8 / 8
Apr 2020

Heyo.

I just read through both Episode 2 of Creator's Guide to Tapas as well as The Schweizer Guide to Spotting Tangents that the former recommended for reading. I'm still having trouble avoiding the pitfalls that Schweizer suggests. How do I know a tangent is a tangent and where are they normally found? Even after reading Schweizer's Guide, I only understand a few of them.

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    Apr '20
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    Apr '20
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How about posting your work in here so others can point out the tangents (if they are present)? Sometimes it helps to have someone point them out in YOUR own work.

So tangents in art are a reflection of misunderstanding or not understanding 3D form. It's when a line in the foreground or closer to the "camera" overlaps with a line in the back ground or farther away from the "camera". I personally like this artwork as an example:

In your work, for example, tangents show up in the gloves where instead of wrapping around the wrist, it's just a straight line. I'm not saying you should avoid straight lines; I'm the last person to say that, but I am saying if you want people to believe your characters have weight to them and that they can exist in an environment, consider making them out of 3D shapes and not flat ones. Here's a good, short video on the topic:

Honestly, I can see why this is confusing; those two deer up there look almost exactly the same. '_' I doubt anyone would really bother to call you out if you drew the second one in a comic or anything, the improvement is just so minor...

Although I can imagine instances where it could be a major problem, if you're really trying to denote 3-dimensionality with your art: I would describe it as failing to let the foreground elements interrupt the background elements.

BUT...if you're doing very stylized 2D art, which is honestly what your stuff looks like it's leaning towards...you kinda need tangents to sell the look. The characters are supposed to look like they're confined to the 2D plane, even to the point of unrealistic perspective choices. That's...the point.

I don't dabble in stylized 2D as much as I'd like, but here's an example that I feel might help explain what I mean:

There's plenty of perspective in the picture, but there are a few areas (e.g. Blondie's shoes, fingernails, top of the couch) where the elements look a little flat and tangent-y. But that's for the purpose of the style, it's not a mistake.

If ^this (or something even more 2D) is the kind of style you're going for, I think you might be barking up the wrong tree by trying to avoid tangents entirely. If not...I guess you can disregard this post. ^^;

I’d say that usually the tangent rule is pretty nitpicky and applies more heavily in design stuff like logos and graphic design than in comics or illustrations. The whole gist of it is that you don’t want to have any “coincidences” in your artwork that may potentially be distracting to your audience because it might take them out of the moment (which is a big comic no-no). In the worst cases, tangents in your artwork can make it difficult to read.

Here are some really good examples on some of the more prominent types of tangents that can make your artwork confusing and/or ugly:


Here, the guy’s torso is cut off at the shoulder, and in the panel directly next to it, a sword comes out of the exact same area, making it look like he has a skinny sword hand.


Here, the curve of the umbrella leads directly into the curve of the wine glass, which makes it confusing to the eye on what’s continuous and what isn’t. Basically separate entities shouldn’t blend Together.

Just ask yourself when you’re drawing, whether or not the audience can clearly distinguish:

  • Foreground and background
  • 2 separate objects/entities on the same plane

It's usually an "endgame" kind of mistake so I wouldn't be too worried about them, save for huge examples like what dawgofdawgness posted. As a rule of thumb, keep an eye out on where your lines meet(regardless of background or a character's features), and if they have to meet, make sure the line weight is different on each piece of the intersection.

The deer example is technically correct, but I also feel that most 'errors' are so subtle that it's a difficult example for someone new to the concept to wrap their head around. :frowning:

The only major tangent that gets correct is the deer's nose which is flattened in the incorrect version, and properly given form in the correct (by having the muzzle warp behind it.) And that's a tangent issue only as a by product of not drawing properly with 3D form. Give or take the front leg as well, which reads more of an anatomical issue than line. The rest are much more subtle that wouldn't really stand out to me in a comic, because the redundant lines aren't impacting the deer's form in any readable way. It's a type of nitpicking that would be more applicable to illustrators, and while still important for comic artists to work on, lower on the list of priorities I'd say.

When I read this topic I thought it was more concerning tangent lines in comics that don't properly define surface areas and confuse the eye, like dawfofdawgness pointed out.