Essential Guide to Drawing

Introduction

Using perspective is the technique of making a two-dimensional drawing – with length and breadth – appear to acquire a third dimension – that of depth. Perspective was the great discovery of the Italian Renaissance artists, based upon mathematical principles. The renowned architect and engineer Filippo Brunelleschi was the man generally considered to be the prime tester and discoverer of the laws of perspective. He painted a picture of the Baptistry in Florence according to his own system of horizon lines and vanishing points.

Compare the two pictures shown above, one drawn without much attention to perspective, and the other based on the system of one-point perspective.

Note how the trees and gateways are all the same size in the first picture, whether they are close to the viewer or far away, and the road stays the same width even as far as the horizon. Also there is not much difference between the texture of the nearest trees and hedges and those in the distance. The result is the effect of a rather flat landscape.

The second version shows what happens when you devise a method of interpreting the same landscape seen in terms of space. The nearest objects are both larger and more textured than those further away, and already this gives a sense of depth to the picture. The road appears to narrow as it recedes into the distance, eventually disappearing to a single point far off on the horizon. Although this is a fairly simple drawing the effect is immediate.

Perspective underpins the composition of most artworks. In this part of the book we will be looking at how you can best employ perspective techniques to make your artworks appear more convincing to the eye.

Cone of Vision

When we look at any view, there is a field of vision surrounding us that can be divided into the area where we see things clearly and – at the periphery – another area where we can hardly define anything at all. The overall effect is to create a ‘cone’ of vision, within which we can see objects clearly, and outside which we are aware of nothing except light and darkness.

In the diagram, a figure is standing at a point in space called the ‘station point’. From this point, the figure looks straight ahead at the centre line of vision. The horizon is naturally at eye-level, and where the line of vision cuts across the horizon is the centre point of an area that includes everything you can see of the space in front. The circle of vision is that part of the cone of vision that meets with what is known as the ‘picture plane’. This is the area upon which all your images are to be drawn. It is usually perpendicular to the ground plane of the surface on which you stand. The picture plane covers an area containing all that could go into your picture. You might choose to crop down your picture area, but it is possible to draw anything within the focus of this space.

Relationships in the picture plane

Here we look at the relationships between the tree, post and flowers and the horizon line. As you can see, the tree in the picture appears shorter than the post, although in reality the post is shorter than the tree. This is the effect of perspective, because the tree is further away than the post. There is also an area of ground between the bottom of the tree and the flower. The horizon line is the same as the eye-level of the viewer.

Using a common unit of measurement

A large subject such as a street scene, in which proportions and perspective have to be taken into account, can be difficult to draw accurately unless you use some system of measurement.

For the urban scene shown here, I chose an element within the scene as my unit of measurement (the lower shuttered window facing out of the drawing) and used it to check the proportions of each area in the composition. As you can see, the tall part of the building facing us is about six times the height of the window. The width of the whole building is twice the height of the window in its taller part and additionally six times the height of the window in its lower, one-storey part near the edge of the picture.

Simple Perspective

The rules of perspective are fairly simple, but there are many ways of contrasting the lines of perspective to give the right effect. Drawing from observation will help you to see how perspective works in reality. Here we look at various devices that help to explain the theory.

Rule number one of perspective is that objects of the same real size look smaller the further away they are from the viewer. Therefore, using sight size, a man of 6ft (1.8m) who is standing about 6 feet away from you will appear to be about half his real height. If he is standing about 15 feet (4.6m) away, he will appear to be about 8 inches (20cm) tall. Stand him one hundred yards (90m) away and he can be hidden behind the top joint of your thumb, and so on.

The first diagram (above right) gives some idea of how to construct this effect in the picture plane. The posts apparently become smaller and thinner as they approach the point where they would vanish over the horizon, known as the ‘vanishing point’. The space between the posts also appears to get smaller. This image gives a good idea of what happens in the eye of the viewer, and you can see how it may be used to create apparent depth on the flat surface of the paper.

In the diagram below, the size of the constructed cube is inferred by the height above eye-level, which makes it appear to be the size of a small house. The dotted lines show the far side of the cube, invisible to the eye (unless the cube is made of glass). It is noticeable that not all the lines are parallel to one another, but follow the rules of perspective and take the lines to the two vanishing points. This device is very convincing to the eye.

Next look at this diagram of a kitchen as it might be drawn by a designer to show how a range of units will look when built. As in the first diagram opposite, it depends on one vanishing point at the horizon, or eye-level. Any lines not joined to the vanishing point are either horizontal or vertical.

One-point Perspective

When you create a picture based on one-point perspective, everything in the picture is dependent on the central point of your vision. All the forms you draw will be connected to this point – the vanishing point.

To construct these forms you will need a ruler, because straight lines are essential. Create an image that has a single point on the eye-level or horizon to which all lines of depth will be related.

Draw a horizon from one side of the paper to the other and place a point in the centre of it. Then construct three rectangles in the space of the picture, one entirely above the horizon, one entirely below it, and one partly above and partly below.

With a ruler, trace straight lines from each corner of the three rectangles to join at the centre point on the horizon.

Having done this, you can now go ahead and construct cubes from your rectangles by drawing a smaller rectangle further along the lines that join the vanishing point, to make a three-dimensional cuboid. In the cube above the horizon, you will see the side and underside and the cube appears to be floating in the air. In the cube below the horizon you get a similar effect, except the upper surface and side are visible but the underside is not and the cube appears to be resting on the ground. The third cuboid is similar to a building viewed at eye-level because, apart from the front, the only visible part is the side and it looks as though it is towering over your head. This, of course, is an illusion, but it is a very effective one.

Imagine yourself in the empty room visualized in the diagram below, which is based on the perspective lines you’ve just established. Here there’s a low eye-level, which means that you’re sitting down; the room has a door to your left and two windows to your right. It has bare floorboards and strip lighting on the ceiling. There’s a picture frame hanging on the far wall.

Notice how the vertical line indicates your viewing position and the horizontal line shows your eye-level. All the floorboards seem to slope towards the centre point, known as the vanishing point. The lines of the skirting boards and the cornice rail on the walls to each side also slope towards this centre point, as do the tops and bottoms of the door and the windows. In other words, apart from the vertical or horizontal lines, all lines slope towards the centre point – which is why this system is called one-point perspective.

The drawing on the right shows the vast interior of a medieval church. It demonstrates how one-point perspective works, even with an unusual building like this. I’ve purposely omitted to include furniture in the drawing so that you can see where the perspective lines of the roof, windows and columns meet at one point.

This diagram gives a good idea of how you can set about constructing a room that appears to have depth and space. Now try standing or sitting in a room in your home and see if you can envisage where imaginary horizontal and vertical lines representing your eye-level and viewing position cross. This is the vanishing point for the perspective, to which all lines that aren’t vertical or horizontal will slope.

Two-point Perspective

To take this three-dimensional illusion one step further, you need to add another vanishing point to the horizon so that, this time, there is one at each end of the line, making two-point perspective.

To construct this two-point perspective diagram, first draw a vertical line, which will form the nearest corner of a large block shape. From the top and bottom ends of the vertical line, draw ruled lines to meet both the vanishing points. Then decide upon the length and depth of your block shape and draw two more verticals that indicate the two corners of the block, making sure that they stop at the lines which join the original vertical with the two vanishing points. Now you have two visible sides of a three-dimensional rectangular block, seen from one corner. I have assumed that your original vertical, like mine, projects above and below the eye-level line. You can see how the object is even more convincing than the one constructed on the one-point diagram. Now try to produce the second block in the diagram by yourself. I’ve shaded the sides of the diagrammatic blocks to give them more solidity.

In the two-point perspective drawing below, notice how the lamp-posts appear to become smaller as they recede from your point of view. The tops and bottoms of the posts are in line, and the rooflines of the buildings can be joined in straight lines to one of the vanishing points. The same applies to the windows, doorways and pavements. The corner of the nearest building is on the viewing vertical and all the other parts of the buildings appear to diminish as they recede from this point.

On the left, I’ve drawn a large public building. Here the perspective is two-point and both sides of the main bulk of the edifice diminish towards the vanishing points, one of which will be off the edge of the page.

Three-point Perspective

Three-point perspective is seldom used, but I have demonstrated it here as it helps to explain how perspective works. It applies to drawings of very tall buildings. It is difficult to visualize three-point perspective in real life unless you are standing at the foot of such a building.

First, as before, draw a horizon line across the paper. After fixing two vanishing points to the left and right, join them to a long vertical line drawn in the centre, as on page 46. In this instance, the top of the vertical should be as high as you can get on the paper, while the lower point should be close to the eye-level line. This, as you can see, creates a very tall quadrilateral.

Now draw two lines either side of the central vertical so that they incline equally at the top, as if you had a third vertical vanishing point somewhere high above the horizon – so high above, in fact, that you would need an enormous sheet of paper to accommodate it.

Draw in some more lines from the two visible vanishing points to indicate different levels on the surface of this tall block, so that it looks like a skyscraper seen from below. Of course, the angularity of the block is vastly exaggerated, but you can get the idea. Remember, perspective is only a way of helping to cheat the eye to believe in the solidity of buildings and the depth of space – it tends to break down if you try to take it too literally.

This drawing of the enormous cathedral at Reims in France is a case for three-point perspective. The building’s great height, and the fact that the viewpoint is so close, means a third vanishing point is needed high in the sky above the cathedral. All the vertically sloping lines along the sides of the building must eventually meet at a point somewhere above the sheet of paper.

Perspective Diagrams

This purely diagrammatic exercise gives you practice in drawing perspective, so that eventually you will be able to apply it without all the construction lines because your mind has absorbed its principles. The co-ordination of the eye and mind is melded by repetition and practice.

1. Draw the horizon line and vanishing points for two-point perspective as before. This time, draw a vertical towards the left of the page, and a smaller one down near the bottom, as shown. Then join the top and bottom of the larger vertical to the vanishing points; join only the lower end of the smaller vertical.

2. Now draw two more verticals for the larger cube and join them and the top end of the smaller vertical to the vanishing points. Then draw two ellipses up past the higher end of the smaller block.

3. Now complete the lower block as shown and draw verticals from the narrow ends of the two ellipses. One pair of verticals should stop below the horizon line and the other pair should continue above it. Draw in two more ellipses to complete the two apparent cylinders, one tall and one short.

4. Now, to complicate the scene a bit, draw in two more perspective lines so that you can construct a row of posts set uniformly along between the two blocks. Draw a vertical at the lower end of these and another a short distance from it to produce a quadrilateral. Draw diagonals across this quadrilateral, then draw another vertical and a perspective line cutting across where the diagonals meet.

5. Using the method shown in Step 4 to draw a row of posts in perspective, keep producing diagonals that use the next central point to construct another vertical until you have a whole row of them.

6. When you have erased your construction lines, the diagram should look like this. This exercise may take a bit of time, but it is well worth doing to consolidate your perspective drawing skills. The result should be solid-looking and will convince the eye.

Buildings in Perspective

These examples will help you to become familiar with constructing different views of buildings in perspective. When you are drawing on site, the important lines to identify are the eye-level or horizon line and the lines along the top and bottom edges of the building. Remember that unless you are drawing a building from far away the converging perspective lines will meet at a point somewhere beyond your paper.

Try drawing a long building or a short street from one end. Again, this can be set up by drawing guidelines to mark the eye-level or horizon line, the nearest vertical corner, and lines converging on the eye-level above and below it to represent the base and the top edge of the building. The vanishing point on one side of the vertical should be fixed on your eye-level line, even if the one on the other side is too far away to make it onto your paper.

Here one building is set at an angle from the main street. This means that although the same horizon line will be used for all the buildings in the drawing, the vanishing point for this particular building will be much further to the right on the horizon. The vanishing point of the main part of the street is just behind one of the doors on the right-hand side of the oblique building.

This church with a pepper-pot tower is positioned on a rise in the ground, so the horizon is very low in the picture, just below the level of the steps.

An Urban Scene

Using the techniques of perspective that you’ve learned, try drawing a more complex urban scene. By now you should broadly understand how to construct a drawing of architectural forms and be able to produce a convincing picture. However, if you’re not satisfied with the end result, don’t be discouraged – everything will slot into place as long as you keep practising the basics.

This is essentially a perspective exercise, but approached in an artistic rather than a scientific way. Your eyes will give you all the information you need to draw accurately, but your perspective studies will help your mind to make more sense of it and ease the process of drawing. Choose a location that is easy for you to draw and check on the weather before you start, so that rain and wind don’t make things more difficult for you.

Here is an outline drawing of a street by the Arno river in Florence, Italy. In order to show the perspective clearly, I have omitted drawing human figures or cars.

Now look at this diagram of the perspective lines that underlie the original drawing. It consists merely of the horizon line and the main lines that join at the vanishing point. These should inform your own drawing, even if you don’t actually put them all in with a ruler. So your task is to find a street scene and, if it looks too complex, simplify it by leaving out any street furniture and buildings that confuse you. Draw from life, at the scene, bearing in mind what you now know about perspective construction.

Put in the main shapes first and the details later, when you are sure that the major blocks of the scene are reasonably convincing.

When you have added all the detail you need, put in the tonal areas, using textures to differentiate the various surfaces of the scene. I have given the roadway a smoother texture than elsewhere by smudging the pencil marks with a stump. Notice also how the more distant features have less definition than those in the foreground. This helps to convince the eye of the picture’s three-dimensional quality.

Irregular Perspective

Now we are going to look at a large piece of architectural work in which the perspective is not entirely regular, in this instance because of the sloping ground and the slightly odd type of fortification. The horizon line is very low, so the line of the top of the arch is at about 60 degrees from vertical. As very few of the lines are horizontal or vertical, such a drawing does not demand that you organize the perspective to perfection. When faced with a view like this it is better to forget perspective and trust that your eye will give you all the information you need.

Here the vast areas of wall and chunky simplified masses of building give a very strong combination of shapes. The handling of the shadows is important too, because they increase the impression of simplicity and monumental size.

Aerial Perspective

When it comes to drawing rural landscapes, perspective is not so evident as in urban scenes, but it is just as important to show the scene receding into the distance. The effect of atmospheric haze means that objects and landscape features in the distance are not so clear as those in the foreground. This phenomenon is known as aerial perspective.

In this landscape, the background area is very faint and without detail or much texture – in places it’s almost as light as the sky. The middle ground has a little more definition and texture, but still not much detail. The foreground has the greatest definition and the most texture and intensity of detail. This is the effect of aerial perspective.

Practice: A Scene in Perspective

For the final perspective exercise you only have to look around you at the room you are in to see your next subject. This doesn’t mean the task is any easier when you come to draw it, but at least you have now had quite a bit of practice of drawing in perspective, so you will be much more confident of tackling the problem.