One point perspective worksheets

The sheet carries a worked box with every guide line running to the vanishing point, then the same horizon and the same point again on an empty half for the student to try it. The worked box is drawn geometrically, so its back face sits exactly on the guide lines.

How does one point perspective work?

Every edge that runs away from the viewer meets at a single dot on the horizon line, called the vanishing point. Edges across the picture stay horizontal and edges up the picture stay vertical, so only the receding edges converge.

The one rule

Pick a dot on the horizon line and call it the vanishing point. Every edge that travels away from the viewer runs to that dot. Every edge that runs left to right stays horizontal and every edge that runs up and down stays vertical. That is the whole of one point perspective, and the worked box on the sheet shows it with the guide lines left in.

Where the horizon really is

The horizon line is eye level, not the top of the page and not the ground. A box drawn below the line is seen from above, so its top face shows. The same box drawn above the line is seen from underneath, so its bottom face shows. A box drawn across the line shows neither, which is why the worked example sits clearly below.

The mistake to avoid

The far face of the box is not a smaller rectangle placed by eye. Each of its corners sits on the guide line from the matching near corner, all at the same distance along. Place it by eye and the box will look wrong in a way that is hard to name, which is exactly why the sheet prints the guide lines rather than hiding them.

Other printable sets