Exercise 9: THREE POINT PERSPECTIVE, Drawing a skyscraper

For this exercise you will render a corner building in three point perspective following the example below. You can create your own original building or choose to render a house as seen from a corner. The diagram is only an example.

In the diagram below, I have added vanishing points to this skyscraper. Even though the picture is cropped close around the building I can locate the vanishing points by extending the edges of the buildings out into space until I reach a point of convergence. In this case I have located three vanishing points. If I were rendering this scene as an illustration either from scratch or from this reference I would follow this procedure exactly for laying out the scene.

As you can see I can also begin constructing the sidewalk and street around the building. If I added streetlights or other objects, they would also conform to these vanishing points. I could also draw this type of scene using two point perspective. I would do this, for example, if we were not looking up at such a steep angle into the sky. It would then be less important to locate the vanishing point for the top of the skyscraper.

Distortion and warping

If I stayed with two point perspective it would be difficult to re-create the scene above accurately. I would end up with warping of the building as it rose in space. You can see the beginning of this in the diagram at below. As a column rises in two point perspective, it is increasingly stretched until the forms become so distorted that they no longer are recognizable.

Exercise 9: Demonstration

DRAWING AND SHADING BUILDINGS WITH DIFFERENT VANISHING POINTS - part 1

When buildings are set at different angles in perspective you need to find the vanishing points to figure out how each object lines up next to the other in space.

The key to the scene below is to make sure all the vertical lines in these skycrapers converge at a single point in space. For the following scene I started by drawing the center vertical of the middle building and measuring the distance out to the left and right corners. I approximated the angles of the roof and drew a light line down to each vanishing point on the right and left sides. This roughly establishes a horizon line. I then found key points on other buildings to relate them properly in position and scale to the middle building. For example, I noticed that the top left edge of the roof on the tall building to the right intersects with the top right corner of the middle building.

This diagram above shows how I established the vanishing points. I simply extended lines off the edges of buildings until they converged at three vanishing points.

I also noticed other tangents or lines that lined up in space. Examples include the front corner of the lower structure where it lines up with the right vertical edge of the middle building. As I drew each building in place I used the left and right vanishing points at the horizon to line up the windows and other features. I measured out the width of the sides of each building starting with the center building to make sure that the dimensions of each building were roughly correct.

DRAWING AND SHADING BUILDINGS WITH DIFFERENT VANISHING POINTS - part 2

To set up the scene in white and black I made a major decision about the light source.

The sun is shining from the left and is fairly high in the sky-possibly 45 degrees above the horizon or about four o’clock in the afternoon. I placed the right sides of the buildings in shadow by reversing out the windows as white shapes in a black field. On the left side of each building I used lighter line work and indicated reflections in the windows as black on a white field.

The dropout technique involves translating tones into black and white forms or shapes. In this case I simplified the right side of the buildings by allowing the entire area to appear as a single black field of color. The result is a dramatic graphic effect that is effective for

logos like the icon below.

Below, the illustration that emerges from the drawing uses a technique called "drop out" to establish light and shadow. This will be important for an upcoming assignment based on a drawing you will complete.

I used crosshatch and parallel line techniques to add middle tones on the sidewalk including the shadow of the buildings. I added some blue tone to demonstrate how quickly you can create a very dimensional look with a sense of atmosphere.