So, what are tangents? Tangents are any point of contact between two or more forms where you can't tell if one is in front or behind, or if they're two different things.
Why is this a bad thing, you might ask. It's simple: for reasons unknown, tangents make us feel uncomfortable. Let's put a more elaborate example with this quickly drawn character.
Not exactly the greatest drawing in the world, but there is something not quite right about it. Now, let me circle problem areas to show you what's wrong.
Good gravy, that's a lot of tangents! As you can see, tangents are areas where you don't know if a form is in front of something or behind it. Let's fix it so that the tangent-forms are either spaced out, for sure behind something, or for sure in front of something.
Wow! See how just a little bit of tangent-fixing can make any drawing 10x better?
Now, about tangents. Tangents aren't always bad, but in most cases, you want to avoid them as much as possible. When would be appropriate times to use it? When you want your viewer to feel uncomfortable is probably the best I can think of, or especially tense.
Conflict, for example! Also, notice how even if there are noticeable tangents in the drawing (the foreheads, the noses) the rest of the drawing is tangent free. An important thing to know about tangents is that it directs the viewer's eyes immediately to the point of tangent, so if you're drawing something that you want them to feel uncomfortable about, a tangent there won't hurt.
TL;DR
- 98% of the time, avoid tangents.
- Tangents are caused when you can't tell if a form is in front of something or behind something.
- To avoid tangents, all you have to do is think and fix, "is this overlapping or under something?"
- If the two forms are equal in depth to each other, think about spacing them apart.
- Tangents are extremely noticeable by the viewer.
- Tangents make the viewer feel uncomfortable. This can be used to your advantage or disadvantage.
Next time you're working on a drawing, make sure to check if there are any tangents. You might solve a whole lot of problems by yourself just by fixing them. C:
