Space: One-Point & Two-Point Perspective

Objective: I drew two spaces from life – a one-point perspective drawing in which I was facing a flat wall and a two-point perspective drawing in which I was facing a corner.

Materials: 18” x 24” drawing paper, ebony pencil, Bristol paper, Higgins Black Magic Ink, round brush, palette

Process: My one-point perspective drawing was completed in the campus library looking down a corridor that has book stacks off to each side. I began the project by establishing where my eye would be trained and actually marking the vanishing point on my drawing. After drawing the flat wall of windows at the end of the corridor I began building the views to each side by using my pencil to get an angle from the vanishing point to the ceiling and drawing my orthoganol lines. I worked my way up the corridor one side at a time including objects (chairs and a cart) that were located in the corridor. I then began to add features on the ceiling – only to have the fire alarm go off which put an end to our drawing session. 

My two-point perspective drawing was completed in a classroom of the Fine Arts building. I taped my 9 x 12 drawing paper into my large drawing pad so that I could mark the vanishing points which lie outside the drawing.  Beginning in the corner of the room I drew the vertical upper corner and then using my pencil to get the angles I started adding adding the right side of the corner and worked my way down and across to the other objects on the right side. I drew  the orthogonals and established one vanishing point where they all intersected. Then I worked to the left of the corner and established that vanishing point. I repeated the two-point perspective drawing using an ink wash instead of pencil.

Take Away: This project was extremely helpful for learning how to establish the horizon, the vanishing point(s) and orthogonals to create drawings with accurate perspective. I look forward to someday applying this to landscape drawings which have always intimidated me – now I am better equipped to tackle them!

Completed: November 2022