The perspective

Basic rules for the perspective

In the mastery of the drawings, the proportions are the first element to mastery. The perspective is very often difficult to mastery for the amateurs but in following some simple rules and concrete exercises, the basis are easily learnt and without surrendering. You will thus be able to put in value the different view angles that you project to give more realism to your works.

It exists several rules but we will only give here the most important ones to appreciate quickly the proportions. Here is the first step...

The horizon line | The vanishing point and line | A cercle becomes an ellipse

The horizon line is not difficult to find, it is just facing you... to the height of your eyes, in the distance. When you begin drawing or painting a landscape or a still life, this line is the first thing to trace.

To better understand where she is situated and thus find it quickly, observe these outlines :

We will dwell on a tiled ground on which is located a wall made of brick

If one places oneself behind the wall and that one observes this ground while being above the wall, here is what we can see :

While going lightly down our view point, the two horizontal lines delimiting the in front of and the bottom of the ground become closer. You will note that their length remains unchanged...

If one passes underneath the ground, we have the same report. Moreover, you will note that the vertical lines remain definitively vertical...

Leaving this report, how in the nature, with all the details that surround us can we be sure to have found the horizon line? The unevens of the land, the flat surfaces, are as much traps to avoid.

A thing is sure, placing ones eyes at the level of the ground, it does not remain anymore than a line !

While not forgetting that the horizon line is situated in the height of the eyes, here is a tip that will help you to find it :

¶   Hold a ruler at arms length in front of you. She must be held horizontal. Adjust then the height of your arm until you see neither the superior face nor the inferior face of the ruler (as the ground of the previous image).
At that moment, the ruler indicates you the horizon line.

Despite this very simple basic rule, even so it remains some traps. The horizon line also depends on what you want to draw. Look at the example below when using a photo of a house of Trinidad (Cuba) :

Here the horizon line is situated practically to the half of your picture.

If you wanted to draw a part of this photo, the horizon line would not be at the same position...

The vanishing point and line | The horizon line | A cercle becomes an ellipse

The vanishing point, that is generally situated on the horizon line is the encounter point of the vanishing lines (to see photo above).

While facing a cube a little on the over (would not need us to be above the cube if it was a transparent cube), here is what we would see :

Nevertheless, if one pivots on the straight side a second vanishing point appears !

Same manner, while pivoting on the over cube, a third vanishing point unveils itself... This is while doing this last experience that we can notice an important thing: the number of vanishing points depends on the number of faces we see !

The example of the cube is a textbook case... nevertheless, in everyday life, it is rare to see only two faces in a landscape (ex: a street, an object, ...). Considering that, it is necessary to add secondary vanishing points. On the following example, you will notice that to draw the slopes of a roof with a perfect angle, you just have to position a secondary vanishing point above the horizon line and to simply pull the lines of the roof.

You will do the same for stairways, a garage slope, open shutters, etc.

A cercle becomes an ellipse | The horizon line | The vanishing point and line

Let us start with drawing a circle in perspective. For that we will analyze it in detail when it is drawn full-face in order to isolate some characteristic points that will not be modified or that will be easily repositioned correctly at the time of the placement in perspective.

A circle, as you know, has the characteristic to have a center and a diameter. That means that all its points are located at an equal distance of this center. We can deduct that it can be inserted in a square. We obtain therefore here and now four characteristic points.

We also know that the diagonals of this square go through the center of the circle. Here it is, a new point ! At that very moment you regret not to have followed your geometry courses...

By definition, the four corners of a square have the same length. We can therefore draw a square that goes through the four points being located to equals distance of the center of the circle (therefore on the circle !) and to the intersection of the diagonals of the external square. We will then have four new points...

With 8 points of the circle, you will just have to join them...

Nevertheless, we have just shown you that it is easy to find characteristic points of a circle when we have it already... Knowing that your objective will be to draw it, the steps must be inverted ! Here is therefore how to proceed.

First of all draw a square of which you will sketch the diagonal lines. Their intersection locate the center of the circle (1st drawing below). While taking each middle side, you will obtain the 4 next points...

To draw the internal square, you will locate the third of each middle side... The circle will appear all alone...

Let us now have a look at the following situation with two vanishing points. The previous training will serve you to create the needed squares. Begin therefore by drawing the external square according to your two vanishing points and using the corresponding vanishing lines.

Next, you will take the middle of the two bottom sides and you will do the same.

Then you will take the third of the small sides and will draw the internal square using the same methodology.

You just have to join the points and thus form your circle... At the begining it can be boring but with the experience, you will "feel" the form and will do it intuitively...