Fundamentals of Perspective Drawing

Perspective Drawing is a technique used in art and design to represent three-dimensional images on a two-dimensional picture plane.

 

There are two main elements in Perspective Drawing:

 

Linear Perpsective which deals with the organization of shapes in space.

Aerial Perspective (also called Atmospheric Perspective) which deals with the atmospheric effects on tones and colors.

Both of these elements work hand in hand to give us a convincing illusion of three dimensions on a two dimensional plane.

1.1 Basic Terminology

Here are the basic terms we need to understand first before mastering the art of Perspective Drawing :)

• Picture Plane - is the flat surface of a form, which is basically the 2D drawing that we use to project the 3D values in the perspective.

 

• Horizontal/Horizon Line- is the chief line of perspective drawing for which the sky meets the land or water below. The height of the horizon will affect the placement of the vanishing point(s) as well as the scene’s eye level.

 

• Vanishing Point - are the construction points of the scenes, always placed on the Horizon Line, and are used for the construction of the entire scene. Vanishing points can also be placed outside of the Picture Plane.

 

• Ground/Base Plane - is the base of all objects, it shows the contact surface between objects and ground. It could be land or water.

 

• Visual Rays- are known as “line of sight through picture plane” are all the lines that converge from the vanishing points and block out the entire scene.

 

1.2 The 3 Point of Views (Artist's Viewpoint)

It is the spot (point) from which you, the artist, is looking at (viewing) the scene. It is affected by the placement of the horizon and the vanishing points.

 

the 3 points of views are the following:

• Man’s Eye View(Normal View)

• Bird’s Eye View(Top View)

• Worm’s Eye View(Bottom View)

 

【Important!】

All objects that are at Normal viewing height([EYES]or your viewpoint as the artist) ALWAYS intersect with the true Horizon Line. Whether you are sitting on the ground plane/ standing on the ground plane/ or Up in a high point, this fact will never change.

1.3 The 3 Major Types of Perspective Drawing

𝗢𝗻𝗲-𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲

This type of perspective is the simplest form of 3d representation of 2d drawings using a single vanishing point where the vertical and horizontal lines remains unchanged.

 

Keypoint: The only thing that changes in the 2d plane drawing is the depth that was due to the projection of visual rays from the vanishing point.

𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘝𝘪𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘢𝘺𝘴(𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦/𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦) 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵.

𝗧𝘄𝗼-𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 (𝗔𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲)

Is used to give an angular form with respect to the two vanishing points to illustrate either side-side or up-down views.

 

keypoint: Vertical Lines of the Picture Plane remains straight, while the horizontal line will change according to the angle of the visual rays projected from the vanishing points

𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲-𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 (𝗢𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲)

Using 3 vanishing points, this type is the most complex form of perspective drawing. It is used to portray the extreme views from high or low vantage points; it suggests the scale of the form based on the eye-level.

 

The location of the third vanishing point is either above or below the horizon line.

 

 

Keypoint: Vertical and Horizontal lines of the Picture Plane will change according to the angle of visual rays projected from the 3 vanishing points.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 3𝘳𝘥 𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘮'𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵.

Application

Now that we know the basic knowledge related to perspective drawing, let's try applying it on our canvas! :D

[a] Planning

The first step is to have a “plan”(at least a single view, usually drafted as a 2D plane drawing.)We will need to plan the setting, giving attention to the dimensions of each space as it is a vital key to establishing our perspective drawing.

 

note: of course, you can draw with your "wild imagination" :D but unless you are already adept at drawing perspectives, it is always nice to plan things out a little before diving into the actual scene

 

Below is a rough sketch of what I want the background to look like :) We will be doing an Interior Perspective for this practice.

[b] Preparing Canvas

After deciding on the “plan”, it’s time to prepare our canvas.

 

I usually work on a 2040x3020 pixel canvas set at 300dpi resolution, so we will use this one for this tutorial :D

 

[c] Creating the Perspective Ruler

I've decided to use a 2-point perspective ruler for this practice. As it goes above the simple 1-point perspective, and below the complexity of a 3-point perspective; so we can see how the principle we studied above applies to the midpoint of these two.

After choosing the perspective ruler type we want, a default guide will automatically be placed on the canvas.

[d] Arranging the Ruler Guide

【Important!】

The very important step to working on perspective drawings is locating the Horizon Line first within our canvas. It will give us the next step which is the positioning of the Vanishing Points along that established horizon line.

Notice how I placed the Vanishing Point1 outside the actual canvas(drawing space). This is to avoid the projected image from looking unnatural and distorted.

 

Keypoint: The more a Vanishing Point is farther from the other one, the more natural and realistic the image projection will look in the human eyes.

The image above shows us that the center/midpoint of the canvas is always the BASIC location of the Horizon Line.

 

But notice that I positioned our Horizon Line(blue line) below the normal view. This position of our Horizon Line will now give us the「Worm's Eye View Perspective」

 

I decided on using this one because the view will look more interesting when presented on a different view other than the Normal or Man's Eye View. You can opt to use it either way or even try a Bird's Eye View if you like! :)

 

Keynote: Try to think of a position where you would like to "picture" the scene. Anything that goes above the HL will be viewed as Bird's Eye View. While going down the opposite side will give result to us viewing the Worm's Eye View.

I personally like taking pictures either seated or squated xD (I got them pro photographer feels when I do so kek) Anyway, you have all the right to choose wherever you want to take the picture yourself!

 

【Important!】

Please do not confuse "your" current height position (as the artist/spectator) to the position of the "characters" inside your canvas. But do note that the true Horizon Line "inside" your canvas will ALWAYS be at a normal character's "eye-level" inside that canvas, as explained above.

 

*normal character- meaning a character inside your art with NORMAL height, at least 1.6m (at least to me, well I'm asian so) :)

[e] Sketching Time!

Go watch this 2min video to see how we use[into our advantage >:)] some Clip Studio Paint's features & how to draw perspective lines using the Perspective Ruler Guide.

If you didn't watch the video, its ok.

here's some helpful TL;DW:

 

Use Vector Layer to erase overlapping lines USING Vector Eraser easily, toggle off the Perspective Ruler Layer when doing free-hand drawing to avoid auto-snap to the ruler.

I did some more sketching after the end of the video, so the final outcome of the sketch now looked like this

We can now do the rough rendering. This is so we can decide on the shading of the lights and shadows that will further our perception of the 3-dimensional values of this drawing!

 

[f] Rendering

After doing some experiments with the shading, the raw rendering turned out like this :D

 

The Lighting and shadows affecting the environment enhanced our rough sketch and added to its 3D-ness. :)

 

The next step is to render it properly!

Watch this video to see the rendering process + TIPS on how to make it faster! :D

The Output

:D Here is the final outcome for this practice. I know you can do better than this if you continue to work on it! I will try to improve this too in the future ;)

Thank you and I hope you learned a thing or two from this TIP :)