Assignment - How to Draw Above and Below Eye Level
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LESSON NOTES
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Eye Level and the Horizon Line
When drawing in perspective, choose your viewer's eye level, which is the same as the horizon line. This line sets your viewpoint height, and it affects all other lines in your drawing.
Receding Lines: Up Views and Down Views
Use three sets of lines for the spatial axes. When receding lines aim up, you're looking down at the object, and when they aim down, you're looking up.
Remember:
- Looking down, lines go up
- Looking up, lines go down
Vanishing Points and Perspective Types
- One-Point Perspective: One set of lines recedes to a single point.
- Two-Point Perspective: Two sets of lines recede to two points.
- Three-Point Perspective: Vertical lines tilt and recede to a third point.
Vertical lines parallel to the picture plane don't need a vanishing point. In three-point perspective, artists often adjust the third point for effect.
Focus on Spatial Axes
Understanding the three spatial axes, width, height, and depth, is more important than labeling perspectives. Know how lines recede and converge, and accurately depict forms.
Foreshortening and Angles
As objects approach eye level, their top and bottom planes foreshorten, and angles change:
- Angles on Paper: Corners shift from acute to obtuse angles.
- Position Changes: Objects compress into lines when aligned with your eye level.
Practice Drawing
- Draw rooms with the eye level centered.
- Start with 5-minute sketches, then reduce to 3 minutes, then 1 minute.
- Observe how lines converge toward vanishing points on the horizon.
The Picture Plane
Understanding the picture plane explains foreshortening. As objects align with your eye, they compress. This concept solves many perspective problems.
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ASSIGNMENTS![]()
![Dermot]()
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![Marshall Vandruff]()
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![Michael Longhurst]()
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![Jyayasi (*Jay-o-she*)]()
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![Dedee Anderson Ganda]()
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![Dedee Anderson Ganda]()
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![@lieseldraws]()
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![Dedee Anderson Ganda]()
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![Carlos Javier Roo Soto]()
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![@rupertdddd]()
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![Marshall Vandruff]()
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![Amani Noor]()
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![Marshall Vandruff]()
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![@bumatehewok]()
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![William Montalvo]()
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![M C]()
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![Pamela D]()
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![Kassjan (Kass) Smyczek]()
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![Marshall Vandruff]()
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![Dedee Anderson Ganda]()
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![William Montalvo]()
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![Pamela D]()
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![You Ji An]()
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![Carlos Javier Roo Soto]()
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![@vange]()
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![Kassjan (Kass) Smyczek]()
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Skill-Building Project
- Sketch examples repeatedly, this helps to internalize concepts. 30 times and you'll get it, 50 times and you'll never forget.
- Redraw scenes with higher or lower eye levels. Observe how the lines aiming toward the horizon change angles.
- Maintain proportions. Forms don't change, only the angles of the lines do.
Remember:
- Looking down, lines go up
- Looking up, lines go down
Quote from the video: "Sketch Examples"
Are you refering to the example sketches you scroll through during the video?
That's what I've been doing or it that considered copying.
Looking down, lines go up
Looking up, lines go down
I assume the main goal of the exercise is to automate the thinking to muscle memory by repetition using the examples in the video.
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9mo
Any examples Dermot. Look at all the stuff here...
This was a lot harder than I expected. I felt like I did okay when the objects stayed in the same perspective as the walls of the room, but really struggled placing objects with their own perspective in a convincing way. Not sure if some of my struggle was distortion in the room photos I used. Definitely a good exercise that I’ll have to keep in the rotation.
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9mo
That struggle, Michael, is how you get it.
Good work, and if it;s not all you want it to be yet, it's an great investment in getting easy with it as you go.
I tried to draw various scenes from different angles. I added a lot of details to practice keeping the proportions of the objects and their relations with the surrounding objects consistent at all the viewing angles. I struggled the most at that. Also, the extreme angles were challenging.
Very neat! Also those rooms looks very homey with clutter of objects! It's a bane of mine, I cant seem to capable of imagining various objects to put into my drawing as of now xD
the 2nd batch of 16pcs
Starting to get better especially understanding how to tilt all the lines when we move the horizon line up and down. But dont ask me what is that last row, have no clue myself xD
Hey everyone! Really impressed with how many iterations you’ve all managed to crank out this week. Seriously inspiring! I only managed one—got too caught up trying to make things perfect instead of just practicing more loosely. If anyone has advice on how to let go of that and build a more consistent practice, I’d really appreciate it!
This is a two-story library inspired by the reference photo attached. It’s a mix of freehand and ruler work. It took me a lot longer than I expected, especially drawing through everything (including the ladder). Excuse the mess. I might go back and clean up the lines later.
I wasn’t sure if the balcony and railing make structural sense. Does it seem believable? Also, I struggled with relative proportion. For example, where would you say the couch hits on the ladder behind it? Around the second rung? I just placed things by intuition, but is that what we’re supposed to do when objects are at different distances—or is there a better method?
Any feedback is welcome. Thanks in advance! Always learning from you all 😊
for quantity practice, I usually try to shrink the drawing space into smaller size like thumbnails. That way you have such a small space to draw that you will be forced to let go of the details
Here's my 2nd batch. Next, my scene iterations. Maybe is the mechanical pencil feeling, my carpal tunnel or the fact I'm drawing smaller, but I can't for the life of me draw straight lines as before. I am doing Peter Han's exercise he show earlier in the course as warm-ups. Hopefully they will help.
I also bought Stan's Drawing Basics course taking advantage of the sale, and I'm all set for when part 2 of this course drops. Any advice about juggling both courses and these eye-level assignments?
I keep forgetting to repeat myself "Looking up, lines go down. Looking down, lines go down" and I think more of XYZ.
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9mo
They look great, but no reason to do fifty at that level. Fifty is for quick-studies with mantras.
I tried to do each iteration with one minute less time. I feel like some of the quicker ones got a little messy though.
I did the sketches in ink so that I wouldn’t waste time erasing. Should I try to make them cleaner next time or is ok to keep the messiness?
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9mo
I wouldn't change a thing in what you're doing! These are for skill-building, and you are building skill!
Digitally did some things around my house and next day some thumbnails of some 3d models I found.
Anyone else have the problem of not knowing what they want to draw? Feels like finding interesting reference online is harder then It should be and everything around me is kinda boring.
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/tavern-by-duduoliveira-d2dfb0104cfc45de826cbbc4069f1774
It can help to build a big reference folder on your PC. You can do this with Pinterest but I like being able to zoom in on images.
just to be sure I get it right: an angle is acute if it looks like an arrow that could hurt me, and is obtuse when it looks blunt and could not pierce my skin? acute is one hand of the clock on 3 the other on 6 and every position in between that, (one hand not moving) obtuse is one hand on 3 and the other between 6 and 9 and every position between that (one hand not moving) I'm very insecure about this last point; am I getting it right??? many thanks for any help, adhd makes this visualization on a clock very difficult. I found this image - there are other that show "reflex" angles etc, vo we need to understand those too?
from another perspective I would say ‘ a cute’ angle has a tighter hug and doesn’t want to hurt you :))
Not gonna lie, I set out to be between the 30-50 mark. And it was exhausting! But I believe in learning through repitition. Going there where it hurts and not avoiding the hard things. We don‘t progress in spite of hard things but because of them. Ok, enough cheese.
anyway - I made always the first picture from reference and the one underneath is the perpective tilt. I think there are to examples where I made two tilts in one room.
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9mo
Wow! Excellent work, Kass. The pain you took on, from my POV, looks like it is paying you in skill.
first 16, I find it really tough inventing rooms and objects around a middle eye level especially if the vanishing points are pretty close. I think Im so used to draw object from bottom or top view
This height level is critical for comic shots as the camera is often at human height or lower. Good thing to try to master.
I used some sketches I did recently in cafe bars for references then redrew a section to fit square ratio, followed by the two changes to the horizontal line.
When I next go back to the cafes I will try the new views to compare with the ones I imagined.
I have taken my imagining below and above the horizon line on a day trip to London, giving me a chance for another visit to my favourite Plan B cafe. There should always be a back up plan :)
lnitially, I spent more time trying to get things right but as I went, I slowly just started doodling and trying to get the perspective right more intuitively.
Here's my first try. Next time I'll just sketch the outlines free-hand instead of using the tools, it will be quicker. I guess that more I do this, the more details I can add in 5 minutes. Just wish my dexterity was better.
See anything that I should improve on? Would it be better to start with room itself first before adding furniture?
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9mo
Good work Carlos, and in answer to your question, it's almost always best to go for big things first.
So yes, room first, furniture later, but more generally: earth and sky first (via horizon), then room, then furniture.
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9mo
Excellent!
These are very clean and I understand the vertical camera movements. Well done!
I love these... Seeing them in the same view but from different angles is so interesting and weirdly therapeutic. And they're so clean and easy to understand
Phew! After drawing 50 rooms at different angles I will never forget... um, what was I talking about? This was a great exercise. It makes you think about how lines recede and converge to accurately depict forms.
Tried to do my first 7, no angle change, just to get a quick feeling.
I will be moving to sketch and then angle change from here.
Tbh, it's the first time I look at the rest, and feel defeated. 7 years in, and it still looks bad.
Oh well
7 more years ahead. I hope.
Keep it simple concentrate on the major forms first and imagine what they would look like at a different angle. I didn't bother with trying to find the horizon and vanishing points I just used marshalls up and down rule.
