Studies in single-point perspective along with effective visual receding in all media. Artistic practices that interpret theory.

Linear Perspective

Creating the illusion of depth with geometric straight lines – Linear Perspective – has been with us since the Renaissance Period  of the 1400’s. Perspective was initially seen as creating an almost magical realism in paintings and drawings. Even today, it surprises and has me scratching my head, given that following a few rules can be so effective: perhaps even too effective, should your objective be to diverge from realism – however that’s a topic for a later lesson.

The principles of Linear Perspective may appear simple and it’s easy to gloss over the subject, not fully internalizing the concept. Take time to practice, until it almost seems like there is no construction needed!

Single-point linear perspective

Let’s dive straight in with single-point linear perspective, the type of visuals you would encounter in a tunnel with everything converging to a point in the distance. It makes sense that objects that are further away look smaller and the neat thing is that the size of something reduces in a regular, linear fashion: when a chair is 20 feet away it’s half the size of the same chair that’s 10 feet away. This leads to the useful fact that you can use converging lines to help lay out your artwork.

In this 20 minute video, I start with basic principles and lay out a room using single-point perspective:

Method

I start with drawing the back wall of a room: no perspective here – I’m setting up the horizon and vanishing point:

I can then draw the walls of the room, as they are all in reality, parallel horizontal lines and so will recede to my vanishing point:

Windows and doors follow the same principles:

Lines that are above the horizon describe space above the viewpoint of the observer (hence the top of my door is above the horizon. Projecting lines onto the back wall is useful in making sure doors and windows are the same height:

There are only three types of lines: horizontal lines, vertical lines and lines going to the vanishing point!

Exercise

1. Play the video again in segments and draw a room as you go – you can, of course create whatever space you like, resplendent with details such as pictures, furniture and your own personal touches!
2. Draw in a person, standing in the room at the back wall: Where approximately would their head be? If there was also a second person in the room, but closer to the viewer, where would that person’s head be?

Finding the vanishing point on a reference image

In the preceding video, I started with a vanishing point and built an imaginary room. I could have equally found the vanishing point on a reference and used this to help construct a drawing or painting in consistent perspective. In the following image, I establish the vanishing point by taking a few known parallel horizontal lines and finding where they cross…voila! You’ve found the vanishing point….and the (hidden) horizon!!

Don’t worry if you find that there’s not an exact point: lines may not exactly intersect because of extrapolation errors, lens errors in the camera and of course, the lines you’ve chosen might not be exactly horizontal or parallel.

Here’s the vanishing point for Van Gogh’s bed:

Example.

These principles apply equally to painting as to drawing. As long as you generally follow the rules, the viewer will create the rest. In the following painting of a street scene, I follow the reference, simplifying, stepping back and making sure my eye consistently references the vanishing point.

 

Exercise

Take a reference from the reference gallery or a similar reference of your own and develop a painting or drawing in the following manner:

1. Find the vanishing point and use this to develop a composition sketch – don’t worry about all the detail, just the overall forms. If you can send me an image of this prior to developing the work, so much the better.
2. Develop a drawing or painting using single-point perspective. Remember, it’s the overall illusion that counts and from the point of view of perspective, there are only three types of lines: horizontal lines, vertical lines and lines going to the vanishing point!