What Is One-Point
Perspective?
This example of one-point perspective
shows train tracks disappearing into the
distance. You can immediately compre-
hend this scene as indicative of distance
because the train tracks become nar-
row. The distance between them
becomes so small that the tracks appear
to meet. This doesn’t really happen in
life; however, it is what the human eye
sees. The point where the tracks appear
to meet indicates where the viewer is
standing in the scene and is referred to
as the vantage point (or viewer point).
When you look at train tracks, you see
that the sides of the tracks converge. In
perspective rules, the point where the
two sides meet is called the vanishing
point. The height from the ground to
your eyes is called the eye level(or
horizon line). Notice that this point is at
the exact height of your eyes, neither
above nor below them. You look at
everything in this world from the height of your own eye level. Everyone has a different eye level except for people who
are the same height!
The photo above has a superimposed diagram of black lines to indicate the horizon line or eye level. The vanishing point is
where the vantage point and the horizon line meet. The red lines indicate how all of the sides of the buildings, the train
tracks, the telephone poles, and any object that is perpendicular to the horizon line converge at the vanishing point. Another
way to describe this phenomenon is that all parallel lines converge in the distance at the vanishing point. Notice that the ver-
tical lines remain vertical.
When drawing, the laws of perspective
apply to everything that you look at.
In one-point perspective, the front of
an object is parallel to your plane of
vision. This means that the object is
directly facing you. There are several
examples in this chapter to illustrate
this point, beginning with a classic
example of train tracks.VantageVantage
oror
ViewView
PointPointVantage
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PointHorizon Line or Eye LevelHorizon Line or Eye LevelHorizon Line or Eye Level