ARCHITECTURE
Further Aspects of Perspective
WE ARE ACCUSTOMED TO SEEING our environment from a
relatively constant point of view. From our normal eye level,
verticals appear perpendicular to the ground, and this is
how we have drawn them so far (see pp. 76-79). Only when
our eye level is very high and we look down, or low and we
look up, do verticals appear inclined. Think of standing at
the top of a skyscraper and imagine how its parallel sides
would appear to converge below you. To draw such a view
APPLICATION
Copy these drawings to see and feel
how they work before inventing your own
versions. Search for the application of these
perspectives among works by other artists
in this book and in galleries. Copying what
you see in the work of others will help
you to understand what they have done.
Free vanishing points
Vanishing points are commonly found on the
horizon—our eye level. That is where we expect
to find them, but they are not confined to this
level. Potentially, they can be placed anywhere
in space to describe the perspective of flying
c tilted objects. The boxes drawn here are seen
partly or entirely disassociated from a horizon
line drawn across the bottom of the image.
Elaborations
On paper we can enjoy the freedom of
fantastic structural invention without limitations
of solid materials or gravity. Here, I have
elaborated on the simple boxes above.
These elaborations could continue indefinitely
across a sheet of paper in pursuit of complex
and intricate ideas. They could be drawn on
any scale from miniature to monumental.
you might employ three-point perspective (shown
opposite top). Further aspects of three-point perspective
are also illustrated opposite, showing you how to draw
curved surfaces and a tiled floor. It is important to realize
that you can have as many vanishing points as you wish,
located anywhere inside or outside the pictorial space.
They do not have to relate to each other, or to the
horizon. This is demonstrated immediately below.
