How to Draw Two Point Interior Perspective

Posted: October 17th, 2013

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How to Draw Two Point Interior Perspective

            Perspectives are used in the field of architecture, particularly in architectural drawings. This is a drawing of a building with all the technical aspects. Such drawings are made based on a certain set of principles that guide the person drawing, the architect, on the rules to follow in order to obtain the required outcome. The principles include views, for example, floor plans and measurement units that make the task of drawing a lot easier. Particular steps should be followed in order to draw the required plan correctly. If they are not followed, the building plan will not be appropriate and may be prone to several inconsistencies. The aspect of perspectives applies in architecture mainly. Drawing of a two-point perspective is an important method of drawing that has several steps to be followed in order to obtain the required diagram.

In drawing, perspective refers to a representation of an icon on a flat plane, as the eye perceives it (Mitton, 24). There are three main types of perspectives, one, two and two point perspectives. They are all used in different scenarios, in buildings with different requirements. In the case of the two-point perspective, it is a form of drawing used to reduce the amount of distortion in an image. This is because the diagrams are drawn using particular angles and several horizontal lines that may cross each other or converge at certain locations. The two-point perspective is the most commonly used architectural perspective since it is the most accurate. However, it is considered tedious because the artist must keep in mind the different angles required to draw the outline.

Filippo Brunelleschi in the 15^th century created the aspect of perspective in geometry. During this era, the mathematicians created several illusions of a 3-dimensional diagram on a flat surface. This was the beginning of the use of perspectives in art. Perspectives were preferred to other scale drawing methods because they were more flexible, that is, any dimension could be drawn using the perspective method. Other scale drawing methods were limited to only 2-dimensional diagrams. Using perspectives, diagonals could be eliminated after drawing. This makes the drawings look neat and tidy as opposed to the other methods that required the persistence of the diagonal lines. The resulting diagrams were untidy and were often confusing even to the person who made the drawing. Generally, perspective drawings were also much more accurate (Natale, 45)

In order to draw an image using a two- point perspective precisely, certain steps must be used to ensure it is drawn appropriately (Ronen, 65).

1. It is assumed that you already understand how to draw a box in 2-point perspective, imagine that you are inside the said box. The box is a three-dimensional diagram and has three planes and surfaces. This box in the case of 2point perspective drawing will be considered a room. All the three surfaces may be used when drawing an interior 2-point perspective in order to increase the detail of the drawing. While imagining that you are in the box, face one corner in the box, any can work, as the box is still undefined and undifferentiated. It should be remembered that you, the artist, are an abstract concept, and you are not in proximity to the corner. From there, three things are required to start out the process. You need to draw two vanishing points, one vertical line and four diagonal lines. The vanishing points are on adjacent lines and are representations of the angles that you will use for this process. The diagonal lines intersect at the centre of the room. The single vertical line is the representation of the corner in the box.

a) First, with the help of the protractors, identify the appropriates angles required to make the drawing and on any two sides that are opposite each other, identify the vanishing points and mark them as vanishing point 1 (VP1) and vanishing point 2 (VP2)

b) Then, identify the corner of the box and draw a vertical line where you intend it to be. Using the corner as the convergence point, draw the four diagonal lines from the four sides of the room. You should ensure that the four lines intersect at the vertical line, which is the representation of the corner of the room. The outcome should resemble the figure below

2. After the first step, the formerly empty room has developed some element of detail and has the basic requirements such as the walls and the floor. This step will require further addition of detail in order to make it look as real as possible.

a) The first detail to be added will be a picture window. It will be drawn on the surface that had VP1 in the initial step. The window should be a simple rectangular domain whose two sides should converge at VP2. This is important because if they do not converge, the location of the window will be inappropriate. Failure to converge at VP2 will also signify that the measurements used for the scale drawing will be wrong especially if implemented in a real building.

b) Then after the drawing of the rectangular domain on the appropriate side, you should insert more detail into the rectangular shell. Detail in this case may include curtains and some windowpanes. Additions of this detail will make the room more animate and will provide the illusion of a real room as opposed to a drawing. You should be careful when inserting the detail since if too much is inserted, it will lose the required effect it is expected to have. Addition of the details should also coincide with the VP2 spot in order to ensure that the measurements are in line with the expectations. The final drawing with the picture drawing should look like the picture below

3. The subsequent steps will simply require the insertion of further detail in the room that you are creating. This is important because the differentiating factor between perspective drawing and the other methods of scale drawing is the delusion provided by the diagrams. The diagrams make the person viewing them to feel like they are in the room drawn. Insertion of furniture is an example of a method to insert more detail into the diagram you are making. Insertion of the furniture will follow the same steps like the picture window, you will begin with the simple outline and further detail will follow.

a) To insert a piece of furniture that is small, first start with the base to facilitate simple progression into the more difficult processes. The base will be established by the use of the two reference points that were initially created, VP1 and 2. The two points should intersect at an angle of about sixty degrees, and this spot will be the location of the base of the furniture.

b) Then, establish the outline of the piece of furniture that you intend to draw. The use of guided and draw-throughs is encouraged in order to facilitate an accurate drawing. However, after completion, the guides and draw-throughs should be erased in order to ensure that the drawing is neat and tidy.

c) Insertion of more detail, for example, in the case of a television set should coincide with VP1. Detail required in this case may include the screen and any diagonal lines intersecting in its centre should converge at VP1. The final piece of furniture should look like the drawing below

4. You may decide to include some more detail like a table and some seats. However, you should ensure that the room does not look crowds as it draws the attention from the magnificence of the work of art. In this case, you can insert a small rug next to the television as the final detail.

a) Using VP1and 2 like before, a base is created for the rug. An appropriate angle should be selected base on the size of the mat you intend to draw, the larger it is the greater the angle, as well.

b) After the establishment of the basic perspective, you may create a design on the mat that suits your liking. You should remember to keep the design simple since complex designs may not look pleasing.

5. The final step in two- point interior perspective is the whitewashing stage. This step will include additional lighting on the ceiling and light shading in the room. The shading is an illustration of the shadows formed by the light and the components of the room. The picture should look like the one below

The use if two-point perspective in art has been highly advantageous because of its numerous advantages. It may be considered difficult, but once you get to know the method, it becomes easier with time. The outcome of this method of drawing is also very neat and provides the onlooker with an illusion of the real room. Therefore, two-point perspective is the most proficient method of scale drawing in art.

Works Cited

Mitton, Maureen. Interior Design Visual Presentation: A Guide to Graphics, Models, and Presentation Techniques. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley, 2004. Print.

Natale, Christopher. Perspective Drawing for Interior Space. New York: Fairchild Books, 2011. Print.

Ronin, Gilles. Drawing Perspective: Freehand. London: A. & C. Black, 2011. Print.