Perspective drawing uses a vanishing point (where all things vanish on the image also known as VP) to guide it’s lines and make an imitation of a 3D world on a 2D plane. This is important as it provides a way of making something look 3D when it actually isn’t. This makes it easy to draw buildings and get all the angles of each building the right slope. It also makes an illusion of depth as everything disappears at the VP. The horizon line is where the ground meets the sky, this is where the VP sits. Parallel lines will look as if they are going into the VP so on the drawing they aren’t actually parallel. You can further enhance your drawing by using directional shading. You can do this by planting an imaginary Sun and have it shine light onto certain walls of a building for example and the other walls which do not face the Sun will be shaded.

Examples of Perspective Drawing:

One Point Perspective

This is a One Point Perspective drawing, so horizontal parallel lines actually aren’t parallel in the drawing so that they seem to disappear at the vanishing point. This makes it seem like the further you are from a point the smaller it looks. You could use directional shading to simulate light from the Sun shining down on certain walls. This would emphasise that the building is not 2D as some of the walls will not be shaded and others will. I think I could improve this piece if I had took less time on the buildings’ details and making more buildings.

Two Point Perspective

Two Point Perspective uses two vanishing points so that you can make a street corner and have lines going in different directions have a realistic angle. This helps to make the image seem like it is 3D because otherwise the angles would look wrong. Both vanishing points have to be on the same horizon line. To improve this piece I would have finished off the building and added another one to the other side of the centre building.

Two Point Perspective Cityscape

We were told to make a city using two point perspective. We had to put two vanishing points on either side of the page and then use the vanishing points to draw the buildings, pavements, roads and even the lamp-post uses two point perspective. To further enhance I added details such as brickwork, balconies, a cat, lamp- and a rubbish bag. To finish the drawing I used directional shading on windows and buildings as if there was an imaginary sun on a side of the page. To improve it I think I could have added some more details and make the balcony rails an even distance from each other. I think I did the cat well and the buildings always went to the right vanishing point so did not look wrong.