it's very difficult to tell what is in front and what is behind, right.

We don't know.

But, when we use overlap of the lines, and we take one line and have it overlap another, suddenly to the

viewer, it becomes quite obvious that this must be in front,

and this must be behind. So tangents are any instance where objects touch each other in such a way, as

to create a single shape, or should I say, where lines touch each other in such a way as great a single

shape and make it unclear to the viewer the spatial positioning of elements or lines,

if you wish, right, or edges.

So in this instance these are two pieces of paper.

And let's give them some text.

And perhaps it's an open book seen directly from the top or something like that.

But, let's let's assume it's two pieces of paper and one is definitely in front and one is definitely behind.

To the viewer,

their brain is going to see this entire rectangular shape not even the smaller rectangles inside.

They'll eventually get there, but their first understanding of the shape was really this large

rectangle.

And our problem here, are these two tangents, right.

We can't tell what is in front and what is behind it.

But if we start overlapping certain lines, we can get a very convincing effect to add depth, even in very

flat 2D kind of iconographic designs like these pages.

So now that I've overlapped some lines, it's very clear which page is in front, and which page is behind.

And so, the things that we're dealing with, are that really that tangents are bad.

Tangents are bad, and overlaps are good.

It seems, I think, a very simple concept, but often I see this in student work, where really just something

as simple as not having a line overlap, causes things to look flat and to be easily misunderstood by

the viewer.

Let's change our

headline here to "tangents and overlap". Right, so that we're pretty clear about what we're talking about.

So the great thing with overlaps, (let me take this away). The great thing with overlaps, is that overlaps

can imply depth, and create a sense of depth.

So for example, if I were drawing a leg with a knee at the bottom.

So this is just a leg design here. As I get to the knee section,

I ensure that the knee lines overlap the back of the leg, and this gives me a sense of form.

Right.

So because of these overlapping lines are occurring here. And that can happen in many different ways: in

simple forms-

I have a sphere and then I draw a cube behind it,

and then I draw a cylinder behind that. Whilst I am thinking in a form sense, I also know that these overlaps

of these lines, help the viewer to distinguish what is in front and what is behind.

And so here we have the line of the sphere overlapping the cube form, and the lines of the cube clearly

overlapping the cylinder form.

And this is in a nutshell what overlapping lines are.

They are lines that simply overlap, they extend slightly past the other objects to show that the object

is in front.

Let me say this.

It's something we want to be very intentional about.

You want to constantly ask yourself "Do I have any tangents?"

And if you do have tangents you need to be like a sniper and eliminate them. They need to go. Because

tangents really have no place in our art.

This is the lesson on tangents and overlaps, and the importance of overlaps.

Let's move onto the next lesson.