3/22/2018 How to accurately draw a perfect square and cube anywhere in perspective, part 1

The Art of Perdito Animo

The Art of Perdito Animo

How to accurately draw a perfect square and cube

anywhere in perspective, part 1
July 14, 2017

This is more about how then why. I shall do another post explaining why this method is
accurate and works. But do you really have to know the why? I'd strongly suggest yes -
perspective can be maddening without getting the inner basics, often enough even with!
and if you want to work out an unexpected problem that will inevitably crop up you'd need
to summon up some knowledge from the deep. Having said that you will still get a lot of
the why by studying the methods and gures here and pick up a lot intuitively.

Where should be the picture plane(PP)?

First the picture plane(PP). Where should one place it relative to the observer(E/eye)? My
answer that works for many cases is -take the most signi cant object in the scene, e.g.
the largest or the closest or the most important building, say, and place the PP there
touching the nearest corner or edge. Fundamentally it doesn't really matter where the PP is
placed -you will get the same perspective image, just proportionally reduced or enlarged as
when you zoom in an image or out on a computer or a phone screen. It's thus convenient to
take our PP touching, say, the the most signi cant or convenient object in the scene, which
object then becomes the reference to construct the rest of the scene. In this case then the
distance from eye(E) to PP becomes the same as from E to this reference object, making
things a little simpler.

Forget the ground plane! (for now)

Let's start with the simplest case -a square perpendicular to the picture plane. Note that
unlike many perspective texts I do not say "a square lying in the ground plane" -for I want
you to understand perspective in depth (heh), not shackled to any one privileged plane.
Even though most likely in most of your stuff ground plane will be rather important I believe
it's a great help in mentally visualizing things to consider ground plane as any other humble
plane. What if you are sketching in outer space (some day,baby,some day)-and there's no
ground plane?

Since our square is perpendicular to the PP, we may imagine it lying on a plane also
( )
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3/22/2018 How to accurately draw a perfect square and cube anywhere in perspective, part 1

perpendicular to PP (green colored plane G in Fig 1). As explained above don't think of this
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as "ground plane", it can be any plane perpendicular to the PP*. The square has two edges
parallel to the  PP and two edges perpendicular. Conventionally this would be one-point
perspective.

Fig.1 : Perspective set-up

The near edge AB is coincident with(i.e. is wholly touching) the PP. This means the size s
of the side AB is "actual" size in the perspective view, as all measurements on the PP are
"actual" size.

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3/22/2018 How to accurately draw a perfect square and cube anywhere in perspective, part 1

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Fig 2 : Top/Plan view

Okay, let's begin.

(1) Draw the eye level/horizon line (EL/HL) on your paper or computer screen.

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Fig 3

You probably have heard of low, middle, and high horizon -so which should one go in for?
It's up to you. I shall tackle this in a later post, for our technique it doesn't matter.

(2) Place the central vanishing point(CVP). But where exactly?

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3/22/2018 How to accurately draw a perfect square and cube anywhere in perspective, part 1

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Fig 4

Where should I place CVP?

CVP is a point on a line(EL/HL) that extends far out either side -so basically one has to ask
where are the objects in the scene (here our square is the sole object) with respect to the
CVP. Then with our whole scene in mind we can place the CVP on EL/HL at a convenient
location on our paper or screen so that the whole drawing ts nicely.  

This relationship of CVP with respect to the scene may be pre-determined in a perspective
problem, if not the decision is yours according to what suits you, say how you wish the
scene to look. Believe me you will get better at this with experience -and quickly!

In our case here let's say we decide the square is a distance h below and a distance x to
the right of the observer (Fig 1 and 2)

(3) Similar to as with CVP decide how far away from the reference object(our square
here)/picture plane(PP) is the observer(E/eye).

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3/22/2018 How to accurately draw a perfect square and cube anywhere in perspective, part 1

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Fig 5

Observer -how far?

Again if this is not given then the judgment is yours -you may wish to draw a scene as if
seen from near or from far(or anything in-between). In the rst case d(distance of E/eye to
the reference object) will be a small number, in the latter case a large number. Or a number
in-between. You are the boss!

(Of course in the rst case if d is too small you may have to deal with unseemly distortion -
but more on that later!)

(4) Now draw a circle (or a part of it, called an arc) with CVP as its center and radius equal
to CVP-E (i.e. distance d) such that it intersects EL/HL either to the left or the right of CVP,
whichever is more convenient

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3/22/2018 How to accurately draw a perfect square and cube anywhere in perspective, part 1

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Fig 6

The two points on the EL/HL where the circle intersects are called the diagonal vanishing
points (DVP). To draw a single square we need just one DVP; here we take the left one as
that is more convenient in our drawing space.

Note that d(distance CVP-E) is equal to the distance CVP-DVP as shown in the diagram.

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3/22/2018 How to accurately draw a perfect square and cube anywhere in perspective, part 1

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Fig 7
Another way to obtain DVP is to draw from E an angle of 45°. Where it intersects EL/HL is
DVP.

Fig 8
A third way to obtain DVP is to measure a distance equal to d from CVP say with a divider
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3/22/2018 How to accurately draw a perfect square and cube anywhere in perspective, part 1
A third way to obtain DVP is to measure a distance equal to d from CVP, say with a divider
or a ruler, and mark out a point on the EL/HL.
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Fig 9 :  Perspective set-up showing DVP

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3/22/2018 How to accurately draw a perfect square and cube anywhere in perspective, part 1

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Fig 10 : Top/Plan view showing DVP

The square lies on a plane perpendicular to the PP, it's intersection with PP being a
line(dark green) that is parallel to the EL/HL.

(5) Draw the intersection of plane G and PP, a distance h below the EL/HL and parallel to it

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3/22/2018 How to accurately draw a perfect square and cube anywhere in perspective, part 1

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Fig 11

(6) The square is a distance x to the right of E, so measure out x on the green line as
shown. This gives us point A of the square.

Fig 12
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3/22/2018 How to accurately draw a perfect square and cube anywhere in perspective, part 1
Fig 12

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(7) From A measure distance s and obtain B. AB is the side of the square touching the PP.

Fig 13

(8) Join A and B to CVP

If you are doing this on paper draw light lines so they can be easily erased if needed.

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3/22/2018 How to accurately draw a perfect square and cube anywhere in perspective, part 1

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Fig 14

(9) Join B to DVP. This gives us the depth of the square in perspective. Accurately!

Fig 15
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3/22/2018 How to accurately draw a perfect square and cube anywhere in perspective, part 1
Fig 15

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(10) Now complete the square as shown. The side opposite AB is drawn parallel to it.

Fig 16

Fig 17

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3/22/2018 How to accurately draw a perfect square and cube anywhere in perspective, part 1

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Fig 18

And voilà we have our perfect square in perspective!

And usually we do it in a less verbose way, without the long labels -

Fig 19

Important -
Really important. The above gure in perspective is a perfect square IF:
It is viewed from a distance d
Has side s
Is distance x to the right of E
Is distance h below E
The square is perpendicular to PP, i.e. parallel to the direction of view.

If any of these conditions change so will the perspective view of the square. More on this in
part 2 of this series. Also later -can we reverse engineer, so to speak, the above gure in
perspective (Fig 18 and 19) to check if it is really a square?

Hey people, I'm not some big expert, just someone who struggled through much confusion
that surrounds perspective drawing,a struggle that continues,so if you noticed any
mistakes or have something to improve this topic please leave it in the comments..
Thanks!
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The Art of Perdito Animo

Perspective Drawing

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