3 Point Perspective

Can you take a guess at what we'll be discussing this week? If you cheat and look at the title, we can't be friends anymore. I'm joking, we're totally friends.

Please don't leave me.

Know your memes.

Here we have the rules again, slightly altered from the previous incarnations to apply to three point:

1. Objects closer to the viewer appear larger.
2. All parallel lines intersect at a vanishing point.
3. There is more than one vanishing point.
4. The point of view is no longer facing the horizon.

Since the viewer doesn't face the horizon line, three point perspective is largely for extreme up and extreme down shots, but it can also add a subtle dynamic to indoor scenes. However, since three point is more work than two point, you might as well get the most bang for your buck and do an X-TREME angle.

Image found through Google Images (then drawn on)

Here's a good example of an up angle. You look UP at the third vanishing point. The horizon line and the horizon line's vanishing points need not even appear in the image.

Image found through Google Images (then drawn on)

And now a down angle. You look DOWN at the third vanishing point; the horizon line and its vanishing points aren't in the image, and here we can see that the horizon line doesn't even need to be in line with the image's edges. Really, this image is just a series of vanishing points.

Image found through Google Images (then drawn on)

As you can see here, a more subtle three point perspective can be a little... well, like a ballet. Far more complex than it looks at first glance, but the technical skill required to make it look like a piece of cake?

How about I attempt all three in my thumbnails?

Perspective 3: The Re-perspectivening

Are you intimidated? Good. That means I can simplify this in a way that will blow your mind wide open and make me seem knowledgeable and cool despite my shortcomings in the subject matter.

If you can't tell, I really like cheating to make it look like I know what I'm doing.

Here, I really fudged it; even the hole should be in perspective. There is a lot wrong with this thumbnail. The perspective here is entirely... well, wrong, for the composition, because there is a horizon line here where it's not supposed to be. Whose fault is this? Entirely my own.

This is what we call a counter-example, my friends.

And again, a good counter-example. Reference your shit. Seriously. It can be really obvious if you don't know what you're doing, and can't stick plants or other things in the way.

Now, go forth. Draw, young grasshopper, using these perspective tips.

2 Point Perspective

I've gone over singular point perspective, that's just in my last post - so it's time to level up. On to two point perspective, where the rules change a little:

1. Objects closer to the viewer appear larger.
2. All parallel lines intersect at a vanishing point on the horizon line.
3. There is more than one vanishing point.

Can you handle that one extra rule? No? Well, crank up your techno and let's break it the hell down then, because this is--

Perspective 2: Electric Boogaloo

Have you got your techno? I've got mine. Go on, I can wait. Okay, are you ready? Let's dive right in. 

Here we have an example - a few examples, actually, because as it turns out my last post was really lacking in terms of following the assignment parameters - of two point perspective, with some guidelines drawn for you. Do you want to know why I draw on the guidelines? Because you are my everything.

Image found through Google Images (then drawn on)

Again, this is really... rather boring; you've got your two vanishing points on the horizon line there, and it all comes together neatly and nicely. Let's shake this up, ladies and gents!


Here, we move on to my thumbnail examples and personal notes:

Foreground elements are cool because they can even out the image. Here, I have a building right in the forefront. Notice that it doesn't grab your attention as much as the background, because it serves as visual relief, and takes down the amount of detail/pencil mileage you need to fill up the image. 



...They are great in a time crunch, by the way.

In the same vein as foreground elements, you don't need to have ALL THE THINGS. You can leave it largely to organic shapes, with some architectural accents. How many or how little is up to you, but you don't have to crank the detail up to 11 to get a nice image.

Seriously. This is a lesson. A valuable one.

They can't all be winners. I'm telling you that right now, because this is one thumbnail that would just not do what I wanted. I attempted an extreme angle with really close vanishing points, but that didn't work out. I moved the horizon line way up, that didn't work out for me so well either. So I tried something fairly average, which was turning out rather well until I Bob Rossed¹ all over it.

The lesson? Sometimes, you will draw crap. Don't get discouraged by it. Learn from the crap.

I learned that putting the vanishing points really close together looks really fucking bizarre, no matter how many times I attempted to pull it off (there were several, actually).


And now, for the not-thumbnail-but-still-very-much-a-draft image:

Here's an attempt to apply the first two principles. Applying the third one would have been counterproductive, so I skipped it (haaa). I've got a big tree to the side to balance out the large wall/gate, and a large grassy area I resisted putting fountains and things on. Shabang. Done.

¹ Bob Ross [bɑb rɑs] -verb

To make something nice and then take the artistic equivalent of a shit all over it by doing a big blotch in the middle.