How To Paint Perspective

If you want to make your paintings believable in terms of spatial relationships, simply put, if you want to paint believable three-dimensional objects, you have to learn how to paint in perspective.

What Is Perspective?

Perspective is a view from a specific vantage point. It refers to where you are looking at a scene from and what you are seeing. It is a point of view.

You are probably aware that things appear smaller the further away they are from the viewer. If you have two identical items, the nearer one will look bigger, even though they are the same size.

When you draw, you want to put three-dimensional world into a two-dimensional surface, a canvas or a sheet of paper. If you learn how to draw in perspective, you will be able to create correctly proportioned objects. This way you can make your paintings more realistic.

Here is a nice video from a professional illustrator that will explain the two point perspective. Enjoy:



The main things to remember: vanishing points, horizon line. Also be aware that there are different types of perspective. The most common are one-, two- and three-point.

To learn more about perspectives and other aspects of painting, take a look at Learn & Master Painting.

Perspective can be a little tricky, but it's not as complicated as you may think. Just remember to practice.