Two Point Perspective Grids

Assignment #1 Part 6

One & Two Point Grids

For the final part of this assignment, on an 11" x 17" sheet of paper turned horizontally, I want you to draw another two point perspective room using a grid on each of the surfaces.

Place the horizon line 2" down from the center of the page then draw the corner of the room about 4" to the left of the middle. Make the corner line 6" high and have the horizon line right on the 1" level from the bottom.

Place the right vanishing point about 2" off the page and the left point will move about 14" off the page (on the horizon line). You should definitely tape some paper strips on either side of the drawing paper so you can extend the horizon line out and draw the vanishing points on. Don't just guess where they are.

Whenever you shift your point of view away from the corner of the room, it shifts the vanishing points. In this case, the right side vanishing point moves in towards the page 4". However, the left vanishing point moves away from the left side more than 4", we moved it 8" (or twice the distance). The reason for this is that as you turn your field of vision towards the wall, the vanishing point also moves into your field of vision. The top and bottom of the wall you're looking at start to become parallel to each other (this is true if you look at the wall at a 90˚ angle (or straight on at it). That means that the top and bottom of the wall never converge to an actual vanishing point, they just keep running parallel to each other. The vanishing point for that wall moves exponentially out towards infinity. If you move it at the same distance as the opposite vanishing point the lines will converge too sharply and it will look weird like in the example here. Basically, the vanishing points are too close together.

Along the corner line, make a mark every 1" from the top.

Starting from the left vanishing point, line up your ruler (you should be using at least an 18" ruler for this) to each of the 1" points on the corner line. Draw each of the lines radiating out from the corner line. There's no reason to draw the lines all the way back to the vanishing point as you'll just have to erase them later on.

Next, switch over to the right vanishing point and repeat the same step for the opposite side.

Now we'll draw the grid on the left wall surface first. Starting by placing your ruler parallel to the center line so that the right edge of the ruler is right on the line itself. Slide the ruler to the left slowly and look at the shape of the squares being created. Once they look like they are a square, stop and pencil in the line (you might want to do this very lightly at first, just in case you want to make some adjustments as you go along). Be sure each of the squares look like squares and not rectangles. Use your eyes to guage the size and distances required. Be sure to also keep the lines parallel to the vertical corner line.

Do the exact same thing for the right wall.

You can't cheat on this one by folding the paper in half along the corner line because the vanishing points are not equal distance from the corner line and so you don't get the mirror image that you did with the last one.

Move on to the ceiling and floor.

Last assignment you'll remember we drew a vertical line up through the corner and used it as a guide for the squares on the floor and ceiling. We can't do the same thing this time because we're not looking into the corner at a 45˚ angle.

For this assignment we'll use our eyes to guage the shape of the squares.

same as before, all you need to do is "connect the dots" from this point on. Start from the right vanishing point and line your ruler up through each of the intersecting lines along the top right wall/ceiling corner line.

You need to be really accurate from this point on. Even if you're off by just a slight amount on the intersection point, it will cause the grid to become distorted as it moves away from the corner. The further you go from the corner the bigger the distortion will become.

Here you can see how your lines that come from the right vanishing point will need to intersect the lines you've just done in order for it to look right.

Continue on with the floor grid the exact same way.

Because the horizon line is so low, the grid pattern will be quite a bit tighter so you need to be more careful making the grid look like squares.

Again, you need to use your eyes to guage the shape of each of the squares and make subtle adjustments to the lines in order for them to look correct.

You can see how it looks as though we've turned our view towards the right wall rather than looking straight into the corner of the room.

		Two Point Perspective Grids
Assignment #1 Part 6 One & Two Point Grids For the final part of this assignment, on an 11" x 17" sheet of paper turned horizontally, I want you to draw another two point perspective room using a grid on each of the surfaces. Place the horizon line 2" down from the center of the page then draw the corner of the room about 4" to the left of the middle. Make the corner line 6" high and have the horizon line right on the 1" level from the bottom. Place the right vanishing point about 2" off the page and the left point will move about 14" off the page (on the horizon line). You should definitely tape some paper strips on either side of the drawing paper so you can extend the horizon line out and draw the vanishing points on. Don't just guess where they are.
		Whenever you shift your point of view away from the corner of the room, it shifts the vanishing points. In this case, the right side vanishing point moves in towards the page 4". However, the left vanishing point moves away from the left side more than 4", we moved it 8" (or twice the distance). The reason for this is that as you turn your field of vision towards the wall, the vanishing point also moves into your field of vision. The top and bottom of the wall you're looking at start to become parallel to each other (this is true if you look at the wall at a 90˚ angle (or straight on at it). That means that the top and bottom of the wall never converge to an actual vanishing point, they just keep running parallel to each other. The vanishing point for that wall moves exponentially out towards infinity. If you move it at the same distance as the opposite vanishing point the lines will converge too sharply and it will look weird like in the example here. Basically, the vanishing points are too close together.
Along the corner line, make a mark every 1" from the top.
Starting from the left vanishing point, line up your ruler (you should be using at least an 18" ruler for this) to each of the 1" points on the corner line. Draw each of the lines radiating out from the corner line. There's no reason to draw the lines all the way back to the vanishing point as you'll just have to erase them later on.
Next, switch over to the right vanishing point and repeat the same step for the opposite side.
Now we'll draw the grid on the left wall surface first. Starting by placing your ruler parallel to the center line so that the right edge of the ruler is right on the line itself. Slide the ruler to the left slowly and look at the shape of the squares being created. Once they look like they are a square, stop and pencil in the line (you might want to do this very lightly at first, just in case you want to make some adjustments as you go along). Be sure each of the squares look like squares and not rectangles. Use your eyes to guage the size and distances required. Be sure to also keep the lines parallel to the vertical corner line.
Do the exact same thing for the right wall. You can't cheat on this one by folding the paper in half along the corner line because the vanishing points are not equal distance from the corner line and so you don't get the mirror image that you did with the last one.
Move on to the ceiling and floor. Last assignment you'll remember we drew a vertical line up through the corner and used it as a guide for the squares on the floor and ceiling. We can't do the same thing this time because we're not looking into the corner at a 45˚ angle. For this assignment we'll use our eyes to guage the shape of the squares. same as before, all you need to do is "connect the dots" from this point on. Start from the right vanishing point and line your ruler up through each of the intersecting lines along the top right wall/ceiling corner line.
You need to be really accurate from this point on. Even if you're off by just a slight amount on the intersection point, it will cause the grid to become distorted as it moves away from the corner. The further you go from the corner the bigger the distortion will become. Here you can see how your lines that come from the right vanishing point will need to intersect the lines you've just done in order for it to look right. Continue on with the floor grid the exact same way. Because the horizon line is so low, the grid pattern will be quite a bit tighter so you need to be more careful making the grid look like squares.
Again, you need to use your eyes to guage the shape of each of the squares and make subtle adjustments to the lines in order for them to look correct. You can see how it looks as though we've turned our view towards the right wall rather than looking straight into the corner of the room.