How to draw a simple room in one-point perspective

Parallel lines never meet, but as they go away from you they look as if they do. Tate's art-terms page explains that linear perspective uses this: receding lines are drawn to meet at a vanishing point on the horizon. In a one-point room the back wall faces you square on, and every line going into the distance, along the floor, the ceiling and the side walls, heads to that one point. Learn the room and you can draw corridors, streets and box shapes the same way.

Three words come up in every step. The horizon line is your eye level (Smarthistory). The vanishing point is the point on it where receding parallel lines appear to meet (Tate). Orthogonals are the receding lines themselves, all drawn to that point (Smarthistory).

How to draw the room

1. Draw a light horizontal line across the paper at eye level.

   

   This is the horizon line, and it stands for the viewer's eye level (Kennedy, Smarthistory). For a standing view, put it a little below the middle of the page. Use the ruler and press lightly.

   You should see: one faint line running edge to edge, parallel to the top of the paper.

2. Mark one vanishing point on the horizon line.

   

   Make a small dot on the line, using the box above to decide where. Every receding line in the drawing will go to this dot, so it must sit exactly on the horizon line (Smarthistory).

   You should see: a single dot on the line. Only one: that's what makes it one-point perspective (Tate).

3. Draw the back wall as a rectangle around the point.

   

   Draw a rectangle with its top and bottom edges parallel to the horizon and its sides exactly vertical. Kennedy's rule for one-point interiors: horizontal elements follow the horizon line, and vertical elements stay at right angles to it. Make it about a third to half the width of the page, so there's room for the side walls.

   You should see: a square-on rectangle with the vanishing point somewhere inside it.

4. Draw lines from the point through each corner, out to the edges of the paper.

   

   Line the ruler up on the vanishing point and one corner of the back wall, then draw outwards from the corner to the paper edge. Repeat for all four corners. These are the orthogonals that meet at the vanishing point (Smarthistory), and they form the edges where the walls meet the floor and ceiling (Kennedy). Rub out the parts inside the back wall later.

   You should see: a box opening towards you: floor at the bottom, ceiling at the top, a wall on each side.

5. Add a door on a side wall.

   

   On one side wall, draw a vertical line up from the floor edge to the height of the door. From the top and the bottom of that line, draw lines towards the vanishing point, then add a second vertical line to close the door (Kennedy). The top and bottom of the door slant; its sides stay vertical.

   You should see: a door that looks as if it's on the wall, getting narrower as it goes back.

6. Add a window on the back wall.

   

   The back wall faces you, so anything flat on it is drawn square on: a plain rectangle with horizontal and vertical sides, no slanting lines. For a window on a side wall instead, use the door method, starting higher up the wall (Kennedy).

   You should see: a rectangle that sits flat on the back wall, with edges parallel to the wall's edges.

7. Add a simple piece of furniture as a box.

   

   Draw the front face of the box as a rectangle on the floor. From its corners, draw light lines towards the vanishing point, then decide how deep it is and draw the back edges parallel to the front ones. This is the same method Kennedy uses for a cube. For a table, drop vertical legs from the corners of the top (Kennedy).

   You should see: a solid-looking box whose sides point to the vanishing point.

8. Erase the guidelines and go over the final lines.

   

   Rub out the construction lines you don't need, as Kennedy does for the cube, including the orthogonals inside the back wall and behind furniture. Then go over the real edges with a softer pencil.

   You should see: a clean room drawing. It looks deep even though there is only one point.

If it looks wrong