Grade by Grade
B. Drama / D. Visual Arts · Drama and Visual Arts

Visual Arts: Focal Point and One-Point Perspective

D1.1 D1.2 D1.3 D2.2About 50 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can draw a scene in one-point perspective using a horizon line, a vanishing point and orthogonal lines.
  • I can place my focal point where perspective lines lead the eye.
  • I can change the viewpoint (eye level) to show a scene from a different point of view.
  • I can plan a narrative art work and explain my composition.

Words to know

one-point perspective
A drawing method that makes a flat picture look deep, using one vanishing point on the horizon line.
horizon line
A horizontal line across the picture that shows the viewer's eye level.
vanishing point
The point on the horizon line where parallel lines going away from the viewer seem to meet and disappear.
orthogonal lines
Lines that go back into the picture and meet at the vanishing point.
eye level
The height of the viewer's eyes. In a drawing, it is shown by the horizon line.
bird's-eye view
Looking down at a scene from high above.
worm's-eye view
Looking up at a scene from down low.
composition
How the parts of an art work are arranged.

Remember from earlier grades

In Grade 4 you used emphasis to create a focal point, and you showed depth with diminishing perspective (things look smaller as they go back). In Grade 5 you used atmospheric perspective: faraway hills look paler and blurrier.

In Grade 6 you will learn a powerful drawing system: one-point perspective. It makes a flat page look deep, and it points straight at your focal point.

The railway track trick

Stand in the middle of a long, straight hallway, or picture yourself looking down a straight country road. The two edges are parallel (they never meet in real life). But in your view, they seem to get closer and closer until they meet at one point far away.

Artists in Italy worked out the rules of this effect about 600 years ago. Ever since, artists have used it to make pictures look deep and real. In Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting The Last Supper, the lines of the ceiling and walls lead to a point at the head of the central figure, Jesus, so that's where your eye goes.

A straight railway track whose two rails seem to meet at one point on the horizon.
The rails never really meet, but they seem to join at a vanishing point. That is the idea behind one-point perspective. AI-generated image
vanishing pointhorizon lineeye level
One-point perspective. A horizon line crosses the picture at eye level. A road narrows as it goes back, and its two edges meet at a vanishing point on the horizon. Fence posts on both sides get shorter and closer together as they go back, and dashed lines along their tops and bottoms also meet at the vanishing point.

The parts of one-point perspective

  1. Horizon line: draw a light horizontal line. It shows your eye level.
  2. Vanishing point (VP): put a dot on the horizon line. Everything going straight back will shrink toward this dot.
  3. Orthogonal lines: lines from the corners and edges of things going back to the VP. Roads, rails, sidewalks, the edges of walls, floors and ceilings.
  4. Verticals stay vertical: posts, trees, door edges and walls going straight up are drawn straight up and down.
  5. Front faces stay flat: the front of a box or building facing you is drawn as a normal rectangle with horizontal and vertical sides.
  6. Things get smaller as they get closer to the VP. Draw evenly spaced posts closer together and shorter as they go back.

Point of view: move the horizon line

  • Horizon high on the page: you are looking down, like a bird's-eye view. You see lots of ground and the tops of things.
  • Horizon in the middle: normal standing eye level.
  • Horizon low: you are looking up, like a worm's-eye view. Buildings and people tower over you, which can make them feel powerful or scary.

Changing the point of view changes the feeling and the story of the picture.

Perspective and the focal point

All orthogonal lines rush toward the vanishing point, and your eye rushes with them. So the area near the vanishing point becomes a natural focal point.

  • Put your most important thing at or near the VP: a door at the end of a hallway, a person at the end of a road, a sunrise.
  • Add contrast there (the darkest dark next to the lightest light) to make it even stronger.
  • Don't put the VP exactly in the centre every time. Moving it a little left or right can make the composition more interesting.
Worked example

Example: Drawing a school hallway in one-point perspective

Let's draw a hallway with lockers leading to a door where something mysterious is happening (a narrative art work).

  1. Draw a horizon line across the middle of the page and put a vanishing point on it, a little left of centre.
  2. Draw a small rectangle around the VP. This is the far wall with the door. Keep its sides vertical and horizontal.
  3. Draw orthogonal lines from each corner of the rectangle out to the corners of your paper. These are where the floor meets the walls and the walls meet the ceiling.
  4. Add lockers on the side walls: draw their top and bottom edges as orthogonals toward the VP, and their sides as verticals. Make them narrower as they go back.
  5. Draw the door at the far end slightly open with light spilling out: the focal point. Add a single shadow of a figure on the floor to tell a story.
  6. Explain it: "My orthogonal lines all lead to the door, my focal point. The light coming from the door adds contrast, so the viewer wonders what's inside."

Horizon line, vanishing point, orthogonals and verticals make the hallway look deep, and they lead the viewer to the focal point, telling a story.

1. horizon + VP2. far wall3. orthogonals4. lockers + doorVP = vanishing point. Every line going straight back meets at the VP.
The hallway example in four steps: horizon line and vanishing point, the far wall, orthogonal lines out to the corners, then lockers (verticals) and a door at the focal point.
Worked example

Example: One scene, two points of view

A new skatepark is planned in your town. Draw the same street from two points of view to explore different ideas.

  1. View 1: a child's worm's-eye view. Put the horizon low. The skatepark ramps tower up, looking exciting and huge. Idea: "This will be amazing for kids!"
  2. View 2: a neighbour's bird's-eye view from an upstairs window. Put the horizon high. We see the whole street, the ramps, and how close they are to the houses. Idea: "Will it be noisy at night?"
  3. Both use the same perspective rules, but different eye levels.
  4. Explain it: "Changing the point of view helps the viewer understand two perspectives on the same issue."

Moving the horizon line changes the point of view, which changes the feelings and ideas a picture communicates.

Just for fun

Railway tracks seem to meet at the vanishing point, but trains never crash there. Parallel lines never actually meet. They just look like they're whispering secrets far away! 🚆

Hands-on activity

Down the road

You need: paper, a pencil, a ruler, an eraser, and coloured pencils or markers.

  1. Look first: stand at one end of a hallway in your home (or look out a window at a straight street). Hold a ruler at arm's length along the floor edge and notice how it slants up toward a point at your eye level.
  2. Warm-up: draw the road with fence posts from the diagram. Use your ruler for orthogonal lines.
  3. Your scene: draw a hallway, a road, a railway track, a hockey rink seen from one end, or a long dock on a lake, in one-point perspective.
  4. Focal point: place something important near the vanishing point (a person, a door, a canoe, the sun) and add contrast there.
  5. Point of view: draw the same scene again with the horizon line moved high or low. How does the feeling change?
  6. Tell a story: give your best drawing a title that hints at a story, and write two sentences explaining your composition.

Your turn

1

What does the horizon line show?

2

What is a vanishing point?

3

What are orthogonal lines?

4

In one-point perspective, how do you draw the side edges of a door: slanted or vertical?

5

Why is the area near the vanishing point a good place for the focal point?

6

Where would you put the horizon line to show a worm's-eye view?

7

Evenly spaced fence posts go back toward the vanishing point. How should you draw them?

More practice: warm-up

1

How many vanishing points does one-point perspective have?

2

True or false: The vanishing point sits on the horizon line.

3

Name one real thing that looks like it shrinks to a point in the distance.

4

What is a bird's-eye view?

5

What is composition?

More practice: on your own

1

A classmate's road looks flat, like a triangle standing up. What might be wrong, and how can they fix it?

2

Explain how The Last Supper uses one-point perspective to create a focal point.

3

Describe how a low horizon line could change a picture of a tall building.

4

You want a picture of a dock on a lake at sunset. Where would you put the vanishing point and focal point? Explain.

5

Why might an artist not put the vanishing point exactly in the centre?

Challenge

1

Plan a narrative art work in one-point perspective about the first day of school from the point of view of a nervous Grade 1 student. Describe the eye level, vanishing point and focal point.

2

Why do parallel lines seem to meet in the distance, even though they never do?

3

Explain how one-point perspective and atmospheric perspective (from Grade 5) could work together in a landscape.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

In one-point perspective, the vanishing point is placed ___.

2.

Orthogonal lines ___.

3.

A low horizon line gives a ___.

4.

In one-point perspective, the edges of a door are drawn ___.

5.

Why is the vanishing point area often a strong focal point?

6.

The horizon line shows ___.

For parents and teachers

Big idea: For Grade 6, the curriculum's focus for space includes centre of interest (focal point) and one-point perspective. Students create art works that explore feelings, ideas and issues from a variety of points of view (D1.1), demonstrate an understanding of composition using selected principles of design to create narrative art works (D1.2), communicate with elements of design (D1.3) and explain how elements and principles create meaning (D2.2).

How to help:

  • Stand together at the end of a long hallway, a straight sidewalk or a dock and look for the vanishing point.
  • Lend a ruler. Perspective is much easier with straight orthogonals.
  • Look at a picture of The Last Supper online and trace the lines to the vanishing point with a finger.

Common difficulties:

  • Slanting the verticals. Remind: "Only lines going back go to the VP. Up-and-down stays up-and-down."
  • Forgetting to shrink objects. Use the dashed guide lines along tops and bottoms to size things.
  • VP not on the horizon. Draw the horizon first, always.