One Point Perspective

This welcome to the sixth video and the secrets to drawing video course brought to you by the virtue instructor dot com. In this video we’re going to explore space further and how you can create the illusion of it through a method of drawing called one point perspective. First of all let’s define one point perspective. One point perspective is a form of linear perspective that uses lines to create the illusion of space in a drawing. It’s important for us to understand that one point perspective relies on one vanishing point to create this illusion. In following videos we’ll talk about two point in three point perspective which use more than one vanishing point. Remember there are six ways to create the illusion of space on a two dimensional surface. One point perspective is one of the six ways to create this illusion one point perspective begins by establishing what is called the horizon line. The horizon line is theoretically the line that divides the sky from the ground. It can also represent the viewers on the horizon line continues on forever in both directions. Next we’ll place what’s called a vanishing point anywhere on the horizon line. It’s important that the vanishing point be placed on the horizon line even if it’s off the paper. The Vanishing Point is the point placed on the horizon line where objects begin to disappear because of distance. In this demonstration will do a simple cube. So the next step is to draw the shape of the form that you’re trying to draw in perspective. In this case we’re drawing a cube in perspective so we’ll begin with a simple square or a rectangle . Next we’ll draw lines from all four corners of our square to the one and only vanishing point placed on our horizon line . Now we can draw a smaller square. Further down closer to the vanishing point. Notice how the smaller square touches all four of the lines that we drew in the previous stage. If there is a tricky step to this process it’s here pay attention and make sure that all four of your corners touch these lines. Then all that’s left to do as a race any of the lines that we no longer need to reveal our cube in three dimensional space. In this case this is a transparent cube. If we wanted to we could erase some more lines to make our cube look solid. Let’s take a look at this process in action. First of all you’ll need a ruler. You’ll also need a graphite pencil and it’s a good. I did have an eraser on hand will begin by establishing the horizon line or our viewers line of sight . Next we’ll place a vanishing point somewhere on the horizon line. Since we’re going to start with a simple cube we’ll draw a square or a rectangle. In this case I’m drawing it below the horizon line. Once our square is drawn we can now draw lines from all four corners back to the vanishing point . Now we can draw the smaller square that touches all four corners. I like to start at one of the corners and travel further down one of the lines of perspective towards the vanishing point to make my first line then from my original line. I work my way around to produce the smaller square . Once you established the smaller square now you can erase any lines that you no longer need. You won’t need any lines that exists in the original square so you can go ahead and erase those. You won’t need some of the lines that exist on the other two planes of the cube and you won’t need any of the lines of perspective that extend beyond the cube itself. To help you see what lines you will need to keep. I’ll go over them briefly with another layer of graphite to make them a bit darker. Now what if you wanted to create the illusion of more forms within the drawing. Well let’s draw another cube that exists behind this one. Again we start the same way by drawing the shape of the object that we’re trying to draw in perspective . In this case I’m going to make this look similar to a building. So I’m drawing a rectangle. It’s important for us to recognize that all of the lines perspective in one point perspective will go to the one and only vanishing point that exists there. There’s no need to draw a brand new horizon line or brand new vanishing point. Notice that all of the steps stay the same. Once we have our rectangle established we draw lines from all four corners back to the vanishing point . Then draw a smaller rectangle that exist closer to the vanishing point. That touches all four of our lines of perspective . I’ll go over the lines that we’re going to keep here. First then erase the lines we no longer need as you become more confident with this. You can make lines that you know you’re no longer going to need lighter or completely nonexistent . Now let’s draw a building that exists on the other side of the vanishing point. Again we start like we have with our other forms by drawing the shape of the form. Again we’ll draw another rectangle to begin with. Then once our rectangle is established again we’ll draw lines from all four of the corners of that rectangle to the same vanishing point . Once these lines are established we can draw our smaller rectangle within these lines. Here again make sure that each of these lines touches each of the lines of perspective . Now we can erase the lines that we no longer need. You’ll notice that I left the other two lines of the smaller rectangle out. I knew that I was going to need to erase them anyway. Again when you become more confident with one point perspective you can skip some steps. Now I’m going to add a road. It’s very easy to do that. Notice that the lines of this straight road go straight back to the one and only vanishing point. Also add the illusion of broken lines in the center of the road to make the drawing look a bit more realistic. In this case again I’ve just use horizontal lines and lines going back to the vanishing point to create this illusion. I’ll add a curb to the road on both sides again using the vanishing point as a god. And then I’ll add a sidewalk with yet another line back to the vanishing point to create breaks in the sidewalk. I’ll just add horizontal lines the horizontal line should get closer together as they go further back in space then I’ll draw straight up and down vertical lines where the sidewalk breaks occur. Now let’s make these buildings look a little bit more realistic. We’ll begin by adding windows on this side of the building that faces the viewer. In this case these are going to be straight rectangles and squares . I’ll make them a little bit darker and value to give some contrast . Now for the windows on the side of the building. Here we’re going to draw two lines that go back to the vanishing point. Then I’ll draw a series of straight up and down vertical lines to create the rest of the windows. Now I can add a bit of value to make them stand out. Let’s say we wanted to add a door on this side of the building. Again we start with a line towards the vanishing point then two vertical lines will draw horizontal line and then another vertical line then we’ll draw at the base another line back to the vanishing point . Now add a bit of value to add some contrast to the doors. Now one point perspective doesn’t just work for buildings and roads. It also works for trees and fences and many other things. In this case I’ll show you how you can create the illusion of a tree line. In this case we have to assume that all the trees were planted on the same day and are the same type of tree. But by drawing two lines back to the vanishing point we know at the top of our tree starts and where the bottom of the tree should end drawing another one. We can use these lines as a guide to make sure that they look like they’re the right size . Now as I mentioned this works for drawing fences as well. So let’s draw a couple of lines and create a fence on the left side of our drawing. Again two lines back to the vanishing point then straight vertical lines to indicate the fence posts . Then we can use our lines of perspective to create the top and bottom portion of the fence and also the middle portion of the fence as well. Now our background looks a bit flat so I’ll just add some hills in the background to make the drawing look a bit more realistic. So what do we learn in this video. Well first we learned that 1 point perspective is a form of linear perspective that uses lines to create the illusion of space in a drawing. Remember one point perspective uses one vanishing point placed on the horizon line. All lines go to that one and only vanishing point. This is important to remember as we continue on with two point in three point perspective in the next video we’ll take a look at two point perspective and how two vanishing points can be used to create the illusion of space in our