Drawing Ellipses

Anatomy of an ellipse:
When we view a circle at an angle we see an ellipse. We refer to this viewing angle as the degree of the ellipse. A perfect circle is viewed at 90 degrees and at angles less than that we see various degree ellipses on the way down to a zero degree ellipse (a straight line). Understanding the mechanics of drawing ellipses is not difficult, mastering the drawing of ellipses is. An ellipse has two axes we need to know about, the minor axis and the major axis. The minor axis divides the ellipse into two equal halves across its narrow dimension. The major axis divides the ellipse across its long dimension into two equal halves. The minor and major axes cross each other at a 90 degree angle. See drawing e-1.

If we look at the drawing in e-2 we can see that I have drawn a square around our ellipse. After I draw the square I draw an “X” across it to find its center in perspective. When you observe the minor and major axes of the ellipse we see that the minor axis goes through the center of the square while the major axis does not. We also observe that the ellipse touches tangent exactly in the middle of each side of the square, exactly where we would expect it to. This is a bit of a mind bender. We have taken a symmetrical shape, the ellipse, and dropped it into perspective. This always works if you do your drawing within the allowable limits of distortion. Regardless of whether your ellipse is rolling on the ground or resting on it, as we see in drawing e-3, the construction result remains the same. Learning from this observation and now knowing where the minor and major axes of our ellipse should be is the single greatest help in drawing ellipses properly. Since the ellipse minor axis always goes through the center of our square this is something we can use to help us draw it. Conversely the major axis references nothing that can help us in locating it in our perspective square. This is why I do not recommend using the major axis when drawing ellipses.

Practice drawing ellipses without worrying about locating them in perspective. Here are a few examples of my rusty arm trying to draw some ellipses for this tutorial this morning. Draw various sizes and differing degrees. After you draw the ellipse identify its minor axis by drawing a line across its narrow dimension that divides each side equally.

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