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Perspective Tutorial: 2VP 6 — Description
How to draw a cube… continued!

So far, we have the horizon with three points- the two vanishing points and that 45 point- and a point below it with a line from each VP going through it.

Next- and this is also important!- draw a line from the 45 point through that point below the horizon (sure is a popular little fellow, isn’t he?). That’s Fig. 18 there.

If Fig. 19 seems like a sudden leap, it really isn’t- honest! All you do is draw a new point on that line from the 45 point, and through it- just as before!- draw a line from each of the two vanishing points. Now you should have FOUR intersections: the two through those points, and two others. If you don’t, extend all of the lines until you do. You should now have four points- darken the lines between them all, and then shade in the shape you have. What you have is a real, honest-to-goodness square! It may not look like it at first, but if you followed these instructions, it should work.

And this is why it was so important to make those first two lines perpendicular, and to get the 45 degree point by bisecting it. If you draw a regular square, each corner will be 90 degrees, and if you draw a diagonal line from any corner to the one opposite it, you will divide those corners into…45 degree angles! There is a connection between what you already know to what this is all about.

O.K…Fig. 20…now it gets a bit tricky. You should erase everything except the horizon and the square. Remember how I told you to measure the distances from the vanishing points to the junction, and to write it down? Well, here is where you’ll need those numbers!

Along the horizon, right from Vanishing Point 1, go as far as what you recorded from Vanishing Point 1 to the Junction earlier (if, say, it was 7 cm, then that’s how far to the right you go). That will be “TP1” (Temporary Point 1). Do the same from Vanishing Point 2 with the distance from VP2 to the Junction, going to the left- and that will be where TP2 will be.

Draw a line right on that front corner point parallel to the horizon, as shown.

You're ready.

In my case, I drew a line from TP2 through point two- the one on the right side of the square- until it hit that parallel line. Draw a point right there. You can do this instead from TP1 through point 1 on the left side of the square, whichever is more convenient.

In either case, measure from the new point on the parallel line to that front corner point. If you drew a line from both TP1 and TP2, then the lines from the two new points to that square’s front corner should be the same! Call it "edge length."

Swing that line down, straight down. Or- you can just draw a vertical line down from the square’s front corner, making it whatever the "edge length" is. You can see how that went- and that new line is the front edge of you cube!

****Helpful Hint!: There is another way of doing this much: once you've drawn the horizon and its three points, you can just simply draw a line from the 45 degree point and put two points on it, then draw lines from the Vanishing Points through them. You'll get your square.

You can, as always, swing the line from the 45 degree point left or right, too.

You're just about there!

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