Primary Rules in Perspective

The following rules which are few and simple will tend greatly to overcome many of the most obvious defects in drawings made by pupils.

Rule 1 – Lines and figures in planes parallel to the picture planes, that is, facing you, retain their original relations and forms; thus, parallel lines will be presented parallel; a square will remain a square; a circle, a circle, etc.

Rule 2 – Parallel lines not parallel to the picture plane appear to converge or come together; in terms of perspective, they are said to vanish. The point at which they would meet if sufficiently projected is called their vanishing point. Whatever the number of lines, if parallel to each other, they will all converge to the same vanishing point.

Rule 3 – Horizontal parallel lines will converge to a point on the horizontal line. If above the eye, they will come down to the horizon (or horizontal) line; if below the eye, they will rise toward it.

Rule 4 – Vertical lines will always be represented vertical.

If one stands looking down a long, straight, level street, the houses appear to meet in the distance – the vanishing point. (See Fig. 11.) If you look down a long, straight railroad track, the rails and telegraph poles appear to meet at the vanishing point. If you are looking at a long procession of men, marching in a straight line (or nearly so) with the line of your point of sight, the last man is almost indistinguishable. He is at the vanishing point, for our intent and purposes.

When a pupil draws a house like A, in Fig. 12, explain wherein the drawing is incorrect, as shown in B, after having made a drawing, showing the manner of finding the proper vanishing point and horizon line. If the point of station, etc., seem too complicated to the pupil, simply explain that the lines of the sides of the building recede as shown in B.

Explain to the pupil that when drawing the houses in Fig. 15 it is easier than in Fig. 12 to establish the point of sight and vanishing point, because they are the same. The lines in the ‘houses that recede from the beholder converge to those points. The side of the houses, as at C, being parallel to the horizon line, have no vanishing point.

Mistakes in Perspective Corrected – In Fig. 12 is represented a crude drawing of a house made by a boy who lacked knowledge of perspective. In B the dark and dotted lines show how the house should have been drawn, the light lines being those of the original and the dashed lines those of perspective. Fig. 13 shows how the correct drawing was made.

The same boy drew the four houses shown in Fig. 14. In Fig. I5 the houses are drawn according to the simple rules of perspective shown in this chapter.