How to Draw Perspective

Draw a Box Using One-Point Perspective

Let's draw a box using one-point perspective. First, draw a horizon line about one-third
down your page. Mark a spot roughly in the middle of the line. That's your vanishing point.

Now, draw a rectangle about two-thirds down the page, roughly in the middle. Lightly draw
lines from the top two corners to the vanishing point.

Draw a horizontal line between these two orthogonals

('vanishing lines'). This is the back of the box. Darken the
lines between this horizontal and the box, and erase the rest
of the vanishing lines up to the horizon. There! A 3-D box.

If you draw a box to the side of the vanishing point, you will
need to also draw a vanishing line from the bottom corner, as
show in the example. When you draw the horizontal to make
the back of the box, just drop a vertical line from where it
meets the top orthogonal down to the bottom one, to give you
the rear edge of the box.

How to Draw Perspective

Draw a Box Using Two-Point Perspective

More of this Feature

• Intro to Perspective
• One-Point Perspective

Related Resources
 • Perspective Links
• Perspective Tips

Here's how to draw a box using simple two-point perspective. If you haven't tried it before it
might look complicated, so just draw one step at a time.

First, draw your horizon line across the top of the page. Mark two vanishing points, as far
apart as possible.

Draw a short vertical line for the front corner of your box (the black line in the picture) and
then draw a construction line ('orthogonal') from the top and bottom of the line, to each
vanishing point (the dark blue lines).

Assignment: Two-Point Perspective

Always draw lightly (whisper lines) because several parts of each line may be erased.

1. Put your paper in landscape view.

2. Draw a horizon line in the middle of your

paper.
3. Add two points on the ends of the
horizon line to use as vanishing points

4. Lightly draw a small vertical line below

your horizon line in the center of your
paper.

5. Using whisper lines, draw a line from the

top of your perpendicular line to each
vanishing point (2 lines created)

6. Using whisper lines, draw a line from the

bottom of your perpendicular line to
each vanishing point (2 lines created)
7. You should now have a double "V"
created. Another way to look at this is
that you now have two triangles with a
common line drawn on your paper. This
will be a street that you will line buildings
up on. Erase the original vertical line you
started with.

8. You may choose to extend the lines so

that the street becomes an intersection.
The lines closest to you should be
darkest and the lines farthest away
should be barely visible.

9. Draw a line perpendicular to your

horizon where the intersection is. Make
sure this line extends beyond the
horizon line. This is the front corner of
your building. At this point, I usually get
rid of the horizon line so things stay a
little neater.

10. Using whisper lines, draw a line from the

top of your perpendicular line to each
vanishing point (2 lines created).The
street acts as the bottom of your
building.
11. Draw two more perpendicular lines
within the triangles. These lines create
the far walls of the building. The
perpendicular lines do not have to be at
equal distances from the original
perpendicular line. Play with where the
lines fall until you like the image. Lines
close to the original perpendicular create
a boxier and taller building.

12. Now outline this shape and erase the

whisper lines that extend past your
building.

13. Let's add some windows. Make an even

number of dots down the front corner of
the building.

14. Extend these in one or both directions.

Pointed toward their respective
vanishing points.
15. These could be full-length windows or
separate. Drop vertical lines down to
finish the windows. Erase your whisper
lines.

16. Next we'll draw a building that is below

that horizon line so the viewer will be
able to see the top of the building. So,
draw a line that is below the horizon line
keeping in mind that you don't want your
building in the road.

17. Extend whisper lines from the top and

bottom of your new building. The road
acted as one of my vanishing points in
this case.

18. Drop vertical lines in between your sets

of whisper lines.
19. Now look carefully at which direction the
next set of whisper lines goes. The right
side goes to the left vanishing point and
vice versa.

20. Now erase your whisper lines and

darken up your lines for your new
building. You could erase the road lines
unless you wanted a glass building.

21. Those are the basics behind buildings

and two-point perspective. I'll show you
some details, then let you play. Some
stop lights might be entertaining.
Remember, you always start with a
vertical line and let horizontal lines go
toward a vanishing point. Even the tops
of the lights go to a vanishing point.
There should be NO horizontal lines
unless they are ON the horizon line.

22. This was your practice drawing. Read

carefully through what you will be
graded on before you start your final
drawing.
One Point Perspective

One point perspective takes one of the three sets of parallel lines of the cube and
projects them to a point, a VANISHING POINT. We will say this is the North direction. The other two sets of lines of
the cube continue to run parallel and unaltered. This vanishing point can also be considered where your eye is
located in relation to objects found on this page. This location of the eye or (vanishing point) becomes the place
where cubes shift across in space to show their opposite side, from right to left and from above you to below you.
Two Point Perspective

click on picture to print out your own two point

grid

Two point perspective uses two of these three sets of parallel lines of the cube. It projects one set of parallel lines to
the North point and the second set of parallel lines to the East vanishing point. In two point perspective, the third set
of lines continues to run parallel. In this case, they run straight up and down. Notice the two points we are using,
North and East, are 90 degrees of our horizon. This HORIZON LINE is also the EYE LEVEL LINE. The eye is better
to use because if you are underground or in outer space there is no such thing as a horizon but there is always a
location of your eyes (eye level).

Three Point Perspective

Three point perspective uses all three sets of parallel lines of the cube. Similar to
two point perspective, one of the sets of parallel lines aims toward the North point and the other set aims toward the
East point. The third set of lines projects toward the Nadir point (below you) or the Zenish point (above you). Either
Zenith or Nadir can be used with the same grid by spinning the three point perspective grid 180 degrees. You can
project all of these lines with a straight edge.
Four Point Perspective

Four point perspective can be thought of in a couple of different ways. First, we use
the same logic it takes to get to three point perspective. But if the cube we are looking at is very tall and projects
above you and also goes below your eye level, these up and down lines must project toward two points. Not only
does the cube look fat in the middle, it also seems to get smaller as it goes above and below your eye level. These
lines, which used to be the up and down parallel lines of the cube, are now curving in like a football coming together
at the Zenith and Nadir points. If you were on the twentieth floor of a skyscraper, looking out the window at another
skycscraper, forty stories high, you would see this type of effect.

Five Point Perspective

This system of perspective, using five points, creates a circle on a piece of paper or
canvas. You now can illustrate 180 degrees of visual space around you. It captures everything from North to South
and from Nadir to Zenith. Think of yourself inside a really exciting visual environment like St. Peter's Basilica in
Rome. You bring a transparent hemisphere with you. When you find a spot in the Basilica where any direction you
look is visually exciting, you put the hemisphere in front of your face and copy what you see on the inside of it. The
hemisphere shows five vanishing points, north, on the left, east in the middle and south on the right. There is also a
point above your head and another below your chin. One hundred and eighty degrees of the total environment can be
drawn in this hemisphere. Think of how this would look on the flat surface. You would have to rely on five point grid
system on the flat page to do the same thing, but it really will work.
Six Point Perspective

The sixth (South) point is missing from five point perspective drawings. Within five
point we get half, or a hemisphere, of the visual world around us. To get the rest of the picture, the the whole picture
that is, you must add that last vanishing point. You would have to turn around and look at the room BEHIND you to
see the rest of the room and to find that last point. If you were in the transparent sphere in St. Peter's Basilica you
would have to copy not only what you see in front of you, but everything behind you as well. A good way to do this on
flat paper is to draw the last vanishing point on the back side of the first drawing. Yes, I mean on the back side of your
first drawing. The same grid will help you finish the total picture on this back side. When the rest of this picture is
drawn you have a 360 degree picture in all directions.