Let’s Take A Closer Look At Two-Points-Perspective

Now we took a look at One-Point-Perspective in the previous post. It’s time to look at the more versatile Two-Points-Perspective. If you understood the concept in the previous lesson about One-Point-Perspective, you will more likely going to understand the concepts here. For that reason, feel free to refer to my previous One-Point-Perspective lesson if you like.

Unlike One-Point-Perspective, which you only use if you are looking at the object directly. With Two-Points-Perspective, you will be able to learn all sorts of scenes, even if this was the only type of perspective you can draw.

This post is a part of a series about drawing in perspective, you can refer to the first post of the series here if you want to read the whole series.

Examples Of Two-Points-Perspective

Two-Points-Perspective is the kind of perspective two use when we look at an object from an angle, as oppose to One-Point-Perspective, which we use when we are facing one side of the object. You can see that from the angle we are looking at the building from:-

Notice the two sets of receding lines at both sides of the building. Each sets meet at their own vanishing point:-

The same thing goes for this building as well, with the receding lines and the two vanishing points shown as well:-

Object Placement Related To The Horizon Line

As a general rule, objects drawn below the horizon line are below our eye level, and so we look at them from above, and the ones above it are above us, and so we look at them from below. You can see that in action in the following picture. Notice how the cubes below the horizon lines appear different than the cubes above the horizon line:-

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How To Draw A Cube Using Two-Points-Perspective Step-By-Step

Lets start by drawing the horizon line. Placing the line depends on what you want to draw. If you want to draw a scene where you are looking at a room from below (from the eyes of a cat, for example), then you need to place the line below the middle of the page. If you want to draw the scene from above, like from the perspective of a tall person, then you can place the line above the middle. Remember, the horizon line represents our eye level, and it’s affected by our height.

Let’s draw the line at the middle of the page:-

Then we pick two vanishing points. Each at the sides of the horizon line. I placed One of the points slightly away from the side, since I know this makes for more interesting perspective:-

Remember, the two vanishing points always needs to be on the same horizon line.

Just as you may have guessed. like we used one central point to draw the one-point perspective, in Two-Point-Perspective, we will use the two points we picked to help us draw the scene.

Let’s start by drawing a straight, vertical line above the line we drew in the last step, this line represents the corner of the cube we are drawing. The placement of this line determines the angle from which we are looking at the scene:-

Next, we connect the vanishing points to the tips of the vertical lines we drew in the last step:-

After that, we draw two more vertical lines between the converging lines. The placement of these two lines depends on the dimensions of the cube you are drawing. I picked arbitrary places in this case:-

To draw the bottom of the cube, we need to draw two lines from the vanishing points. The first line goes from the right vanishing point to the left corner of the cube:-

The second line goes from the left vanishing point to the very right corner of the cube. These two lines already make the cube bottom side:-

The cube is done. You can continue to adding additional details to it. Like how I added a window in perspective here. All I did was extending two lines from the vanishing point from the right, and then drew two vertical lines to make the window:-

You can repeat the same steps to draw many other cubes in perspective:-

Erase any guidelines you don’t need, and so you end up with multiple cubes in perspective:-

Where to place the two vanishing points?

Since you can literally place your two vanishing points anywhere you want, you may be wondering what’s the best way to place them. While you can place the two points anywhere that produce the angle or perspective you want your viewers to see. Placing them the wrong way can create very skewed perspective.

The thing is, there’s no specific answer that solve this, but there are few tips I can give you that can help you with that:-

• • Don’t place the two vanishing points inside your picture frame, this will always create very skewed pictures. In case you want to use the whole paper for your drawing, then you need to place the vanishing points outside of it. You can do that by placing some newspapers under the paper, and draw the vanishing points there (This is one of the issues about drawing Two-Points-Perspective, you will notice the same issue about Three-Points-Perspective once we get into it in the future).
  • To add to the previous point, the more one of the vanishing points is to the right (or to the left), the closer you need to place the other one. That’s because the two vanishing points need make a square angle with the viewer (See the picture below).
  • In case of doubt, place the two vanishing points further form each other, rather than closer. Even if that skewed the perspective a bit, it will be less noticable compared to having them so close to each other.
  • Experiment with drawing many scenes using different sets of vanishing points. This will give you an idea on how that works over time.
  • Don’t worry if your vanishing points placement is not perfect, you will get the feeling of that with time.

Here’s how the relationship between the viewer and the two vanishing points looks like:-

Placing the two vanishing points may sound complicated, but the good thing is, once you have your two vanishing points in place, then you mostly need to follow the steps in this lesson to continue the drawing.

A Final Word On Two-Points-Perspective

Two-Points-Perspective is more complicated that One-Point-Perspective, but it’s also much more useful, as it’s the perspective type you will likely use to draw most of your scenes, and the type we see most stuff in our daily life through. That makes it more worthy to learn.

For that reason, I hope this lesson helped you understand Two-Points-Perspective better now, don’t worry if the concepts in this lesson seemed confusing, as that’s how it feels like at first.

I hope to see you again in another post. Don’t forget to subscribe to my mailing list for more updates & promotions~

Next lesson:- What’s Three-Points-Perspective? And to draw it Step By Step? (with a comparison to Two-Points-Perspective)

See Also:-

• • My Drawing And Digital Art Books
  • Getting started with Wacom graphics tablet and Digital Painting With Photoshop: Learn Digital Art & Paintings On Good Fundamentals
  • Getting Started In Digital Art (or digital painting) for beginners, and what you need to know from the start
  • 8 Tips On How To Create Smooth Lines with your graphics tablet (or pen display)
  • How to avoid stiff poses and drawings?
  • Introduction to drawing proportions, and how to get it right (With practical example).
  • Best Affordable Pen displays and Cintiq Alternatives to buy in 2018 – Including Huion, Ugee, XP-Pen, Monoprice & other brands