@stan Question: When you drew the cylinder in a box, is the box isometric? or is it 3 point perspective?

I'm watching it again after practicing. I've watched this a few times. So the major axis always splits the ellipse in half, right down the middle? So I could think of it that way when I am trying to place the major axis in the box.

how do you draw these ellipses in 2 point perspective? I'm having a hard time visualizing how do that the ellipses into a cylinder when the box only has two vanishing points. Or rather if you cant see the top plane or the bottom plane.

Do we just eye ball the major axis? Or is there a way to be able to tell where it is supposed to be like how we discover the minor axis?

I was thinking again after watching the introduction to the ellipse. Although an ellipse is used to draw the circle in perspective. A circle in perspective is really an oval because the circle and circle in perspective use the same centre, meaning the nearer half is larger than the further away half, which would be smaller, and would not pass the fold test. Any advise would be appreciated to confirm this thought. Thanks

Here's my 10? 12? attempt at the cylinder in a cube with ellipses, ground out with many messy lines that just get thicker and thicker. I'm still working on my girltruck that spews out clean air, is covered with leaves and flowers, and emits drugs that make everyone in the world peaceful.

Big Q on timestamp 7:18 and lesson note: "The minor axis is at the same angle as the receding lines of the box and crosses the center point." Is this the same as saying: "The minor axis must to to the vanishing point?"

Guys... I give up.... I am not even able to draw the ellipse correctly inside/within (??) the square. And the second ellipse does not change in perspective... ?!?!

Very interesting and very useful lesson !! Thank you !!

If you are like me and the major axis gives you major headaches: don't worry. Scott Robertson in his book describes how the minor axis is key to place the ellipse successfully in perspective. Nevertheless: I made a little animation to make it easier to observe what is happening with the major axis. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/R4XWJ1ct1gI

Once again my brain hurts. I tend to feel irritated when trying to get accurate proportions. But only perspective (so far) hurts my brain. In trying to duplicate the lesson the biggest challenge I found was drawing a "square" in perspective because as far as I know you just have to guess (or feel it or whatever).

I never before learnt before about this weird way that the long axis does not need to be in the middel and that the short ellipse axis goes parallel to the vanishing point... very cool!!! But it does work... I will need to experiment with that! And that only with a perfect circle both axes are through the center and are equal... very interesting!

Thanks for the Cylinder and Ellipses tutorial. I realise the explanation is eyeballing ellipses and not precision. I've watched it several times, but miss the point how you established the Major Axis and it's offset from the centre. When I look at the completed drawing, I'm left uncertain of the Major Axis reference points, which when joined define the Major axis.

This video explains both major and minor axes perfectly clear. I read Scott Robertson's book on perspective as well, but his explanation was pretty confusing to understand.

My problem was solved. thank you

This will help me with my body drawings. though is their a eta on that perspective course?

This is perfect. I was just looking for content on this topic yesterday. Thank you for posting this. It's answering a lot of the questions I had.

Are you sure the minor axis always aligns with the cylinder axle and goes through the 3D center? I've heard that before and thought it was weird, but when I looked it up, it sounded like it was an approximation that's only completely true when the axis/axle intersects the "center of vision". Since people generally put their focal point/center of vision directly on what they're looking at, in real life it will probably always seem true. Same for if you're specifically calling this out in a demonstration, you'll probably put the circle/ellipse near the center of the camera's view. But if you have a cylinder closer to the edge and tilted, I believe they can get misaligned, even without lensing effects. I originally learned some of this from Marshall's 1994 perspective series. Near the end of one part, in what I think was a Q&A, he mentions the minor axis doesn't always go through the center either, but it's "so close". Another source was the "Vanishing Point: Perspective for Comics" book, which says making the minor axis parallel to the axle is usually a good enough approximation, and much easier. So it's not usually important, but maybe it is if you're practicing drawing a bunch of arbitrary cylinders at various angles. It confused me for a while.

Thank you for this lesson! I'll try to construct some cylinders, but boy, this thing about the "farthest" elipse being "fatter" than the front elipse... it feels so weird to me (don't know why tho). Gonna try to construct some before the next project.

I'm very excited that this lesson is on Proko. Knowing how to draw cylinders well is a powerful tool because the knowledge of it can be used to solve many, many drawing problems. Moreover, most art instruction takes this specific lesson for granted. As a result, students have a hard time pulling off a drawing that requires cylindrical thinking, and walk away from other classes or books thinking they're not "talented" when in reality, they just needed the proper prerequisite lesson. Master this, and nearly every other art education tool becomes instantly more useful. I couldn't be more impressed with this course.