How do I draw in perspective?

Perspective is a geometrical system for representing depth, and it becomes much easier once you accept that the horizon line is not the horizon in the landscape — it is your own eye level, wherever you happen to be standing.

What you'll need

• A long ruler or straight edge
• Paper large enough that the vanishing points fit on it
• A hard pencil for construction lines

Step by step

1. Draw the horizon line first.It is at your eye level, always. Sitting on the floor puts it low; standing on a chair puts it high. Every other line in the drawing is measured against it.
2. Understand what a vanishing point is.Parallel lines going away from you appear to converge. The point where they would meet is the vanishing point, and it sits on the horizon line.
3. Use one-point when you face a flat surface square on.Looking straight down a street or into a room. The wall or face in front of you is drawn as a true rectangle, and only the receding edges converge, on a single point.
4. Use two-point when you can see a corner.Looking at the corner of a building or a box on a table. No horizontal edges stay horizontal, all vertical edges stay vertical, and the two sets of receding edges meet at two separate points on the horizon.
5. Place the vanishing points wide apart.Points close together produce a violently distorted, fish-eye result. Often they should be off the edge of the paper — tape it down onto a larger sheet and mark them there.
6. Keep verticals vertical.In one- and two-point perspective, vertical edges are drawn vertical, without exception. Sloping verticals are what make a drawn building look like it is falling over.
7. Construct lightly, then draw over it.The construction lines are scaffolding. Keep them faint with a hard pencil so they can be erased or simply disappear under the finished lines.
8. Remember objects above and below eye level behave differently.Anything above the horizon line shows its underside and its lines slope down towards the horizon; anything below shows its top and slopes up. This is the fastest way to check a drawing.
9. Find the centre of a plane by crossing diagonals.Drawing the two diagonals of a receding rectangle gives its true perspective centre, which is where a door, a window or the next fence post goes. It is the single most useful construction trick.
10. Check it against a photograph.Lay a straight edge along the converging edges in a photograph of a building. They will meet on the horizon, and seeing it confirmed makes the system click.
11. Then draw freehand with the rules in mind.Full construction is for learning and for architectural work. Most drawing uses the understanding rather than the ruler.

Tips

• The horizon line is your eye level, not the landscape's horizon.
• Verticals stay vertical. Almost every wonky perspective drawing breaks this.
• Crossing the diagonals of a receding rectangle finds its true centre.

Common mistakes

• Placing the two vanishing points close together — It produces an extreme wide-angle distortion that reads as wrong even to people who cannot say why. Real viewing angles put the points far apart, often outside the paper.
• Letting vertical edges converge — In one- and two-point perspective verticals are drawn parallel. Converging them is three-point perspective, and doing it accidentally makes buildings appear to lean or topple.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask