How to draw one point perspective » Make a Mark Studios (2024)

by Stephanie

Learning perspective drawing is like riding a bike. A little tricky at first, but once you’ve got it… it clicks! It becomes second nature and you don’t have to think about it so much. There are many different types of perspective drawing, but ONE POINT PERSPECTIVE is a great one for beginning artist to start with. This blog goes over all the basics and includes a step by step video tutorial and photos to work at your own pace.

Looking for how to do two point perspective drawing? Check out my blog post here.

Here are a few key things you need to know before beginning a one point perspective drawing:

Every perspective drawing has two key features: a horizon line and vanishing point(s).

The horizon line is the line that defines where the sky meets the ground. Artists can play around with how high or low on the picture plane the vanishing point sits to adjust the point of view. On the horizon line sits your vanishing point(s). If a perspective drawing has one vanishing point, it is called one point perspective. Two vanishing points… two point perspective. See that pattern?

How to draw one point perspective » Make a Mark Studios (1)

The three types of perspective lines:

There are three key lines to understand when creating a perspective drawing. As seen in the photos below, these three lines are converging lines, parallel lines, and perpendicular lines. Converging lines are diagonal lines that converge into the vanishing point. Parallel lines are lines that run parallel to this horizon line. Perpendicular lines are lines that intersect with the horizon line at a 90 degree angle.

How to draw one point perspective » Make a Mark Studios (2)
How to draw one point perspective » Make a Mark Studios (3)
How to draw one point perspective » Make a Mark Studios (4)

What materials will I need?

I recommend a piece of paper, pencil with eraser, and a ruler. It’s great to get a feel for the piece of paper. Good old graph paper is AMAZING to use as you are learning because it lays out a nice grid of lines to build on. You may also print out this free one point perspective template below to help you render your drawing on.

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How to draw one point perspective » Make a Mark Studios (6)

FREE download of one point perspective template

1 file(s) 382.83 KB

Download

If you are feeling tech savvy and have some experience with digital drawing, you can also accomplish this digitally. In my tutorial I use a free software from AutoDesk called SketchBook. It’s awesome, because it has this really cool perspective tool that helps to keep your lines accurate.

I love the Wacom Intuos drawing tablet for beginning digital artists. It’s easy to use, not overly expensive, and has great touch response!

Video tutorial:

Step by step one point perspective with photos!

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Step 1: Create your railroad tracks. Draw two CONVERGING rail lines that come out from the vanishing point in the shape of an upside down V. Then draw your train tracks. They will be PARALLEL to the horizon line. Close to the vanishing point, tracks will be close together, less detailed, and very tiny! As you move away form the vanishing point, they will get larger, more detailed and spread out

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Step 2: Add a building. The front side will be a linear rectangle. The top and bottom will be PARALLEL to the horizon line and the left and right side will be PERPENDICULAR. The side wall of the building will extend from the corners with CONVERGING lines. The end of the building will be drawn with a straight PERPENDICULAR line. Map out any windows using the same techniques.

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Step 3: Add details! Explore adding a chimney and another tall building off in the distance following the same technique we used for the building. Add some bricks and smoke onto the chimney.

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Step 4: Add street lights. Following CONVERGING lines on the top and bottom, draw street lights that are PERPENDICULAR to the horizon line. Straight, vertical, and up and down! They will be larger, more detailed, and space out, but get closer, less detailed and smaller as they approach the vanishing point.

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Step 5: Add more details! Add a sun, some clouds, trees, shrubbery, etc. For the clouds, make them smaller closer to the sun and larger as they move away to add some more perspective.

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Step 6: Add some color! If you working digitally, add a layer UNDER your lines and add some color. (see image below) Explore some shadows and more.

If you are working on paper, you can outline the lines with a sharpie and then color it in with a material of your choice.

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How to draw one point perspective » Make a Mark Studios (14)
How to draw one point perspective » Make a Mark Studios (15)

I hope you found this useful! Do you have experience with perspective drawing? Do you enjoy it? Despise it? If so, I hope this helped you to hate it less! 🙂 I PROMISE it’s like riding a bike… kinda tricky at first, but it becomes second nature once you’ve got it down. Thanks again for checking this out! If you want to keep up with latest from Make a Mark Studios, please follow us on Facebook and instagram!

-Stephanie Villiotis

How to draw one point perspective » Make a Mark Studios (2024)

FAQs

What artists draw one-point perspective? ›

Using one point perspective allow artists to show different levels of the scene, like landscape, cityscape, buildings and rooms. There are a lot of famous artists specialized in one-point perspective painting, such as Van Gogh, Claude Oscar Monet, Camille Pissarro, Canaletto and so on.

What three lines are needed to draw one-point perspective? ›

There are three key lines to understand when creating a perspective drawing. As seen in the photos below, these three lines are converging lines, parallel lines, and perpendicular lines. Converging lines are diagonal lines that converge into the vanishing point.

What are the 3 rules of perspective drawing? ›

Page 1
  • Basic Rules of Perspective.
  • ▶ The farther an object is from the drawing plane, the smaller.
  • its perspective image in the drawing plane.
  • ▶ Lines that are mutually parallel and parallel to the drawing.
  • plane are depicted as parallel.
  • ▶ Mutually parallel lines that are not parallel to the drawing.

How do you draw a one-point perspective drawing? ›

Begin one point perspective by drawing a horizon line. The next step in one point perspective is to place a vanishing point on the horizon line. Next, draw a box to represent the building that you want to draw in perspective. Now, draw lines from all four corners back to the vanishing point.

Why do artists use 2 point perspective? ›

Two-point perspective is the point-of-view used as a means to depict depth and visual variety in two-point perspective art of all kinds. The actual perspective is based on a horizon line with two vanishing points: the places just out of view for the drawn object.

Why do artists use one-point perspective? ›

One point perspective is a drawing method that shows how things appear to get smaller as they get further away, converging towards a single 'vanishing point' on the horizon line. It is a way of drawing objects upon a flat piece of paper (or other drawing surface) so that they look three-dimensional and realistic.

What are the rules of one-point perspective? ›

A rule of thumb in one-point perspective is that straight lines will usually either be vertical, horizontal or recede toward the vanishing point. The vanishing point is a point on the horizon line where lines that are parallel to the viewer's line of sight appear to meet.

What is the dot called in one-point perspective? ›

This line is the horizon line - the line between the sky and land. 2. Ask students to measure their line and place a dot directly in the middle. This dot is the vanishing point.

What is the most important principle in perspective drawing? ›

The basic elements of perspective drawing. In order to understand human perception, there are three important tools for perspective drawing: The horizon line, vanishing points, and vanishing lines.

What is the 70 30 rule in drawing? ›

Here's a secret drawing tip👆: the 70/30 rule that no one talks about. Just focus 30% on your main subject and detail, and let the remaining 70% fill in the rest. This trick draws attention to your main subject and makes your artwork stand out!

What is an example of one-point perspective in art? ›

Drawing in one-point perspective is usually appropriate when the subject is viewed front-on (such as when looking directly at the face of a cube or the wall of building) or when looking directly down something long, like a road or railway track.

What is the number one rule of drawing? ›

Rule #1 suggests that it's easier to work from the general to the specific rather than the other way around. Start with the largest shape you see. Forget everything else and draw that shape.

Did Leonardo da Vinci use one-point perspective? ›

Leonardo used one point perspective, which involves all the lines in the painting converging in one place, known as the vanishing point. This strategy was used to emphasize the importance and central position of Christ. The lines all converge in his right eye, drawing the viewers gaze to this place.

What are some examples of one-point perspective in paintings? ›

User-created
  • Wedding Supper, Martin van Meytens, 1763, From the collection of: Schönbrunn Palace. ...
  • Carnival of 1656, carousel at Palazzo Barberini in honour of Christina of Sweden, Filippo Gagliardi - Filippo Lauri, 1656/1659, From the collection of: Museo di Roma.

What is the famous painting that used perspective? ›

It's what makes Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" work so well. In this one, the vanishing point is just above Christ's head. Linear perspective organizes the painting, makes it seem like it's happening in a real space and also directs your eye to the most important part of the scene.

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