Drawing Perspective
Get out sketchbooks and pencil
Key Terms –
Write these terms on a new page in your
sketchbook. We will BRIEFLY define as we cover it.
• Perspective
• Horizon Line
• Vanishing Point
• One-point perspective
• Two-point perspective
• Atmospheric/Aerial Perspective
(When viewing pictures, hold your viewfinder up and see what
is above and below the middle line. Determine the position of
your HL and draw it in immediately)
Perspective
• Depicts foreground, middle ground and
background to indicate deep space.
Horizon Line
• Eye level.
• Where the earth meets the sky.
• The vanishing point sits on the horizon line.
Vanishing Point
• A point in a perspective drawing to which parallel lines of
objects appear to converge.
• The number and placement of the vanishing points
determines which perspective technique is being used.
• The concept was first used by Renaissance artists.
Question: What is the subject matter, and who painted this picture? Do you know where is it
located?
• Sometimes the vanishing point is not visible along the horizon line.
One-point PerspectiveWho came up with the system for linear perspective?
• One vanishing point is typically used for roads,
railway tracks, or buildings viewed so that the
front is directly facing the viewer.
• All parallel lines converge at a single point on
the horizon or eye level line.
Perugino “Christ Handing Keys to St. Peter”
Atmospheric Perspective
• A technique in which an illusion of depth is created
by painting more distant objects with less clarity, and
with a lighter tone. Discovered by___________.
Which two types of perspective
would be used in this picture?
This is so very easy—give it a try! Start with the horizon line, then establish a vanishing point on the
horizon line, next draw the front of each box. Put your ruler on the vanishing point and draw converging
lines from each box to the vanishing point. Close the sides of the boxes with a vertical line.
Draw rectangle 8 across x 9 down
Erase the guidelines
Put a dot in center
horizontally but above
center vertically
Draw the outline of the
armchair, then cushions
and seams. Notice where
the cushions intersect with
the guidelines.
Measure and draw light
guidelines to the center
dot—make sure to
measure equal
distances from the
sides of the box.
This is relatively easy because there is only
one vanishing point. Make sure all converging
lines meet at the vanishing point, then, draw
your horizontal lines further apart near the
front and closer together at the back of the
picture so that the tiles seem to disappear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZYBWAifEs
1 point room
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJq7uVhYIY
8&feature=related 1 point road/city
On your tablets, or on the
photocopies, find the horizon line
and the vanishing point!
Are you already skilled at
perspective?
If so, you will be able to go
ahead of the class…
Take a drawing board,
ruler and pencil with you.
Find a one point perspective
view of a hall in this building
If you are particularly
skilled, you may take on a 2 point
perspective angle.
Make a light pencil drawing first,
ensuring that ALL lines are correct.
Next, shade with a pencil or use
color pencils to make a complete
drawing. You must have a mat
ready drawing when you are
finished.
With your stylus, draw a cube inside the square on the right. Construct
the stool inside the cube, then erase the extra lines. That is all there is
to it!
Roads—we use perspective so often when roads seem to disappear. Let’s try a few.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Draw the panoramic rectangle first.
Establish the horizon line, now find the vanishing point.
Begin the road close to the right bottom side of the page.
Curve it back to touch the vanishing point. Do the same with the road on the left side of the
page.
5. Construct the fence. The vertical posts are further apart at the front of the page, and closer
together in the back.They look like the turn a solid white when they get very close together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEpVMop
B6l8&feature=related
Curving road
Two-point Perspective
• Two-point perspective can be used to draw the same
objects as one-point perspective, rotated: looking at the
corner of a house, or looking at two forked roads shrink
into the distance, for example. One point on the horizon
line represents one set of parallel lines, the other point
on the horizon line represents the other set of lines.
• Looking at a house from the corner, one wall would
recede towards one vanishing point, the other wall
would recede towards the opposite vanishing point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3Nv3SrtQu
k&feature=related
Mid-Level View
• When the horizon line crosses through the
middle of something, the lines angle up and
down.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsa4r3oM6
Ws&feature=related
• (to somewhere over the rainbow)
Worm’s-Eye View
• Lines extend ABOVE the Horizon Line
• Lines angle UP
Bird’s-Eye View
• Lines extend BELOW horizon line
• Lines angle DOWN
Use a colored pencil
and ruler to find the
vanishing point and
establish converging
lines that lead to the
vanishing point
(which is on the
horizon line).
Construct verticals
parallel to the side of
the paper.