BASIC
FOR BEGINNERS
Brenda Hoddinott
E-01 BEGINNER: PERSPECTIVE ONE
In this article, I discuss and illustrate how the secrets of perspective help create the illusion of
three-dimensional spaces in drawings. Perspective is the very foundation, on which your drawing
compositions will either stand or fall. With proper use of perspective, your representational
drawings become visually correct and more realistic. Understanding the rules of perspective can
even enhance your creative skills, by allowing you the confidence to explore new concepts in
depth perception in your drawings.
Invaluable information is offered throughout the following three sections:
ABOVE, BELOW, AND ON THE HORIZON LINE: an in-depth discussion surrounding
the fundamental components of geometric perspective, including horizon line, vanishing
point(s), and perspective lines. This section is divided into the following four parts:
o Your eye level is on the horizon
o A worm’s eye view
o A bird’s eye view
o View from a level perspective
DISAPPEARING INTO A VANISHING POINT: an introduction to various tools used by
artists for creating the illusions of depth, including overlapping, size differences, and
arrangement, as well as an illustrated explanation of one-point perspective.
EXPANDING ON ELEMENTS OF PERSPECTIVE: a discussion surrounding two more
integral elements of perspective, aerial (or atmospheric) perspective and foreshortening.
o Fading into distant space with atmospheric perspective
o Shortening subjects with foreshortening
12 PAGES – 18 ILLUSTRATIONS
This article is recommended for artists of all ages and abilities, as well as home schooling,

ILLUSTRATION 01-01 Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail [email protected]
Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com
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A horizon line is drawn horizontal and parallel to the top and bottom of a square or rectangular
drawing space. In a drawing, you determine the viewer’s eye level, by choosing the horizontal
position of the horizon line. You control whether you want viewers to feel like they’re above,
below, or at eye level with the objects in your drawing. By examining various drawings, with the
horizon line in different locations, you begin to understand how the eye level seems to change.
In the first drawing below (on the left), the horizon line is near the bottom of the drawing space.
Drawing space (sometimes called a drawing format) refers to the area of a drawing surface
within a specific perimeter, outlined by a shape of any size, such as a square, rectangle or circle.
The cubes are above the horizon line and have perspective lines that extend downward from their
edges and connect with the vanishing point. Perspective lines (invisible in real life) are lines that

Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com
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A WORM’S EYE VIEW
To create the illusion that the viewer is looking upward, draw your subjects above the horizon
line. In the next drawing, the horizon line is below the various objects. The perspective lines all
lead downward to the same vanishing point.
ILLUSTRATION 01-04
You sense that you are looking up
into the sky, or maybe standing in a
valley looking upward.
The various three-dimensional
shapes look like helium filled
balloons, and the perspective lines
seem to hold them anchored at the
vanishing point.
If the perspective lines were erased,
they would appear to be floating or
flying.

A BIRD’S EYE VIEW
If you want viewers to feel like they are looking downward, draw objects below the horizon line.
In this drawing, consider yourself the viewer. The horizon line is close to the top of the drawing
space which makes you feel like you are looking down at the cube.
ILLUSTRATION 01-05
To discover
how to render
one-point
perspective,
refer to E-04
Beginner: One


VIEW FROM A LEVEL PERSPECTIVE
You are at eye level as you look into the next drawing. The horizon line is the first horizontal
line, almost halfway down from the top of the drawing space.
Examine the angular lines (neither horizontal nor vertical) that define the edges of the objects.
Visually follow them to the vanishing point on the horizon line and note that:
ILLUSTRATION 01-07
Angular lines of objects
at your eye level
(touching the horizon
line) converge both
downward and upward.
The lines of objects
above your eye level
(above the horizon line)
converge downward.
Angular lines of objects
below your eye level
converge upward.