Perspective Drawing

By Meg McDyre
 Assignment
• You will apply the principals of 2, 3 or 4 point
perspective to a drawing. (Fit the perspective to
your comfort level, but challenge yourself)
• Your final should include some sort of structure
• Fantasy Imagery is strongly encouraged!
– Fantasy Building-The only limit is your imagination!
• An art museum?
• A zoo?
• Parking garage?
• In Space?
• Be creative!
 Student Examples
• The following are examples of how other Art 1
students interpreted this perspective project.
I hope you will see that there is no right or
wrong way to do this.
• The ideas are only as endless as your
imagination
 Background Information…..
• What you need to know
 Terms
Perspective- a set of techniques that help an artist create depth and distance, creating
images that appear 3D on a 2D surface.

Picture Plane- A flat surface on which an image is created.

Horizontal Line- Lines that go left to right. Is the horizon line if used in
a landscape image

Vertical Line- Lines that go from top to bottom

Parallel lines- Lines that go on forever, side by side keeping the same distance apart.

Vanishing Point(s)- the area(s) in the image where the image is no longer visible.

Converging Lines- Where parallel lines meet in a perspective drawing to give the
appearance distance.

1,2,3,4 Point Perspective- The number reflects how many vanishing points there are in
the illustration.
 Brief History
• Linear Perspective as we know it today is thought to have
evolved from the early architectural drawings of two
architects, Brunelleschi and Alberti in Florence, Italy in
early 1400 AD
• Leone Battista Alberti was a painter, musician and architect
in Florence, Italy. He designed some of the most classical
buildings of the 15th century. He wrote the very first book
on painting that covered both theory and technique, and it
had a great influence on the Renaissance artists. His
writings covered subjects such as imitation of nature,
beauty, perspective and ancient art.
• Leonardo da Vinci is created with general development of
the aerial or atmospheric perspective. This method is based
upon an observation that contrasts of color and values of
dark and light are much greater in objects that are close
than in ones that are distant.
 Perspective Study for "Adoration of the
Magi", 1481-1482
Galleria degli Uffizi,Florence. Davinci

Adoration of the Magi 1481-1482 ,

Florence, DaVinci
 Why know this?
• The knowledge of perspective is invaluable to the serious artists no
matter what technique or school of art he or she may prefer. If we know
and understand the basic theories of perspective, then we can produce
our work in any degree of realism or thoughtful distortion. By knowing
perspective, problems of proportions and the relationships of objects
one to another that may develop in our drawings are more easily
spotted. How often have we said to ourselves, “Something looks wrong
in my painting, but I just can’t seem to put my finger on it”. With an
understanding of perspective, you will immediately know how to
correct a distortion that may appear.
 Aerial Perspective

Examples of……..Aerial Perspective

 Linear Perspective
a mathematical system for representing three-dimensional objects and space on
a two-dimensional surface by means of intersecting lines that are drawn
vertically and horizontally and that radiate from one point (one-point
perspective), two points (two-point perspective), or several points on a horizon
line as perceived by a viewer imagined in an arbitrarily fixed position.

1 point
 One Point Perspective Example

•One Vanishing Point

•The front of the

image is before the
viewer

•All parallel lines

converge to 1 point
 One Point Perspective Example

•One Vanishing Point

•The front of the

image is before the
viewer

•All parallel lines

converge to 1 point
 Play and Experiment
• Draw a horizon line
• Put a vanishing point on the horizon line
• Draw 3 cubes (box) from different points of
view:
– Below the horizon line
– Above the horizon line
– Across the horizon line
Experiment with 1 point perspective
2 point
3 point
Assignment Overview- ‘The Big Idea’
• You will apply the principals of 2, 3 or 4 point
perspective to a drawing. (Fit the perspective
to your comfort level, but challenge yourself)
• You will develop an image of a building
floating in space:
– Fantasy Building
• An art museum? Supplies you’ll need:
• A zoo? Ruler
• Parking garage? Triangle
• Be creative! Paper
Pencil (Mechanical is best)
Creative thinking!
 Student
Examplet
How To Start
 Practice 1 point perspective
• In the next open page in your diary,
draw a horizon line.
• Put 1 point (vanishing point)
• Draw 3 boxes
– 1 above the horizon line
– 1 below the horizon line
– 1 in the middle of the horizon line
• Draw converging lines from each corner of the box
to the vanishing point
 2 Point
Perspective
 2 Point
Perspective
 3 Point
Perspective
 3 Point
Perspective
 4 Point
Perspective
 Assignment
• You will apply the principals of 2, 3 or 4 point
perspective to a drawing. (Fit the perspective
to your comfort level, but challenge yourself)
• You will develop an image of a building
floating in space:
– Fantasy Building
• An art museum?
• A zoo?
• Parking garage?
• Be creative!
 Work in Diary on page

Use this time to experiment with 1 point

perspective…. Think outside the box, create!