Perspective Drawing Tutorial (Art Technique)

Two-Point
One-Point
Turning
Tilting
Twisting
Subdividing
Repeating
Circles
Graphical perspective portrays depth and space correctly in art.

There are many strategies for making objects in a drawing look close or far away. Big objects tend to be closer. Early artists used overlapping to suggest one object was closer than another. Closer objects also tend to have more tonal contrast than objects far away and less bright colors because of atmospheric perspective. Finally, objects that are lower down are often closer because of gravity.

But these things alone don’t make a convincing drawing. We must consider how objects look from certain viewing positions. Using geometrical rules we can show objects as they are naturally seen.

First thing to understand is that the size an object is related to its distance.


 
 
As you get farther away from telephone poles, they get smaller and smaller. They disappear along a horizontal line in the distance. Things get smaller toward this line. This is called the horizon line and it is at the viewer’s eye level.
 

 

 
 
To make things easier we only need to look at three directions toward which objects get smaller in the distance. An object vanishes toward some point on the left, some point on the right, and some point either up or down.
 
We all know a cube has rectangular sides. But viewed naturally the sides vanish toward a point at each three directions. This is called 3-point perspective. Two of these vanishing points are on the horizon line, on the left and on the right side of the viewer.
 

 
 
Two-point perspective is basically the same as three-point perspective except the up or down vanishing direction is ignored and vertical lines are used.

People often think of a line as a mark on a piece of paper, but this is incorrect. It will be much easier if you think of a line only as a measure of distance. To find vanishing points we only use straight lines. Any part of the object that gets smaller in that particular direction converges along straight lines toward that single vanishing point.

First, find the vanishing points. This is determined by the object’s size and distance from the viewer. To draw a perfect cube we make use of measuring points. Measuring points on the horizon line, closer to the center, guide the rate of vanishing for all directions.

Or if you are viewing a scene like a building you can guess based on angles of lines where the vanishing points are. Look for things that are in alignment, such as stones in a building, how they all converge toward the same vanishing points.

This is not only true for a single object such as a building, but for groups of objects that align with each other.
 
 

 
 
But what about multiple objects that aren’t in alignment?
 
 

 
 

If you take one of those vanishing points and put it very very far to the left or right you get one-point perspective. Those vanishing lines become pretty much horizontal.
 
 

 
 

This is because when you move the vanishing point outward the other vanishing point moves inward, all the way until it is at the center directly in front of you. And the third vanishing point moves out as well until you have vertical lines. Whenever you start moving vanishing points around all the other vanishing points move around too. It is important to understand what happens to the object when you do this.

If you move all the vanishing points out, this makes it look like you are far away from the object and looking at it zooming in. But if you move all the vanishing points inward this looks like you are close up to the object and looking at it with a fish-eye lens.

If you move both vanishing points in the same direction the object will turn.
 
 


 
 
In other words, the vanishing point of a turning object will slow down as it gets closer to the object. Turning is the most basic movement an object makes to change vanishing points.
 


 
 
Twisting is pretty simple. It is pretty much the same thing as if you are twisting your head and the object is staying stationary. The vanishing point, horizon line, and everything else simply twists with you.

The only complication is if the object that twists is not directly in front of you. Because then the object looks like it is turning as well. So you got to move the perspective points using the same rule for turning objects.

When something tips forward or backward the horizon line moves slightly up or down with it. The vanishing points move out and the upper vanishing point moves down. Unless the object is perfectly in the center you’ve got to consider some twist and turn as well.
 


 
 
Alright, so we know how moving objects changes the vanishing points and horizon line. Let’s take a look at the object itself. We have the overall shape but how do we determine parts and pieces of the object itself, the bricks, windows, and doors of the building?

We can find the center of an object’s face using simple diagonal lines.
 


 
 
Do this to break up the object into quadrants, then subdivide the quadrants, until you have a grid of spaces. Simply measure proportions on this grid to figure out where all the pieces of the object go.

Subdividing also helps us figure out how to double a length of space. For example, if you want to draw horizontal wood beams along a railroad track. Take a line from the diagonal to the middle of the side of the plane and continue it on.
 


 
 
This is fine for straight lengths, but what about curvy objects? Well that’s where things get more complex. Linear perspective only deals with straight lines. So curves require some guesswork. This is a limitation that makes some of the best computer rendering software do some hard calculations.

First, draw a rectangle around the circle or curve. The edges of that circle must meet the square at the midway points. There is a tenancy to tilt the circle incorrectly if you don’t consider these midway points.

To make the curve more accurate subdivide the square. Mark points where the curve intersects these subdividing lines and keep track of these points as you draw the same square in perspective.
 


 
 
There are several methods of subdividing the rectangle that will make this easier.