What Are Tangents in Art? (+ How to Fix Them)

Hi everyone!

Today I wanted to share a quick tip to keep in mind whenever you draw or design something in 2D. It’s a simple rule, but if you haven’t used it before, you might need to focus a bit to spot all the examples. With practice, it becomes much easier — or even automatic!

✍🏼 WHAT IS A TANGENT?

A tangent is an area where two things in an image are either almost touching or actually touching in a way that creates a visual mistake the eye doesn’t like.

It can lead to confusion for the viewer: it might draw attention to something unimportant, feel strange or uncomfortable, or make the depth of the scene unclear.

That’s why tangents are best avoided.

Most tangents are easy to fix. First, identify them — and then slightly move one of the objects to create a clear overlap.

EXAMPLES OF TANGENTS AND FIXED DRAWINGS

Creating tangents can be tempting because our brains like to connect lines or align things neatly — but that can make the drawing confusing. Just nudging lines or shapes a little can fix the issue.

The “no tangents” rule applies to all kinds of 2D art — whether it’s realistic or highly stylized:

Keeping this simple rule in mind helps reduce visual clutter. I made these quick portrait sketches to show you the difference in a more complex example. On the left, I added as many tangents as I could. Can you spot them all?

Tangents often appear in reference photos too! It’s important to catch those and fix them in your sketch. You’re the artist — so you get to decide how things are shown. In the example below, it would be better to slightly move the glass balls to create overlap:

I hope this helps <3

— Gaby