This is what you think of when you think of perspective. When a scene contains straight lines (roads, buildings, boxes, the interior lines of a room) the rules of geometry dictate that those lines recede from the viewer in predictable ways. A series of objects arrayed in a line (buildings on either side of a city street, for example) will recede together toward a mutual vanishing point. If they are aligned on a flat plane, and the viewer is near the ground, then the vanishing point will be on (or very close to) the horizon. If there are different groups of objects on different lines, then there can be multiple vanishing points. If the plane is not flat (a group of buildings on the bumpy streets of San Francisco, for example) then there can be many vanishing points, some on the horizon and some not.
The effective use of linear perspective provides the eye with powerful cues about the nature of three-dimensional space in the scene. The overuse of linear perspective starts to look less like art and more like a silly stunt involving someone with a ruler and not enough to do.
http://www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/view/202033/ I liked these photos when I was explaining linear perspective to my students
sorry here’s the site
Thanks, Sandy. Unfortunately, when I try to access your site, I get an “access denied” message.
If I click on my name I get the site with the photos, or go to a site called tabblo and search for sunny soho, they aren’t my photos, but they illustrate the drawing exercise that teachers always have kids do, draw a street in one point perspective. My students loved seeing this after they did that one.
Sandy,
Is this a site that you’re registered at? Your browser is probably remembering your username and password for you, so you don’t ever see a login screen.
Did your students have to register?
Thanks. It really helped me out since I had a linear perspective project due tomorrow, and I hadn’t started yet! :3
I was wondering if you could please tell me the artist’s name of the Linear Perspective drawing. Also, what is the medium used in this piece?
Beth,
It’s a 15th or 16th century woodcut. I don’t think the artist’s name is known.
drawing looks awesome