Lesson 17 · 1/5
Perspective Basics: Horizon and Vanishing Points
Eye level, the horizon line and why parallel lines seem to meet.
Stand in the middle of a long straight road: the edges, which are parallel, seem to meet in the distance. Objects shrink as they move away. Linear perspective is the system that describes these effects, so you can draw space and depth convincingly. It sounds technical, but it rests on just a few ideas.
The horizon line is your eye level
The horizon line is an imaginary horizontal line at the height of your eyes. At the beach you can see it where the sea meets the sky. Indoors it's hidden, but it's still there, at your eye level.
- If you crouch, the horizon goes down with you.
- If you climb a ladder, it goes up.
- Everything above the horizon line is seen from below (you see its underside).
- Everything below it is seen from above (you see its top).
Vanishing points
Parallel lines that recede away from you appear to converge to a single point on the horizon: the vanishing point (VP). Every set of parallel lines has its own vanishing point.
- Lines that recede straight away from you converge to a VP on the horizon.
- Lines parallel to your picture plane (perfectly horizontal or vertical in front of you) don't converge: they stay parallel.
The number of vanishing points you use gives the name to the type of perspective:
| Type | When |
|---|---|
| 1-point | You look straight at a face of the object, like down a corridor |
| 2-point | You look at a corner of the object |
| 3-point | You also look strongly up or down |
Diminution and overlap
Two more principles create depth:
- Diminution: objects of the same size look smaller the farther they are.
- Overlap: closer objects cover farther ones.
Combined with converging lines, they create a powerful illusion of space.
Try it
Drag the horizon and the vanishing points, and move the box above and below the horizon:
Interactive
Exercise 1
Find the horizon
Look around the room. Hold a pencil horizontally at your eye level and notice what it lines up with on the wall. Draw a quick sketch of the room marking the horizon line. Then sit on the floor and repeat.
Exercise 2
Floating boxes
Draw a horizon line across the page and a vanishing point in the middle. Draw 10 boxes: some above, some on and some below the horizon, some left and right of the VP, all receding to the same point.
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