Planes and Circles — Draw Daily

LESSON THREE

One Point

In One Point Perspective, and only in One Point Perspective, can the viewer look directly at the plane. I drew a square that is equal on all sides, The sides could be any length, but I chose to draw a square because within this square I can draw a circle.

First divide the square into triangles by connecting opposite corners with an X. Divide the square again once through the vertical, and again through the horizontal centers. This provides us with four points that are exactly centered and gives us with clues as to how to place the circle within the square.

If I were to put this into perspective and lay this plane down, the square now appears to be moving away. The top of the square suddenly appears to be shorter than the bottom and our circle, which may still appear to look like a circle, is no longer a circle, but an ellipse.

In One Point Perspective everything recedes towards a single point, so if I were to draw in a few more planes… it starts to resemble a 3D object.

Two Point

In Two Point Perspective, individual planes do not differ all that much from One Point except for two things. One, the square can not be viewed from head on, and two, the Vanishing Points have moved. However, a single plane will still recede towards a single Vanishing Point.

I can use the same technique as last time to evenly divide the square; one, draw an X from corner to corner and two, divide the vertical and horizontal centers.

If I were to add more planes however, something different happens, as we start to switch between which Vanishing Point a plane recedes towards.

Three Point

In Three Point Perspective, everything changes and the planes get more complicated. Planes must recede towards TWO Vanishing Points and this makes the square look odd in this perspective.

I can still use the same technique to evenly divide the square though. By one, drawing an X from corner to corner to divide the box into triangles, and two, divide it using the appropriate Vanishing Points to locate the vertical and horizontal centers. Within this the circle can be drawn.

This is where it gets even more complicated. One, the third Vanishing Point at the top is utilized to draw through each corner to establish what would other wise be our vertical parallel lines in One and Two Point Perspective. Two, the last plane will use the Vanishing Points on the Horizon Line to draw in the left, right, and bottom planes.