Perspective Made Easy

This instructional guide by Ernest R. Norling presents the principles of perspective drawing in twenty sequential steps, each building on the last. Norling argues that perspective is governed by simple, learnable laws that most artists overlook. He grounds his approach in the observation that the modern built environment, with its square-cornered streets, buildings, and furniture, makes perspective drawing straightforward. Learning to draw a common brick, he contends, is essentially learning practical perspective. The book relies heavily on line-drawing illustrations to carry the instructional sequence.

Norling opens by establishing three foundational concepts: the horizon, the vanishing point, and the eye-level. He defines perspective as the method by which an artist makes an object appear solid on a flat surface. The horizon is the distant line where earth and sky appear to meet. The vanishing point is the spot on the horizon where parallel lines, such as railroad rails stretching into the distance, appear to converge and disappear. The eye-level is the height of the viewer's eyes, which Norling shows is identical to the horizon line: as a viewer raises their gaze from the tracks at their feet toward the distance, the tracks seem to climb until they reach a height level with the viewer's eyes. Sitting down lowers the apparent horizon; ascending in an airplane raises it. The viewer's height above the ground, Norling emphasizes, is the most important factor in any perspective drawing.

Step Two deepens the treatment of the eye-level, showing that it always appears as a straight horizontal line across a drawing. Objects above this line are seen from below; objects below it are seen from above. Norling introduces a vivid analogy: if a room were flooded to exactly the viewer's eye height, the waterline would represent the eye-level, appearing as a straight line in every direction. He contrasts two drawings of the same table, one sketched while standing and one while sitting on the floor, to show how the entire perspective system shifts with the viewer's height.

Step Three explains why parallel lines are not drawn parallel in perspective. As the viewer looks from the track at their feet toward the horizon, the same physical width occupies an increasingly narrow portion of their field of vision until it converges to a single point. Norling states the core rule: each set of parallel lines in a perspective drawing, if extended, meets at its own vanishing point. He identifies two exceptions: lines running parallel to the horizon, such as railroad ties viewed head-on, and vertical lines like telegraph poles. Both remain parallel in the drawing because they are parallel to the picture plane, which he defines as a transparent sheet held upright between the artist and the scene, on which the drawing is effectively traced.

In Step Four, Norling analyzes a brick's twelve edges as three sets of four parallel lines corresponding to length, width, and height. Even a single brick's vanishing point and eye-level can be found by extending any two converging edges until they meet.

Step Five introduces two-point perspective, a view in which two sets of receding lines each converge to their own vanishing point. When a brick lies so that three sides are visible, its length and width lines converge to separate vanishing points, both on the same eye-level line. Rotating the brick shifts these points along the eye-level in opposite directions. The vertical "height" lines are drawn straight up and down with no vanishing point.

Step Six warns against placing vanishing points too close together, which produces distorted perspective that makes square-cornered objects look diamond-shaped. Using diagrams and comparative room-interior drawings, Norling shows why widely spaced points produce natural-looking results.

Step Seven models how two vanishing points move relative to each other as an object rotates. Four positions illustrate the range, from equal spacing when viewing a corner head-on, through one-point perspective (where all receding lines meet a single vanishing point) when one point reaches center, to a reversal when further rotation brings the second point back on the opposite side. The key rule is that two vanishing points always occupy opposite sides of the center of interest.

Step Eight demonstrates building complex structures from bricks. Stacking and arranging bricks to various heights produces a cityscape, with all parallel lines converging to the same two vanishing points. Norling shows how lowering the eye-level redraws the same buildings from a pedestrian's viewpoint, changing only the horizontal lines.

Step Nine addresses placing figures at correct proportions using the "man-high wall" method: establishing one figure's height against a reference such as a doorway, then running a height line to the vanishing point to determine correct figure height at any location. A shortcut requires only an eye-level line and one existing figure to project correct heights anywhere in the scene.

Step Ten covers the center of interest, noting that extending a drawing too far beyond it warps the image. The step also addresses roofs: sloping roof lines converge on an imaginary vertical line passing through the building's vanishing point, with steeper pitches producing vanishing points spaced farther apart above and below the eye-level.

Step Eleven treats room interiors as the insides of boxes. Viewed from the open end, all receding lines converge at a single vanishing point. Turning the box introduces two-point perspective, and placing bricks inside corresponds to arranging furniture. All pieces must share the same eye-level line as the room.

Step Twelve introduces intersecting diagonals, corner-to-corner crosslines that locate the center of any rectangular surface in perspective. Applications include centering doors and windows, locating roof peaks, and spacing equally spaced objects such as fence posts.

Step Thirteen covers cylinders and ellipses, establishing that circles viewed at an angle appear as ellipses. Norling shows that the long axis of an ellipse always forms a right angle with the center line of its cylinder, regardless of orientation.

Step Fourteen demonstrates how everyday objects, from wheels to locomotives, can be drawn as assemblages of blocks and cylinders, and presents a method for dividing a circle in perspective, useful for wheel spokes or column fluting.

Step Fifteen explains dividing surfaces in perspective using diagonal lines, enabling artists to space window columns and draw checkerboards. For irregular spacing, a measured paper strip fitted diagonally between a building's corners transfers real-world measurements into correct perspective positions.

Step Sixteen covers shade and shadow. Norling defines shade as the unlighted side of an object and shadow as the dark area cast when the object blocks light. Shadow edges converge to the same vanishing points as the object's edges. Sunlight produces parallel rays and consistent shadows, while a nearby light source produces diverging rays and enlarged shadows.

Step Seventeen explains reflections: an object on a mirror surface reflects left-handed and upside down, extending below the surface the same distance the object rises above it. The reflection shares the object's vanishing points.

Step Eighteen introduces dramatic views using vertical vanishing points. Lying on one's back reveals all vertical lines converging toward a point overhead, enabling views of skyscrapers looking up or aerial views looking down, both functioning as one-point perspective.

Step Nineteen addresses sloped surfaces. A descending road creates a false horizon below the true one, while an uphill street vanishes above normal eye-level. Buildings on slopes retain their vanishing points on the true horizon because their foundations are level.

The final step introduces mechanical perspective, the precise method used in architectural drawing. Norling defines key elements including the picture plane, the ground plane, the ground line where they meet, and the station point (the artist's position). He walks through constructing a brick using plans (top-view layouts for measurement) and elevations (flat side views for projecting height), then describes the architect's method for two-point perspective. The book closes by reiterating its core principles: the railroad track furnishes the fundamentals, the brick provides working knowledge, and the "Big Three" are the eye-level, Vanishing Point A (one of the two main horizontal vanishing points), and Vanishing Point B (the other). Norling encourages artists to sketch freely rather than forcing objects into rigid frameworks, to space vanishing points far apart, and to study technical perspective books for further precision while using these foundational principles to build confidence in freehand drawing.