Draw Perspective

Perspective drawing is a drawing technique used to illustrate dimension through a flat surface. There are many forms used under perspective drawing such as, one perspective, two-point perspective, three-point perspective, bird’s eye view, worm’s eye view and others. For this tutorial, a one perspective is used to draw a scene under a checkered pathway. One perspective is also a perspective drawing that has one vanishing point where the lines drawn are parallel to each other and are at “infinity.”

Steps

Basic Perspective Drawing

  1. Start by creating a vanishing point by drawing an “X” at the center of the paper. Then from the center through the edge of your paper draw lines, but make sure also that the lines you have drawn can be used on your drawing.
  2. Then for the next step draw a series of poles on the right side. When you almost reached the center or the vanishing point you can substitute the poles to a series of lines.
  3. For the left side draw a series poles and add in some perpendicular benches. Remember to draw lines again when you almost reach the center or the vanishing point.
  4. Then for the next step draw the roof of the pathway by illustrating its checkered pattern.
  5. Next is to sketch houses on the left side and a beach scene on the right side of the drawing.
  6. Finally end the drawing by sketching lines that will highlight or outline the path and roof.
  7. Ink over your drawing and you’re done. To ink over your drawing use a black pen or marker with different kinds of points so that there will be some variation of texture on your drawing.

One Point Perspective

One point perspective is usually used when the object's front is facing the viewer. In this type of drawing the horizontal and vertical lines will be horizontal and vertical respectively in the drawing, and lines getting farther from the viewer will have an angle towards what is called a "Vanishing Point." Click on any of the following images to get a closer look.

  1. Determine the horizon in your drawing. Draw a horizontal line for the horizon with a hard pencil. The horizon lines determines how far the viewer can see based on the terrain and the distance of the viewer from the ground.
  2. Choose the vanishing point. This is what will determine the effect of the perspective. As a reference, the most basic vanishing point would be located in the center of the paper horizontally and over the horizon line. If you set the vanishing point to the right, the drawing will look as if the point of view is moved to the left of the objects. The vanishing point for some objects can also be above or below the horizon lines depending on the inclination of the planes in respect to the ground.
  3. Sketch the main objects.
    • Take care to draw all the horizontal and vertical lines perfectly horizontal and vertical.
    • The lines that start near the point of view and get farther should be drawn extending towards the selected vanishing point. This will give the perspective effect.
  4. Give detail to your drawing respecting the proportions dictated by the reference lines you sketched before.

Two Point Perspective

Two point perspective or perspective with two vanishing points is used when the objects' corners are facing the viewer. This method is perfect for drawing isometric objects.

  1. Determine the horizon in your drawing. Sketch a horizontal line for the horizon as in the first method.
  2. Determine the point of view, which is the approximate location of the eye of the person viewing the drawing. This point may be located below the bottom of the paper (outside the paper.) You don't need to actually mark the point.
  3. Determine your first vanishing point. The usual method for this is to sketch a first line from the point of view in a 60 degree angle to the left and mark your vanishing point where this line intersects the horizon.
  4. Determine your second vanishing point. For this you will draw a second line from the point of view in a 30 degree angle to the right. Again, the vanishing point will be the intersection of this line and the horizon. The 60 and 30 degree angles can be different, but the angle between the lines that go from the eye of the observer to the vanishing points have to form a 90 degree angle.
  5. Sketch your main objects drawing the vertical lines perfectly vertical, the horizontal lines moving to the left at an angle towards the left vanishing point and the horizontal lines moving to the right at an angle towards the right vanishing point (all the horizontal lines should converge in one or the other of the vanishing points if extended far enough).
  6. Give detail to your drawing respecting the trends given by the horizontal lines sketched for the main objects. These lines will determine the proportion of the sizes of the objects when they are located closer or farther from the point of view.
    • Make light, temporary guidelines with a ruler (shown here in green) to make sure your details are in perspective. Erase these guidelines later.

Three Point Perspective

  1. Notice that the three point perspective includes the two point perspective or perspective with two vanishing points plus it also has a third perspective point or third vanishing point in the vertical perspective aspect as from near the ground for instance looking up at a tower -- as the viewer is facing a vertical corner (edge) of the object.
  2. Consider that the third point can be any fourth, fifth,... view for an angular, tilted or rotated part of a drawing, but it is usually based on parallel lines in each part and relates those parts that are actually parallel to each other.
  3. Look at the staircase example to see that different "3rd point" depends on the angle of the item being viewed. So then there can be several "other" vanishing points off at "some odd angle vanishing upward into the sky (or downward)" in a picture, for example another identical staircase could be oriented (rotated) differently as for example shown in the same drawing of a lobby of a building, etc.

Zero Point Perspective

  1. Think about scenes such as landscapes that have no parallel lines. This kind of perspective is of irregular shapes like crooked trees, boulders, mountains, rubble, stones, gravel, and sand dunes, etc.
  2. Draw this kind of perspective with object sizes generally getting smaller into the distance, and the drawing elements like tree limbs, becoming thinner and less detailed in the background, with textures, shading and colors showing less contrast as they are farther away so that colors fade (become lighter) and become tinted toward blue color tones in the distance.

Tips

  • Always use a ruler so that the lines you draw are straight.
  • Always start your drawings with a hard pencil. 2H pencils are recommended for this part, but you may want to use harder pencils if you want to avoid your reference lines being seen in the final drawing. Complete the drawings with a slightly softer pencil, such as HB.
  • A good way to practice is to visit places where you can see a structure disappearing into the horizon (railroad tracks are perfect, but be extremely careful of a train approaching from behind). Sit down and draw the structure head on; then move over {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} to the left (or right) and do it again. Practice drawing from various angles, always noting where the vanishing point is.
  • Perspective can also be applied to block letters for a more dramatic and imposing effect.
  • Use graphite paper when erasing or drawing. It's useful for its anti smudge purposes (rest your hand on the paper).

Warnings

  • Make sure you keep your hands very clean when drawing. Nothing is sadder than ruining a perfectly good drawing that took hours to get perfect just because your hands were not clean.
  • Remember to try to draw lightly first, or you will see lines in the finished drawing where you have tried to erase previous attempts.
  • Don't forget the fact that you can throw away a bad try at a picture. Accidents happen.
  • This is a three dimensional drawing without perspective. The coordinate system does not have a vanishing point. In this kind of drawing the parallel lines would not appear to converge (come closer together) when extended into the distance.


Things You'll Need

  • Pencils: H or harder, HB, 2B or softer
  • Sheets of paper
  • A model object to draw

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

Retrieved from "https://kipkis.com/index.php?title=Draw_Perspective&oldid=316809"