Perspectives When Drawing Environments!

Perspectives are very important to keep in mind when drawing environments as they allow for you to create three-dimensional space and depth. I want to look at the different perspectives that are used so that it can help me when I go out to draw my own environments.

ONE POINT PERSPECTIVE

One point perspective only has one vanishing point and uses a variety of orthogonal lines and transversal lines to make up the image. The one point perspective is most commonly used for drawing things such as roads, train tracks or hallways as these type of images only need one vanishing point.

Orthogonal lines are those that always appear to meet at the vanishing point and are straight diagonal lines that make the image appear to have depth. Transversal lines on the other hand are the right angles to the orthogonal lines and run parallel to the picture frame. Below is an image of the two different types of lines and how they work together to form the image. The green lines are the transversal line and the red are the orthogonal lines.


TWO POINT PERSPECTIVE

This perspective technique is slightly more difficult as it uses instead two vanishing points, and this also means that it has to have two sets of orthogonal lines too. This also changes the rules within the transversal lines as instead of being parallel to the picture frame they now become parallel to the ground plane. Below the image shows how there is two vanishing points now although, the tricky part is that the two vanishing points are usually completely out of the frame and this is something you have to try and imagine being there.

The two point perspective is the most commonly used technique and it is very useful in animations as it can create a more realistic scene rather than using a one point perspective. and I found a really good video example below explaining how you can physically use the vanishing points to draw your building.

THREE POINT PERSPECTIVE

The three point perspective is a less commonly used technique as it is mainly used for looking up at buildings or down onto them. This however could be useful in animation if you wanted to exaggerate the height of something or plan out a scene that involves different levels of ground. This is the most complex perspective as it uses three vanishing points and three sets of orthogonal lines to create the image. As you can see in the image to the right, there are two vanishing points on the horizon just like the two point perspective, however there is an added point that is either above or below the object depending on the illusion you want to create. If you want the object to look large and towering then one vanishing point should be above, if you want to create a birds eye illusion then you should put it below.