Painting : Ellipses

Ellipses (and Circles)

Ellipses and circles can be hard to draw. Perfect circles become ellipses when seen at an angle. For example, the perfect circle on the top of a jar or can becomes an ellipses unless you look straight down at the top of the jar/can.

technical drawing of some household objects with cylindrical forms — Ellipses are part of many human-made objects.

Ellipses can be frustrating, but noticing a few facts about ellipses, with careful practice one can draw perfect ellipses.

views of the top of a coffee from various angles — Can you see how the ellipses become more closed, the lower the viewing angle?

drawing of the curvature of ellipses at various heights when compared to eye height — At eye level the ellipse becomes flat, or looks like a line.

drawing showing additional views of the curvature of ellipses at various heights when compared to eye height

a drawing showing common errors when drawing ellipses — What are the errors in each of these drawings marked with an X?

Updated January 17, 2021