1
Perspective
Perspective drawing creates the
appearance of spatial depth or
perspective in drawings and paintings.
Similar to foreshortening, perspective
sketching creates the appearance of
depth and makes artwork jump off the
paper by utilizing angled lines to
indicate vertical and horizontal lines.
Many significant works,
including those by Leonardo da Vinci
and Filippo Brunelleschi (Sketches of
Machines, ca. 1430), are built on the
principle of perspective sketching
(Landscape of the Arno Valley, 1473).
The principles of perspective drawing
were outlined in Leon Battista Alberti's
1435 treatise De Pictura (On Painting),
which later influenced Renaissance
painting and architecture.
A BRIEF BACKGROUND OF
PERSPECTIVE
Long ago, paintings and
drawings made by artists showed the
spiritual or thematic importance of
figures by size and placement on the
picture plane which made space and
depth appear distorted. The Greeks
and Romans understood perspective,
but over time, their knowledge was
lost. Plato wrote, "Thus (through
perspective) every sort of confusion is
revealed within us; and this is that
weakness of the human mind on which
the art of conjuring and of deceiving by
light and shadow and other ingenious
devices imposes, having an effect
upon us like magic... And the arts of
measuring and numbering and
weighing come to the rescue of the
human understanding – there is the
beauty of them – and the apparent
greater or less, or more or heavier, no
longer have the mastery over us, but
give way before calculation and
measure and weight?"
It was 15th Century Italian
architect and engineer Filippo
Brunelleschi who rediscovered the
laws of perspective. He demonstrated
a mathematical approach that proved
how forms and space shrink in size
according to their location and
distance from the eye. In 1435 Leon
Battista Alberti discovered the first
theory of linear perspective and
published his treatise Della Pictura (On
Painting) in which he too relied on
mathematics as the common ground of
art and science. Alberti’s discovery
had an enormous impact on European
artists and is still used by artists,
designers and architects today.
Leon Battista Alberti, Della Pictura drawing showing a horizon line
and vanishing point
TECHNIQUES TO USE ON
DRAWING ONE POINT
PERSPECTIVE
One Point Perspective with Interiors
One point perspective is not
limited to basic forms and buildings. It

can also be used to draw interiors
using the same approach. A horizon
line is defined, although it most likely
will not be visible in the finished
drawing. A vanishing point is placed on
the horizon line, before basics shapes
are drawn.
Orthogonals (receding diagonal
lines) are drawn to define the form of
the objects extending towards the
singular vanishing point.
One point perspective is so named
because it uses a single vanishing
point to draw an object. In one point
perspective, perspective is created by
showing the front and one side of an
object with all the horizontal lines
joining a single vanishing point. If more
than two surfaces of an object need to
be shown two point perspective can be
used.
In one point perspective, the
front and back planes of the box
always remain parallel to the picture
plane. Only their scale changes as
they recede into the distance. The
procedures below should be followed
in order to generate a room template
for a one point perspective.
 First, using a pencil and a ruler,
lightly make an X by connecting the
2
right top corner to the left bottom
corner of your paper and by
connecting the top left corner to the
bottom right. Where these lines
intersect will be your point that all
depth lines will 'move' toward.
 Next, lightly make a rectangle
on the X, be sure to make the vertical
lines and horizontal lines of the
rectangle parallel to the sides of the
paper. This will represent the back
wall of the room.
 To assist in gauging depth for
items in the room, draw a line
diagonally from either bottom corner of
the rectangle to the opposite front
corner of the page.
 To create lines for floor boards
or floor tiles you can lightly draw lines
from equally spaced points at the
bottom of the page straight to the
center point.
Rules of perspective: true shapes,
vanishing points and horizon lines
In one point perspective,
surfaces that face the viewer appear
as their true shape, without any
distortion. They are drawn using
primarily horizontal and vertical lines,
as illustrated by the diagram below:
 3

Surfaces that are visible to the

observer in this one-point perspective
image are undistorted and exhibit their
actual shape. For instance, we
perceive the bath's side, the window,
and the surfaces facing us as regular
squares and rectangles. Their sides
are parallel to the picture's edges.
On the other hand, surfaces
that move away from the spectator ‘Bedroom in arles’ by Vincent van Gogh – identifying perspective lines

These are the nine principles of

converge at a single "vanishing point."
one-point perspective in interior
This is a point that is situated on an
sketching:
"eye level line," or "horizon line,"
immediately in front of the viewer's
1. All the lines in your drawing
eyes, as seen in the image below: are either horizontal, vertical,
or recede to the vanishing
point.
2. All horizontal lines are
parallel to each other.
3. All vertical lines are parallel
to each other.
4. The horizon line runs at your
eye level, which is usually
1,5-1,7 m high.
In this one-point perspective 5. All horizontal lines are
parallel to the horizon line,
image, every building's receding edge
and all vertical lines are
points in the direction of the vanishing perpendicular to the horizon
point. The vanishing point's position line.
indicates that the photographer was
6. All diagonal lines to recede to
stooping, with his eyes low. the vanishing point, these are
Drawing over pictures allows referred to as converging
one to see vanishing points, horizon lines.
lines, and real shapes. You can learn 7. The closer the objects to us,
more about one point perspective by the more details we can see.
looking at the works of well-known
8. All objects get smaller and
artists, as demonstrated in the smaller the farther away they
example by Vincent van Gogh below. are from us.
9. All objects along the
converging lines (or the lines
of convergence) become
foreshortened, and their lines
will reach the vanishing point
if we prolong them.
 4

TECHNIQUES TO USE ON
DRAWING TWO POINT
PERSPECTIVE

Two Point Perspective with Interiors

STEP 1
The first step you need to STEP 3
accomplish is to establish
To draw an interior wall of a
your horizon line and two vanishing
room, connect the top and bottom of
points. You can draw the horizon line
the vertical line to a vanishing point.
near the center of your paper. You are
When drawing interiors, walls go to
going to place your vanishing points
opposite corners. The wall on the left
as far apart as possible and both
gets connected to the vanishing
points need to be drawn on the
point on the right.
horizon line.
Remember: the horizon line is
the horizontal line that represents eye
level to the viewer. Anything placed
below this line and we’ll see the top.
Anything placed above the horizon line
and we won’t see the top, but will see
the bottom. This is assuming that the
top and/or bottom planes are visible.
STEP 4
Start drawing the other wall. 

STEP 2
Next, draw the farthest corner
of the bedroom’s interior.
This can be anywhere in
between the two vanishing points (the
example shows that the line was put in
the middle). The vertical line is
represented using the black line.
Have you ever noticed how the lines
used to depict the walls are distorted
so they appear to finish nowhere in
particular?
This is due to the fact that you
typically cannot see the beginning of
the walls while you are within a room.
Typically, they enter your field of vision
from behind and then emerge.
 5

STEP 5 STEP 8
With the empty shell of the It is advisable to tidy up the
room drawn perspective elements can drawing. Remove the portions of the
now be added. A bed is nothing more wall that the bed would block.
than a box. Vanishing points can be
used to draw it. Start by laying out the
frontal plane of the bed.

STEP 9
STEP 6
A doorway is needed for a
Next, draw the other side of the
bedroom.
bed.

STEP 7 STEP 10
Finally, use pencil and ruler to One of the vanishing points can
draw the top of the bed. Use the be used to simulate the opening of the
vanishing points when drawing a 2 door.
point perspective bedroom.

Hand drawn details such as pillow, lamps, etc.

can also be added. STEP 11

A bedroom will not be complete
without a window. Make sure to use
the vanishing points sparingly.
STEP 12
Remove all the additional lines that
were added to the perspective
drawing.
STEP 13
Remember that in a perspective
drawing everything has a very
controlled presentation. You pick the
size and placement of the poster/wall
decorations but it has to be drawn to
one of the vanishing points.
6 PRINCIPLES OF TWO-POINT
PERSPECTIVE IN INTERIOR
SKETCHING:
1. All the diagonals in your
drawing recede either to one
or the other vanishing point.
2. All vertical lines are
perpendicular to the horizon
line
6
3. There are no horizontal lines
except for the horizon line
and the lines of the objects
which are precisely at its high
4. The closer the pieces of
furniture or decor elements to
us, the more details we can
see.
5. All objects decrease in size
as they recede into the
distance.
6. All furniture and other interior
design elements along the
converging lines (or the lines
of convergence) become
foreshortened.
HOW TO DRAW A SCALED TWO-
POINT PERSPECTIVE
The Spacing Used Along The
Measuring Line Can Be At Any
Scale.
STEP 1: Tick off 1 unit, 2 units, and 4
units on measuring line. (As before,
the units can be at any scale. The
principle is the same as in the case
above.)
STEP 2: Bring other lines to special
vanishing point. This locates opening
on wall.
The "measuring line" method of
dividing perspective surfaces may also
be used with unequal spaces.
Suppose a 2-ft. opening is to be
located on a wall, spaced as below.
 7

STEP 3: Connect end points to

establish special vanishing point.

Once correct spacing is found on wall,

the distances could be extended
forward (from left vanishing point) to
create, say, a 2-ft.-wide walk or a 4-ft.-
long bench.

Or, by carrying guide lines up the wall

and over the roof, a 2-ft.-wide chimney
could be drawn. But note that to fix the
depth of this chimney (1 ft.), we need a
new measuring line and special
vanishing point, and new guide lines MATERIALS
(shown dotted).
Recommended Equipment:
Determining Depths and Widths of  Mechanical or ‘clutch’ pencil
Room Interiors by the Measuring (with an HB or 2H lead)
Line Method.
 Blank paper and/or the printed
Here, floor to ceiling screens worksheets
are placed as shown in top view  ruler (18in or 24in)
below. Also at the same one-third
points are thin wall lines, e.g.,  30/60 degree triangle ruler
mullions.  T-Square
 white or kneaded eraser
 eraser stick
 pencil sharpener
 8

 tracing paper
 low-tack artist tape

A ruler and compass can be

helpful when learning to sketch in
perspective. This makes it simple to
apply the knowledge to an
observational drawing.

FREEHAND VS. SCALED DRAWING

Freehand drawing is the

capacity to create an image without
the aid of any equipment or
mechanical devices, such as grids,
rulers, or compasses. Artists instead
measure and sketch what they
perceive using only their hands and
their powers of perception. On the
other hand, Scaled drawings allow us
to accurately represent sites, spaces,
buildings and details to a smaller or
more practical size than the original
with the use of mechanical
tools/equipment. Here are some
advantages and disadvantages of
freehand and scaled drawing.