How to draw
How to Draw a Street in One-Point Perspective
- Challenge (level 5 of 5)
- 45 min
- 20 steps
- Ages 10–14 (a guide, not a rule)
Draw on paper: Paper, Pencil, Eraser, Ruler. Optional: Colored pencils: brick red, tan, blue and gray.
Draw it on the screen
One-point perspective is how artists make a flat page look deep. Every line that runs straight away from you aims at one dot, the vanishing point. Vertical lines stay vertical and flat lines stay flat. Use a ruler and press lightly for guides: you erase them at the end.
Rather color it? Print the city street coloring page.
Step by step
- New lines: purple, thick and glowing
- Lines you already drew: gray
- Guides: dashed blue, draw them lightly
- Erase: dotted pink with an eraser
Step 1 of 20
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Step 1 of 20 Use a ruler to draw a light horizon line across your paper, a little below the middle. It shows your eye level: the height of your eyes in the picture. -
Step 2 of 20 Mark a dot on the horizon line near the middle. This is the vanishing point: every line that runs straight away from you meets here. -
Step 3 of 20 Draw the two edges of the road with a ruler, from the vanishing point out to the edges of your paper. Lines that aim at the vanishing point are called orthogonals. -
Step 4 of 20 Start with the nearest thing: a lamp post on the right sidewalk. Draw a tall vertical pole, an arm reaching over the road and a small lamp. -
Step 5 of 20 From the top and the bottom of the pole, draw two light guide lines to the vanishing point. Every lamp post of the same height fits between them. -
Step 6 of 20 Draw three more lamp posts between the guides, each one shorter and closer to the last. Then erase the two guides. -
Step 7 of 20 Draw the front corner of the nearest building on each side as a tall vertical line. Add flat lines from its top and bottom out to the paper edge. -
Step 8 of 20 From the bottom of each corner, draw a ruler line toward the vanishing point. This is where the buildings meet the sidewalk. -
Step 9 of 20 From the top of each corner, draw toward the vanishing point too, and stop where you want the first building to end. -
Step 10 of 20 Left side: draw a vertical line where the first building ends. Make the next one taller: its roof line also aims at the vanishing point. Add a third, lower one. -
Step 11 of 20 Right side: build the row the same way. A vertical line ends each building, and every roof line aims at the vanishing point. -
Step 12 of 20 Draw a building across the far end of the street. It faces you, so it is a plain rectangle with flat and vertical lines and no orthogonals. -
Step 13 of 20 Draw light floor guides across each building, aimed at the vanishing point. They split the walls into a ground floor and upper floors. -
Step 14 of 20 Draw windows between the floor guides. Sides are vertical, tops and bottoms aim at the vanishing point. Farther windows get thinner and closer together. -
Step 15 of 20 On each ground floor, draw a door and a wide shop window, using the same rules: vertical sides, tops and bottoms aimed at the vanishing point. -
Step 16 of 20 Erase the floor guides. -
Step 17 of 20 Draw the dashed line down the middle of the road. Each dash aims at the vanishing point, and the dashes get shorter and closer as they go back. -
Step 18 of 20 Erase the horizon line and the vanishing point. The orthogonals still show where they were. -
Step 19 of 20 The sun is on the left, so the building walls on the left side face away from it. Shade them with even vertical lines: a middle value. -
Step 20 of 20 Shade the windows and doors darkest with tight lines. Leave the sunny walls on the right white: light, middle and dark values make it look solid.
You did it!
Your drawing does not have to look like this one. Every artist draws a little differently.
Tips for this drawing
Helpful hints
- Keep the vanishing point sharp and small: every orthogonal should pass exactly through it.
- Hold the ruler on the vanishing point with one finger and swing it to each new corner.
- Check your verticals against the side of your paper. Tilted verticals make buildings look like they are falling.
- Buildings above the horizon show their bottoms, never their roofs, because they are above your eyes.
Common mistakes
- A roof line or window edge does not aim at the vanishing point, so the building looks twisted. Lay your ruler from the vanishing point to the corner and redraw the line along it.
- All the windows are the same width, so the wall looks flat. Make each window a little thinner and closer to the next as the wall goes back.
- The far lamp posts are as tall as the near one. Draw guides from the first lamp to the vanishing point and keep every lamp between them.
Make it simpler
Draw just the horizon, the vanishing point, the two road edges and one building on each side with a few windows. Skip the lamp posts and the shading.
Horizon line
The horizon line is your eye level. Things above it, like rooftops, are seen from below; things below it, like the road, are seen from above.
Vanishing point
In one-point perspective, all lines that run straight away from you meet at one point on the horizon line: the vanishing point.
Orthogonals
Orthogonals are the lines that aim at the vanishing point: curbs, roof lines, the tops and bottoms of windows. Line your ruler up with the vanishing point to draw them.
Three kinds of lines
In one-point perspective there are only three kinds of lines: verticals stay vertical, lines across your view stay flat, and lines going away aim at the vanishing point.
Foreshortening
Equal things look smaller and closer together as they go back: the lamp posts, the windows and the road dashes are all the same size in real life.
Value
Shade walls that face away from the light with a middle value, make windows and doors darkest, and leave sunny walls white. Three values make the buildings look solid.
