What is perspective in Art?

Drawingobjectstogivethemtheimpressionofheight,width,depthanddistance.

Drawingobjects3-dimensionally.

Drawingobjectssothatastheygetfurtherawaytheygetsmallerandlessdetailed.

Drawingobjectssothatastheygetclosertheygetbiggerandmoredetailed.

Why is perspective important?

It makes our drawings look more realistic and accurate.

It gives our drawings depth and makes them 3-dimensional.

OnePointPerspective

VanishingPoint(wherelinesofthedrawingmeet).

This is an example of one point perspective. This means it has onevanishing point.

Many artists use one-point perspective in their work. This example is by the artist LS Lowry. The blue dot shows the vanishing point. The yellow lines show how the tops and bottoms of the houses and windows are angled towards the vanishing point.

Many artists use two-point perspective in their work. This example is by the artist Vincent Van Gogh. The blue dots show the two vanishing points. The yellow lines show how the tops and bottoms of the buildings and windows are angled towards the vanishing points.

2pointperspectiveNow it’s your turn to draw some cubes in two point perspective.

The next two pages show you how to do this and where to draw all your lines.

Don’t have plain paper? No problem, you could draw on envelopes, the inside of food boxes, the back of wrapping paper, paper bags, on top of a newspaper article or something I’ve not thought of yet - I look forward to being surprised!

If you have a ruler, use it to help you draw straight lines.

Photograph your work and share with your teacher by emailing to them.

Step 1: Draw the horizon line and vanishing points. Draw the red vertical line (this will be the central edge of the cube).Step 2: Join the top and the bottom of the central vertical edge to the closest vanishing point. REMEMBER to take the lines all the way to the vanishing point.Step 3: Add the cube’s vertical side lines.Step 4: Add the cube’s top edge lines. REMEMBER to take the lines all the way to the vanishing point.

Watch this short clip to see the different stages: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXlpsRQDTcI

Can you now use steps 1 to 4 from the previous page to draw three cubes on one page like the example below?

Draw six 2 point perspective cubes in a variety of positions. Use the vertical lines as a starting point. Don’t forget to rub out the guidelines! You could either print this out and draw your work on the sheet or copy it onto a piece of paper.

Challenge Task