Introduction

Tired of using the perspective layer to make stiff sketches? Confused about using the perspective ruler?

Don’t worry! I found a better way to draw perspective easily!

What you need

First, make sure you download this material:

Afterwards, just plop that sucker onto the canvas. Make sure that both the box and the grid are in the same layer:

As you can see, the perspective box actually moves according to the grid’s axis point. There is the X axis, (Green), the Y axis (Red), and the Z axis, which usually represents 3 point perspective and is blue:

All the lines converge into dots that represent the vanishing point. The x and y axes converge at the horizon line (represented by an orange line:)

Whereas the z axis has two vanishing points, both at the extreme ends of the axis spectrum:

If you do one point perspective, you can use the x and y axis interchangably.

Now how do you move this around, you may ask? Look no further than these two buttons:

Rotate camera lets you adjust the perspective angle:

And the zoom tool lets you control how much the box can be zoomed in or out:

…which is important because if you go under perspective in the 3d object sub tool:

You can adjust the perspective grid’s field of view to fit your drawing!

Also in the same sub tool property, you can adjust the object’s roll:

That way, you can create impressive dutch angles!

Finally, to move the grid around, just use the move tool:

Types of perspective

1 point perspective

This is the most basic angle to learn, as you only need to worry about one vanishing point.

Let’s start with a sketch of the scene. Believe me; it’s always better if you start out with a sketch of what you want to convey:

Then plop the perspective grid onto the sketch.

After turning down the rough sketch’s opacity:

You are now ready to refine the sketch with the perspective grid!

If you look closely, you can see how all the lines point back towards the vanishing point.

If you don’t want the vanishing point to be dead and center, try moving it to the left or the right and see what compositions you can come up with!

You can even make some high and low angle shots!

BONUS: Drawing people in perspective

If you want to draw people in perspective, there are 3 methods: You can draw people how you usually draw perspective:

You can use something called the Three Head Method. This is especially useful for drawing characters from low and high angles:

And you can simply draw characters with what I called the Heads Align Method, in which you align the heads of two characters together. This is useful even when you’re not using perspective:

Regardless of which one you did, it’s important to designate a character as a key character-the one that makes every character match to the perspective:

2 point perspective

In two point perspective, both the x and y axis are utilized to show two sides of a building. This is useful for everything from houses to living rooms:

3 point perspective

Although not used as often as 1 or 2 point perspective, 3 point perspective is still useful for drawing shots at high angles and low angles when the 2 point perspective isn’t enough:

3 point perspective is also very useful for drawing interiors at high and low angles:

BONUS: Drawing circles in Perspective

To draw circles in any perspective, first draw a square in perspective, then draw a circle inside said square. It’s better than drawing the circle first:

Demonstration

For this demonstration, I drew a story pitch about a depressed artist in a creative slump. I first drew a thumbnail to get an idea of what angles I want to show:

After that, I placed the perspective grid in the panel that establishes the city, adjusting the FOV and the size to fit the sketch:

Then I carefully refined the sketch according to the grid:

Once I’m happy with it, on to inking!

Now I did the same for the panels with Zoe (the depressed artist) looking down at her work in frustration and Zoe being interrupted by her microwave beeping:

Here is the final result after all that adjusting, drawing, and adjusting again:

Conclusion

Until next time…

 

Ciao! n v n

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