Tutorial: CWD 5

Well, here it is, as promised!

So far, for the most part, the windows we've drawn have been a simple sort, a shape based on the wall's shape, with their corners- all four of them- somewhere on the "X" in their parts of the wall.

This is good for some designs, and for figuring out where you might want to put certain things, but what if you want to do something else? What if you want a narrow window, maybe with the top and bottom NOT the same distance from the center of the "X," as in many a mansion or house?

Never fear- here it is, and it's not at all difficult. If you understand the earlier part, then this is not much different, although an extra step is involved.


Once again, draw a wall, just one, with that one Vanishing Point.

Once again, as before, draw in the "X."

This time, first decide how wide you want the window. This is similar to before, but this time, that line is for reference only.

As seen here in Figure 10, once you know, draw a line from the Vanishing Point, going through the lower part of the "X." See where the line is, between the lines of the "X?" Just like before, and just like before, draw in the verical lines from those two points.

Now it becomes different: That line from the Vanishing Point is NOT going to be the bottom of the window! Its purpose was to show where to draw the vertical lines; this is how wide the window is going to be.

The reason for this step is simple: A window cannot really be as narrow as the middle point of the "X," and it cannot be any wider than the two lower corners- in fact, unless you want the whole wall to be a window (and maybe you do!) then it cannot be that wide. Therefore, the width of any window here must be somewhere between the two extremes, and the "X" will center it nicely.

So now you have your vertical lines; you have your width. the window can be anywhere within these two lines.

In this case, we want the top and bottom of the window to be the same distance from the center; we just didn't want them to touch the "X."

Decide where you want the bottom of the window. In this case, make it lower than where it would touch the "X." Draw a point in one of the vertical lines.

From the Vanishing Point- as before- draw a line through the vertical lines, through the point. However, make sure the line is long enough to go through both lower parts of the "X;" this is very important! These will be points 1 and 2.


Now, in Figure 11, see what was done? From where the line touches the lower part of the "X" draw up two vertical lines until they reach the upper parts of the "X." Mark off those two points; they will be points 3 and 4.

From the Vanishing Point draw a line through those two new points. Darken the line between the vertical lines.

And there you have it: a window, centered, but with its corners NOT touching the "X!" You can make it more squat or taller- based on that first line.

Now, these steps were needed if you wanted a window that was still centered; that is, with the top and bottom the same distance from the center. But this is not how you have to do it!

Once you have decided on the width of the window, as in Figure 10, you can draw the top and bottom in ANYWHERE within those two vertical lines. The bottom of the window can be close to the bottom of the wall while the top of the window can be near the center- or about halfway between the top of the wall and the center.

You can even draw both the top and bottom of the window above or below the center of the "X."

And there you have it!