1 point perspective

some time ago a m3ember asked about drawing a building in perspective. I suggested a 1 point ito keep things simplw, this was nit well received. a little while ago I ran across a youtube video that shows very well what I was referring to. Take this as you will. This video shoa freehand method of sketching in perspectove. While there are methods of keeping the various elements that are receding in the proper sizes assuming they are the same size to b4egin with. Never the less this is a very good video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeUaC9cOjEg

Excellent find, Larry.
I loved watching it.

Thanks Rk.

I found another on youtube about drawing a city in 1-point.

Some time I started a tutorial on how I went about setting up and drawing a perspedtive but didn't finish it, now it is lost and I have thought about doing it again but I can barely read what's on the screen, so that may not happen now. Antway my methods were hand done and can be e a real problem to do in Xara because the VP's can be so far away.

I agree with Rik - that is a very good example Larry, thanks

Thanks for sharing Larry. I only wish I could draw like that!

In the younger years of my career as an architect I was constantly drawing perspectives. Most were just quick throw-away sketches used to develop and discuss ideas with colleagues. Occasionally they'd be drawn more seriously - sometimes taking 25+ hours to draw and used as 'artist's visualizations' by our clients to market our designs. I sorry to say when I watched that video I was frequently cringing. While he had drawing skills he really doesn't know much about buildings and his imagined ones are rather cartoony in their naivety. It made it hard for me to watch. One that really bit me was the first set of steps he drew. The risers as drawn would have each been more than a foot high. Those babies are big steps! The last thing he drew was the shadow of the railing - and he drew it incorrectly.

I understand that he more than likely has the skills to sketch a real scene, from life or a photo, accurately. My opinion in this case is only that he really doesn't know his subject matter well enough to wing it successfully. Of course I understand that such "success" is in the eye of the beholder and I am perhaps cursed with being too obsessed with the details given my background. No doubt he's just trying to show people they can accomplish such a scene themselves. In that I think he is indeed successful.

Watching the video I realized there are other perspective techniques that he could have taught. For instance he could have used more care when locating & sizing the windows on the side of the first building. Imagine he wanted to draw three equally spaced windows. The way to locate them is to draw a diagonal reference line on the building face from from one corner to the other. (Either of the two possible diagonals is okay). Next divide the forward corner line of the building into four equal segments by adding ticks to that vertical line. A ruler can be used to do it accurately. Then project reference lines from each of those ticks back to the vanishing point. Where each crosses the diagonal draw a vertical reference line. Those will be the centerlines of the windows. [Note it also establishes the vertical centerline of the building face in perspective -- and notice it (due to perspective) is closer to the far corner than it is to the forward one]. Those centerlines of the widows provide a more accurate clue for drawing them in correctly than just winging it like he did in the video. By the way, his window that was closest to the vanishing point was much bigger than the one closest to the forward corner. The technique with the diagonal can actually be used to draw a grid (in perspective) on the building face. That makes it easier to locate widows, doors, signs, etc. and get them sized correctly.

I should note one-point perspectives are not common because they oversimplify and can result in the drawing appearing cartoonish or naive. The scene in the video was relatively well-suited to the technique. It would have appeared wonky if he had also tried to show the front of the building at the left side of the drawing. Why it works is he used a relatively narrow field of view. Perspectivists think of the field of view as a cone. One-point perspectives require a narrow cone to look reasonable. Most traditional architectural perspective drawings are two-point perspectives and they are drawn using grid approaches (either progressively drawn through constructing the perspective or pre-drawn as an underlay). The grid approach allows the depth to be more accurately represented. You'll notice he rather arbitrarily located the back corner of the first building. To do it the way he did it required a lot of intuition as the position of that line is highly significant. Many students following his method are likely to get that wrong as even slight relocations of that line have significant implications on how long the building would be. Relative to the doors & windows he ended up drawing I think he located that back corner of the building too close to the vanishing point. The implication is he drew a relatively long & narrow building -- with wide door & window openings on that side.

I could go on & on but it isn't easy to explain all the nuances of drawing perspectives. I'm sure I'm putting some of you to sleep! Maybe I need to make my own video tutorial. :) The odd thing is computer graphics are changing the way we see perspective. I can explain that thought if anyone would like.

Ross

Well I'm an artist, not a designer or an architect/draughtsman, and as an artist I like it; I also recognise the style... you call it cartoonish/naive, I would say nothing wrong with that at all and he is giving an art school not a technical drawing school.. Artists abuse perspective all the time

but that said you make some good points from a 'get it realistically spot on' point of view

BTW Intuition [and creativity] is probably best taught learnt [or if you must: learned] by watching others use it ;)

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Originally Posted by Ross Macintosh

I am perhaps cursed with being too obsessed with the details given my background. No doubt he's just trying to show people they can accomplish such a scene themselves. In that I think he is indeed successful.

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You see I didn't totally dismiss him or his effort. :) I really do see value in what he's done.

Here's a video featuring Jim Leggitt that discusses perspective drawing as design visualization. The hybrid techniques he developed, combining computer graphics with hand drawing, have influenced thousands of architects and professional illustrators. Well worth watching and being inspired.

I don't know why but I can't get the link in my above post to start the youtube video at the beginning...

wouldn't call you cursed Ross - some of us go for copying what is out there in minute detail, some of us let what's inside our imagination take over to an extent...

and yes - its the modern way - get kids to play tunes before they learn the theory it motivates them much better- and some never need to go any further...

I got it to work Ross.

Obviously the 1-point video I posted was more freehand perspectives and I thought it great for what it was.
As a delineator myself I know what you were talking about however in this video he couldn't show how to proportion things properly or how to properly proportion a receding object(assuming they are the same size) or how accurately locate the VP's that is beyond the scope of the video.
I occasionally would do a 1-point but almost always did 2-point so don't be too hard on the guy.
I only posted that video because of a previous post where someone wanted to draw something in perspective and I suggested trying a 1-point simply because I thought at the time it would be easier for him/her.

I also found a youtube tutorial on drawing a city in 1-point perspective but haven't watched it yet, I'll have to do that and see.
Could be there is more to 1-point than I thought.

I would like to see some of your drawings if you don't mind.

Awhile back I posted some of my some of my architectural paintings, both gouache and magic marker, sorry I cannot find the link, anyway all was hand drawn and painted (colored) by me, even though I do not have much of an ego I thought I was pretty good at what I did actually very good.

maybe someone here knows and can post the link.

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Originally Posted by handrawn

some of us go for copying what is out there in minute detail

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Ah yes that would be me.

Poo, I know I posted a reply here but it doesn't show. So what did I do wrong this time I wonder. Never mind I found it.

I don't really have access to many of the drawings I've done as most were done as part of my work. I did find examples of one-point and two-point perspectives I had drawn years ago. Both are drawn in pen & ink (rapidograph technical pens) with the siding lines drawn in hard pencil. The second one was my mother's flower shop. Both were drawn with photographs for reference. In later years the vast majority of 'perspectives' I drew used SketchUp modeling software. The third image is a basic example of that -- it is straight from SketchUp and features a custom "soft graphite" line style I developed & sold commercially for use in SketchUp.


Attachment 120686 Attachment 120687 Attachment 120688


By the way my criticisms of the video weren't about a lack of detail. Rather it is about accuracy. I fully accept abstraction & simplification. I just think if you are trying to draw a steam locomotive and you want it to be taken seriously you should use some reference materials to get it convincingly right. It can still be abstracted or simplified but at least get the basics right. To do otherwise you run the risk of some loudmouth saying it is cartoonish & naive. :rolleyes:

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I just think if you are trying to draw a steam locomotive and you want it to be taken seriously you should use some reference materials to get it convincingly right. It can still be abstracted or simplified but at least get the basics right. To do otherwise you run the risk of some loudmouth saying it is cartoonish & naive.

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no problem with that;

be interesting to know who the target audience is though, something you can't assume

might even just be a bit of creative fun ;)

Thanks Ross. Nice drawings.
@ handrawn, "might even just be a bit of creative fun " I don't know about that, i watched another of his videos and that's how he does it, so Ross may be right and maybe that guy doesn't know sll the ins and outs like Ross and I do, never the less it is an interesting video.

that's just a wry dig at another thread Larry :)

Ross is/was an architect - like I said before, the video guy is an artist and you cannot automatically apply the rules of tech drawing and CAD to Art, that's not what it's about...

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Originally Posted by wizard509

never the less it is an interesting video.

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I do think it's great that there are people out there willing to make videos and share them on the interweb thing. Nicely prepared step-by-step instruction videos like that hopefully have encouraged some to try doing their own drawing like that. Given the video had over a million views that seems very likely to have inspired many. If it did - that's a great thing. Sadly many people never experience the satisfaction of artistic pursuits because they (wrongly) assume they can't do it.

how true. I myself didn't start drawing until I wes in the Marine Corps and my first attempts were pitiful.

FWIW I started drawing in school in the back of my exercise books, when bored during lessons - cartooning is 'shorthand' what you don't draw is as important as what you do... too much detail kills it...

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Originally Posted by handrawn

I started drawing in school in the back of my exercise books, when bored during lessons...

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My experience is similar. The best thing that happened for me was Grade 8 in Mr. Banks class. It was a small school and we spent most of every day in the same class. Mr. Banks didn't like small individual desks and so he swapped them out for large tables & we sat two-to-a-table. To each table top he taped down a covering white bristol poster cardboard. He told us we could draw/doodle as much as we liked on the tables -- as long as we promised to listen when drawing. It was great. I drew continuously that whole year plus I took seriously the promise and learned it is possible to draw while thinking about something completely different. I suppose I learned what we'd call today: multitasking. Thank you Mr. Banks.

What I liked to draw were big floating cities. I don't know why but it was my thing. They were like huge aircraft carriers with skyscrapers on the deck. I'd draw them big -- like two feet wide and sometimes take weeks to complete one drawing. Whenever we wanted a new drawing surface Mr. Banks would provide it. Great teacher!

Cool

I certainly wouldn't be without the radio ... although to be fair I prefer classical or jazz without lyrics when I'm concentrating hard