Equal Corner Distances 1

O.K., at this point you probably know how to draw angled walls, using a single vanishing point, or likely two or even three vanishing points.

You would typically draw something with two or more vanishing points when you want to show it at an angle. Even when using a single vanishing point this can happen, but with two or more, absolutely it will!

One question that you might have is something basic to drawing: if one wants to draw doorways, windows, or just about anything else that is an equal distance from a corner, how would it be done?

It is possible to make a careless mistake here, based on the fact that you may have learned MORE about perspective!

Buildings are usually not square-shaped. Like most houses and other structures, seen from above they are usually based on a rectangle. Elsewhere in this tutorial are parts about how to draw rectangular shapes at angles. This is where the problem might be.

Only a square has all four sides equal in length. Draw a square, and then choose a corner- any corner. Go from it to either of the other nearest corners. Then, do the same from that original corner to the other nearest corner (ignore the one on the opposite side).

Since a square has all equal sides, you know that those two other points are an equal distance from the first.

But try this with a rectangle, and what happens? You can see that those points are NOT an equal distance from the original corner. That is not how a rectangle works.

When drawing an angled square, you draw two vanishing points and the "45 Degree Point" on the horizon. When drawing a rectangle, however, you don't use the 45 degree point; you use some other (15 degree, 75 degree, whatever is called for).

So when trying to space something from a corner, you might try drawing a mini-shape in that corner to figure out how to space the whatever it is you want. This is fine if you started with a square, since you'll get mini-squares.

But if you started with a RECTANGLE, you'll get a mini-rectangle, and those things will not be evenly spaced. Look at the rightmost image in Step 2 here, and see how.


So- what to do? Luckily, it's easy, and once you know about the rectangle slip up, you've probably already guessed how to do it: just mark off the 45 degree point so you can use it when you need to make mini-squares for spacing.

And, so...

In Step 1, the base for a building is drawn. I marked off the 45 degree point, but it is not used just yet; for the rectangle, I used the Rectangle Point ("RC").

In Step 2, I drew a point ("A") on the left side, and from it a vertical line. Now what I want is another point ("B") and line the same distance from the front corner. Again, I would not draw a mini-shape from Point RC, since, as seen in that rectangle over there on the right, it would NOT give us two equally-distant points.

This is why, for Step 3, I drew a line from the 45 DEGREE POINT to the front corner point. Any two points drawn on that new line will give us a square, and we already have the first- the front corner point. And finding that point is easy...