Perspective Part 3

Zero Point Perspective is simple enough to describe and talk about. It is when there is essentially no vanishing point to follow. This technique applies for when you are drawing a mountain range on the horizon line of a drawing, or a set of buildings.

Now you see, what prevents this part of the image from being flat is the shading. It still remains a 3D image, even if it does not follow any set path of vanishing points. Also note that these sorts of images don't have to be on the tip of the horizon line, they can also be slightly below the plot of the horizon.

 Still the image does not have to apply to just mountains, but any object that lay near the horizon line and follows no real vanishing point. 

And that is essentially all there is to say about Zero Point Perspective. It's a simple enough technique to grasp, but it is very easy to mess up. Be sure you know your shading techniques should you want to draw out these types of images with depth behind them. 

Now onto Four Point Perspective. 

So four point perspective is a technique that captures that distortion into a flat image. It's not particularly useful to use, but it's useful to know and helps for understanding perspective. 

Earlier I had talked about Three Point and how you would have essentially three points. Two points would be to the side of the picture, while a third one would either point to the heavens, or down to Earth, creating a sense of an object being far below you, or going high above you. 

Now in the case of four point perspective, the guideline is simple. If you are already drawing in three point you simply need to add a fourth vanishing point either to the bottom or the top of the drawing.

You simply start from the area where the horizon would be, and draw as if you were drawing your third vanishing point. 

You should get something similar to this:

I find the best usage for this technique is when you want to make a drawing that makes the viewers eyes follow the distortion, like say you were drawing a tower that is supposed to be very up close to you. The bottom of the tower would be far below the horizon line and be where your feet are. Then you would make the tower rise high up to the sky, creating a long vanishing point that simulates the feeling of looking up to the sky. 

And that is about everything I have to say on the subject of the perspectives. It was a long and arduous study, and I know fully well that I need to learn more for the future. Well, I can only hope that these blog posts helped any artists looking for simple advice.