How to Draw Perspective: Basic to Complex Structures

This week, I've been painting churches abroad, and one day I'd like to go and see them on site, and marvel at the time and effort the ancients put into designing their exquisite shapes.

Through drawing the church, we learned how squares and circles are constructed with each other, which can be applied to our drawing of space and buildings, and the method of drawing is very similar to computer modeling.
Definitely shaped planning space, stacked layer by layer, much like stacking cakes 🙋

Read on to see how to use lines to create a sense of space!
Let's start with a few simple points before we start painting.

What is perspective?

Perspective is a way of making your drawings on paper look spatial, and can be used to translate real objects onto our canvases.
It helps us to understand the proportions of shapes, and perspective allows us to grasp the relationship between the size of objects near and far.

● The role of the picture in perspective:

The image is like a window that guides our perspective, like the lens of a camera, or our canvas, or paper.
A three-dimensional object is transformed (projected) onto this plane to form the picture we see.

What's the vanishing point?

In a perspective drawing, all nearly parallel lines point to the same point, which is called the vanishing point.
This is a way to simulate the nearness of a large and the distance of a small.

Like the top right image, the lines in the same direction are facing their respective vanishing points in the line of sight.

●Visualization/horizonhigh degree

The height of the line of sight determines the viewing angle of the screen, which is the feeling that the screen presents to the viewer.
It's like looking down, looking up, looking up.

Take the head as an example.

How to determine the horizon?

Several methods:

1. Find the “farthest horizon” of a distant building.”
2. Find the vanishing line in the same direction and connect it.

● Common types of perspective

A little bit of perspectiveWhat is it?：

The only thing in the scene isA group parallel to each other and perpendicular to the screenThe edges of the lines in the center of the screen converge to the same vanishing point; the rest of the horizontal lines parallel to the screen remain horizontal, and the vertical lines remain vertical.

Like the corridor in the lower right corner, all lines point to a vanishing point.

All lines extending in the same direction will converge to the same point on the screen, which is called the vanishing point.

This will happen:
When we are facing the front of an object, and the object extends in only one direction, we can see that the object is not in the front of the object.。

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Why do they converge at the same point?

When the two Lines that seem parallel in reality When I'm getting farther and farther away from you
The "actual width" that your eyes can see will be:

• Near → looks wide
• Far → looks narrow
• Super far → becomes almost overlapping to a point

That's why you look at the railroad tracks, the road, the edge of the table.
The farther away they get, the closer they get to each other.
They are then painted in the world of the screen:

Wide from the front → concentrate backward → finally converge on the same point

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Why is the vanishing point on the horizon?

When you look out horizontally, you see all “horizontally extended parallel lines”.
They will eventually remain at this height.

So:

• The vanishing point is always on the horizon.
• The left and right positions of the vanishing point are determined by your "facing direction".

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Under what circumstances is the 1:1 disappearance applicable?

• When youFacing the front of the object
• Seeing a "flat square/rectangle"
• Depth only extends in "one direction

Prime example:

• Positive view of a box
• Looking at a door from the front
• Front view of the centerline of the road
• Standing in the hallway, looking forward

All of these scenes will be there.Depth in only one direction → only vanishing point

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Two points of perspective:

Imagine you're standing on a street corner with one road stretching to the left and another to the right in front of you.

At the end of the road, all the points "gather together into a point in the distance", forming two points to the left and two points to the right on the horizontal plane in front of your eyes:

- There's no “front” parallel to you.
- You saw the object.Two sets of horizontal lines(extends left + extends right)
→ So two vanishing points are needed.

Three conditions for the disappearance of the two points

1. The object has turned at an angle.(not facing you)
2. Depth extensions in both left and right directions
3. The object is still horizontal and the observer is not tilting his head.

Three points hold → two points vanish.

Control of deformation: the distance between two vanishing points determines the intensity of perspective.

This is the easiest part of two-point perspective to “exaggerate” the image.

● Vanishing point too close → super wide angle, distortion exaggerated

● Vanishing point is too far away → lines look nearly parallel, perspective weakens

● Balance point: the vanishing point falls far to the left and right of the screen

Three points of perspective:

Imagine you are looking up or down at a tall building, not only the left and right edges converge to two vanishing points, but also the vertical edges converge to a third vanishing point up or down due to the angle of view from the top or bottom - this is what theThree Points of View

A third vanishing point is added, which focuses on the up and down directions, and can simulate a top-down or top-down view.
For example, scenes showing tension, looking down from a tall building, etc.

●Square Perspective

The objects we see in our daily life can be simplified into squares to construct shapes and proportions. By using squares, we can quickly understand the structure and establish the relationship between the size of the object and the space when we draw.

You can visualize the object as being built up from several squares, for example, in the following Cosmos demonstration, the width is scaled to one square and the height is roughly two squares more, so we can stack the blocks to construct a scale of about 1:2.3.

Using the square we can easily calculate the length to width ratio of an object, as well as what it might look like if we wanted to draw it at an angle.

Circular Perspective

Circle in Perspective: A circle becomes similar to an ellipse in perspective, as the circle moves away from the line of sight and the circle begins to look like an ellipse.

Perspective Multiplier

Creating Perspective Rhythms with Square Multiplication

Why do we need to learn "Multiplication"?

When drawing perspective, you may wonder, "How deep should I draw this object or scene? How do I know where to put the next layer?"
This is where the "Square Multiplier Method" is the answer. It is a relatively precise method that can help you:

• Isometric grid advancement. No intuition.
• Methodical creation of screen rhythms and scale units
• Basic tool for exploded views, stairs, corridors, roofs, building modules, etc.

Planar square multiplication method: the

🔹Step 1：
Draw a square, then two diagonal lines to find the "center" of the square and use it as a base for positioning.

🔹Step 2：
By lengthening the edges of the squares so that they meet the diagonals, you can step-by-step draw "equally spaced squares" to help you cut the space more accurately!

Perspective Square Row Multiplication Method (2-point perspective as an example)

1. Start by drawing a square + diagonal.
   Find the midpoint crossing, which is the central measurement point.
2. Extend horizontally or vertically to the next borderline
   Project the center point to find the center point of the next frame.
3. Draw the diagonal line again and extend it over and over again.
   Then you can get an equidistant lattice rhythm, forming a spatial grid of 2 frames → 4 frames → 8 frames .......
4. Applying Perspective Lines and Vanishing Points
   These grids can be extended to form complete spaces and are suitable for both flat and three-dimensional views.

✅Reminder: As long as the first frame is a correct square, subsequent multiplication is less likely to be deformed.
❌Common mistakes: not grasping the center line and guessing intuitively at each frame will lead to more and more crooked drawings and a collapse of proportions.

Practical application: use the square perspective structure to draw the hamburger explosions

It looks like the objects are floating freely, but in fact, there is a "space law".

Many painters see the explosion picture will think that it is a hollow decomposition, in fact, if there is no bottom of the "square space structure" support, it is easy to parts do not match, the overall structure is not stable.

Here, we take the burger as an example and map each layer of its ingredients to 8-10 layers of multiplication, creating an exploded view of the top and bottom stacks with spacing.

Hamburg Explosion Drawing Step by Step

Steps	Key Concepts

1️⃣ Create 8-frame space cube

Creating Isometric Spaces with Consistent Viewpoints Using Multiplication Methods

2️⃣ Insert Round, Square Ingredients

Start with a simple circle or square to define the position and thickness.

3️⃣ Add natural variations (e.g., cheese extensions, lettuce mess)

Referring to the original lattice perspective, the shape can be slightly organic.

4️⃣ Floating element design

Onion rings or tomato slices can be moved horizontally from the original layer to create variety.

5️⃣ Final Line Drawing and Structural Simplification

You can leave part of the grid and keep the perspective frame to increase the richness of the picture.

Hamburg Exploded View - Time-lapse Movie Introduction

Above is the perspective of some of the knowledge of the introduction, interested in their own hands to try to see, practice the use of perspective understanding, to see things in everyday life to capture.

If you want to learn to draw, but don't know how to start, or are interested in understanding what drawing is all about.

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For more articles on Extended Drawing Methods.

How to Draw a Car for Beginners: Using Simple Shapes

Boots Sketch Tutorial: Learn Proportions and Structural Lines

How to Master the Proportions,Shape, and Symmetry of a Teapot

Three Easy Steps to Drawing a Stuffed Duck with a Pencil

Mastering the Shape and Curvature of a Fishing Boat: Sketching Classroom Fishing Boat Drawing Tips