Online-Instructions - Learn to Paint and Draw
Perspective Drawing
by Markus Agerer

In this guide I would like show you the basics of perspective drawing. Drawing objects perspectively makes them appear more realistic, as the human eye perceives objects visually distorted as well. You can easily observe this effect when you pay it attention apperceively.

Look at e.g. a road and see how it narrows in the distance. All the vehicles, rows of houses and people become smaller and smaller as farther as they are away from you. The objects become smaller along so called vanishing lines, which run in the depth and finally meet at one point in the distance. This point is called the vanishing point and lies on the horizon. A real example of a perspective distortion is shown in the image below - especially the pillars and the floor tiles are to be observed.

The simplest type of spacial depiction is the central perspective with only one vanishing point (FP-1). As already described all vanishing lines (at the central perspective) run together into the vanishing point.

Perspective drawing: Central perspective with a vanishing point

If you want to draw perspectively you might intend to draw or paint objects. How to do so you can see at best in the picture below. The simplest object is a cube. The edges of the cube run along the vanishing lines.
Furthermore, you can differ (in the field of perspective drawing) between the normal view, the bird's-eye and frog's-eye perspective. In the picture below you can see a object drawn in the frog-eye perspective, where you be looking on a object from below. You can also see the bird's-eye perspective, in which you look on the object from above. In the normal perspective we see the respective object frontally.

Perspective drawing: Cube in bird's- and frog's-eye perspective

Even more challenging is drawing the perspective with two vanishing pionts. This perspective method is used to draw the so-called corner perspective. That means a perspective in which you are looking on an edge (or corner) of an object.
As an example of the perspective with two vanishing points serves in the picture below a cube again (to keep it simple). The edges of the cubes are running along the lines of the vanishing lines. At the point where two lines intersect the same level, the vertical edges of the cubes rise.

Perspective drawing: Perspective with two vanishing points

The third stage of drawing perspective is the perspective with three vanishing points. In the perspective with three vanishing points you can additionally draw the upward distortion in the corner perspective. This way of persective illustration is often used for architectural drawings. With this method you can draw skyscrapers very impressive.
In the picture below you can see how the vertical edges of a cube distort perspectively with the help of the third vanishing point (FP-3) .

Perspective drawing: Perspective with three vanishing points

Now, if you still want to learn to draw perspectively you should best start with practicing right now ;-). And be glad that you didn't get a fourth and fifth vanishing point yet :-D !