Lesson video

Hi, everyone, my name's Mr. Booth, and welcome to your Design and Technology lesson for today.

We're gonna be looking at one-point perspective during this lesson.

This forms part of the Communication unit.

As you know, as you go through your design and technology lives, you need to be able to communicate your ideas in a variety of wonderful ways, and today we're gonna get slightly more technical and look at one-point perspective, creating the illusion of depth by sketching or drawing in 3D.

We're gonna have a little bit of a history lesson to find out where one-point perspective came from, and then we're gonna do some practise and actually have a look at how you can draw shapes in 3D.

And that's your outcome for today.

By the end of today's lesson, I want you to be able to draw a 3D shape using one-point perspective.

I actually want you to be able to draw quite a few 3D shapes and even draw some complex shapes.

So we've got four keywords for today's lesson that we're gonna revisit throughout the lesson.

Some of these you might have come across in other lessons such as arts 'cause there is a real cross-curricular link between Art and Design and Technology when we talk about design and communication.

The first keyword is perspective, and in the context of this lesson and Design and Technology, this is a drawing technique used to create the illusion of depth and space on a flat surface.

You're gonna be drawing on a piece of paper, but what we want to do is we want to create a 3D drawing that gives the illusion that it's disappearing into the distance on that piece of paper.

Now in order to do that, we need what we call a vanishing point, and that's our next keyword.

And this is the point on the horizon where all the lines in a perspective drawing seem to meet, it draws our eyes to, to give that illusion of depth.

The vanishing point needs to sit on a horizon line, and of course this is our next keyword, which is the line where the sky meets the ground in a perspective drawing.

And finally, I've already talked about it quite a few times already to show you that it is a keyword.

It is, of course, depth, and this is the illusion of distance or three-dimensional space on a flat surface within the drawings that you are gonna be producing.

We have two learning cycles today.

The first one is perspective drawing, where we're gonna have a look at where it came from and also the basics of how to do it, and then finally, we're then gonna have a go at you doing some perspective drawings in the second learning cycle.

So let's get going.

Here we have a beautiful photograph, and in this photograph we are stood on a bridge, quite dangerously on a train track.

Obviously, you wouldn't do this at home, but we can see the train track disappears into the distance.

We've got the railings of the railway bridge, which I think we're stood on, and they seem to disappear into those beautiful green lush trees in the distance, where we also have this wonderful mountain range and then a very angry sky.

A lovely picture, and I think you'll agree that this picture has what we call depth.

The train track and the railings on the side of the bridge seem to draw our eyes into that distance till it's almost like the train track is disappearing magically into those trees.

We then, of course, have the background image which adds to that depth.

And this, of course, is similar to how we draw in perspective.

So one-point perspective is a way of drawing objects to look 3D and realistic, similar to what we're seeing in this beautiful photograph.

We have a vanishing point, a single vanishing point in this case, and this is where all those parallel lines that start kind of at the front of the drawing disappear and seem to meet in the distance.

And you can see that on this one, on this drawing, because we almost have those railway lines disappearing into the distance with the railings on there as well.

And this technique helps designers and artists create depth within drawings, making objects look like they're actually disappearing into the distance to make 'em look like what they do in real life when you look down a road or look like down a railway line, if you're stood at a station in real life.

Now one-point perspective is used by all sorts of people in industry, not just yourselves within school, but it's also used by artists.

Artists use this a lot to make things look realistic.

Architects, they use this an awful lot, and if you've had something recently built in your area, for example, like a new sports stadium or even a new school, you might find they would've provided a perspective drawing along with the plans to show you what it looks like in realistic, 'cause those plans, they don't look realistic.

They are for the engineers to build it, whereas the perspective view will be for us to be able to say, "Hey, that looks fantastic.

I can't wait for that to be built." Video game designers.

So next time you play your video games, have a look.

Do you get an illusion of depth? Does it look like the roads or the streets are disappearing into the distance? If so, it might be in perspective.

And then, of course, animators.

So next time you're watching your favourite TV show that is animated or your favourite film, have a look and see if they've used that kind of perspective technique to give the illusion of depth within that.

Now a way to check to see if something is perspective is to see what they're using it for, and one of these ways is roads because roads go into the distance.

They disappear into the distance.

So do train tracks, so do hallways, and also cities.

And we often use perspective to give the illusion that these are disappearing into the distance, just like they do in real life.

So here's our quick check for understanding.

One-point perspective is a way of drawing in 2D.

Is that true or is that false? Pause the video, have a think, and come back when you've got an answer.

Okay, if you answered false, well done.

But why? Can you explain why? So again, pause the video, have a think, have a chat to the person next to you, and then come back when you've got an answer.

And, of course, it is because one-point perspective is a way of drawing in 3D.

It adds depth to the drawing or the design, and that's the keyword, isn't it? It's depth.

So well done if you've got those right.

A bit of a history lesson now.

One-point perspective was first seen in the 1400s during the Renaissance period in Europe, and it was made famous or first used by an artist and architect, isn't that interesting, by the name of Filippo Brunelleschi.

Now the Renaissance period in Europe was a time where there were great advancements made in things like art, you might have heard of people like Michelangelo, but also in science and engineering.

For example, you might have heard of someone called Copernicus, who opened our eyes up to the stars through astronomy.

Well, Filippo Brunelleschi realised that actually you can experiment with depth in a drawing by adding perspective.

Now before this, drawings of buildings often look flat and simplistic, and he realised by actually making drawings of buildings by adding depth and using perspective, you can make them look far more realistic than they did before that.

And that, of course, revolutionised the way that we draw buildings.

Here we have a very simple image of two buildings.

Now I'm not saying this is a fantastic perspective drawing, but it gives the illusion of depth.

Now size and distance in a perspective drawing are really key and are really important.

Objects closer to the viewer appear larger.

So if they are closer to us on the page, they are bigger than if they are further away.

Objects that are farther away but appear smaller.

And this effect mimics how we see things in real life, creating the sense of depth.

For example, if I look out my window now, my next door neighbor's house seems relatively similar to the size of my house because it's near me.

But if I look in the distance on the hill that I can see, the houses seem really small.

Now I know they are not really small houses, I know they are very similar to the size of my house, but they appear smaller because, of course, I'm seeing in the real world, which is perspective.

And that's the illusion we are trying to create when we draw in perspective.

Another check, who was one of the first people to use one-point perspective? Was it a, Vincent van Gogh; b, Leonardo da Vinci; or, c, Filippo Brunelleschi? Pause the video, see if you can answer, and come back when you've got that answer.

If you answered Filippo Brunelleschi, then well done.

And, of course, this was during the Renaissance period, where he started experimenting with drawing buildings in perspective.

So let's just imagine now.

Let's just try and focus ourselves and imagine that we are looking down a row of trees in a park.

You might be able to look out your window right now and see a row of trees.

The trees closest to you look big, but as they stretch out into the distance, they appear smaller and also closer together.

And this is how perspective creates depth in the drawing.

We have those trees that are really close, they seem bigger, but as they go into the distance, we can see that they see smaller and smaller.

Now, of course, the illusion on this image is that I've just made the trees smaller, I've just shrunk them down, but it gives that illusion of depth, like the trees are disappearing into the distance.

Now for your first task, so task A1, the first thing I would like you to do is annotate the image below with the following: a horizon line and a vanishing point.

Now you might recognise this image from earlier.

It is, of course, a drawing, an illustration of the photograph that we took earlier so you can see it's working now.

So what I want you to do is look where you think that horizon line should be and also where that vanishing point should be, that point at which our eyes are drawn.

Have a go at that.

Once you're done, come back, and we'll see how well you got on.

So hopefully yours looks a little bit like mine.

So what I've done is I've created a horizon line, and yours should be somewhere similar around that.

Now in this case, usually it's where the ground meets the sky, but, of course, we've got these huge mountains in the background and these trees, so we have to be a little bit careful of here of where the horizon is actually below those mountains, but I'm sure you understood that.

We also have our vanishing point, and that's right in the centre, and that's what gives us our illusion of depth because our eyes are drawn to that by the use of those train tracks and also the sides of the bridge.

Well done.

The second part of this task, I would like you to give an example of someone who would use one-point perspective.

We talked about some of these people earlier in the learning cycle.

I would also like you to justify your choice with one example of how they would use one-point perspective, so explain the reasons why they would use it.

Once again, pause the video, have a go at this, and then come back, and we'll see how you got on.

So these are my answers.

So first of all, I said who might use one-point perspective, and I said a video game designer.

And then I wanted to justify my choice with an example.

Well, I said, of course they could use one-point perspective to design a city scene that I might want to drive down in my game.

This would create depth, making the buildings look like they're going to the distance instead of just sitting flat on the screen, which, of course, would make my gaming experience far better.

I'm sure you've got some brilliant answers and some great examples as well, so well done with that task.

We're now gonna move on to our second learning cycle, one-point perspective drawing, where you now get to have a go at trying to do this.

First of all, we need to set up our page.

We're gonna go through a step-by-step guide, and then you are gonna be able to have a go at this.

So first of all, we need to begin with a horizon line, where the sky meets the ground, just like in real life.

So on my page I'm gonna draw a line roughly in the middle all the way across the page using a ruler, and that's my horizon line.

The next thing we need is, of course, the vanishing point, and the vanishing point sits on the horizon line, and we mark it with a cross, and, of course, that's gonna be where our eyes are gonna be drawn and where we're gonna draw lots of our eyes to.

So let's draw our vanishing point on that horizon line.

And in this case I'm kind of doing similar to what we saw in the first learning cycle, where I'm gonna be putting it in the middle of that horizon line.

Quick check for understanding, what do you need to draw before starting a one-point perspective drawing? Is it a, a horizon line and a light source? Is it b, a vanishing point and grid lines? Or is it c, a horizon line and a vanishing point? Pause the video, have a go and come back, and let's see how you got on.

If you answered c, horizon line and vanishing point, well done.

Moving on, we now need to think about drawing a simple one-point perspective cube.

We have our horizon line.

We have our vanishing point.

So let's see how we'd actually start to draw shapes on here now.

So first of all, we're gonna draw a square over the horizon line.

What I'm then gonna do is I'm gonna take the corners of those squares using a ruler, and I'm gonna draw diagonal lines back from each of the four corners of my square to meet the vanishing point.

We've got to make sure that they go to the vanishing point.

Now it's really important when you start drawing your perspective drawing that you are drawing lightly and in pencil because, of course, we are going to rub some of these lines out, so these are actually construction lines.

So don't start by drawing heavily; otherwise, you'll never rub them out and your page might end up looking a little bit busy.

The third thing we need to do is we're gonna draw then a smaller square connecting all of the four lines at the back of the shape.

So this is gonna be the back of our cube that we're gonna draw.

Finally, what I need to do is I need to erase all the lines that I don't need.

So they are the ones that disappeared to the vanishing point and also the ones that you wouldn't see on the inside of the cube because the faces of the cube would be hiding it.

What we need to also make sure is that all vertical lines are parallel to each other and horizontal lines, but the ones going to the vanishing point, of course, don't need to be that because they're going to the vanishing point.

Now for more complex shapes, it's exactly the same method.

You still need to draw a line from each corner of that shape to the vanishing point.

And in this case, you can see I started with a triangle and I started with a cross, but actually it's exactly the same.

And you can see my parallel lines with the triangle, and also for the cross, see it still follow the same procedure, but we just make sure we're using those parallel lines and also the vanishing point to draw these correctly, making sure we're drawing lightly and using a ruler.

So perspective drawings are used in architectural designs, urban planning, and street layouts.

We've already talked about how you might have seen some of these if there is a new building being built in your area.

Architects use perspective drawing to create realistic building designs, and they're one of the number one industries that use perspective drawings when they are first planning out the designs of buildings.

The principles remain the same for the architects just as much as they do for you.

They have horizon line, they need a vanishing point, the point at where all the lines seem to meet in the distance.

They have guidelines, okay, all the lines that go back towards the vanishing point, these construction lines that we're using, and, of course, all vertical lines are parallel.

Now on to task B, your chance to prove your skills and draw your own one-point perspective drawing.

So first of all, you're gonna draw three cubes in one-point perspective.

The success criteria for this, draw cubes on, above, and below the horizon line.

So that's three cubes, on, above, and below the horizon line.

Now at this moment I've only shown you how to draw one on the horizon line, so let's see if you can draw them above and below as well, using those same principles.

The vanishing point has been marked on the horizon line.

All lines are drawn from the vanishing point, obviously, to the corners of your shapes, and all vertical lines are parallel to each other.

So just make sure you're keeping in mind that success criteria while you are drawing.

Have a go at this.

Once you've done it, come back, and let's see how you got on.

So how did you get on? Did yours look something similar to mine? I really hope it did, and I'm sure it did.

And if you made some mistakes, you know what? It doesn't matter.

We are only practising.

You can always have another go.

And that's success criteria.

Hopefully you can tick all those boxes.

So did you draw cubes on, above, and below the horizon line, like I've done? The horizon line has been, obviously, been drawn for you.

The vanishing point has been marked.

All lines are drawn from the vanishing point to the corners of your cubes, and all vertical lines are parallel to each other.

And if you've done that, outstanding, well done.

The second part to this task is I would like you now to draw a more complex shape using one-point perspective.

Similar success criteria for this one, the horizon line has been drawn, the vanishing point has been marked on the horizon line, the lines are drawn from the vanishing point, and finally, all vertical lines are parallel to each other.

Or if you're doing triangles, you'll have to think very carefully about those lines, which are gonna be parallel.

Have a go at it, see how you get on.

Come back in a moment.

So how did you get on? So again, hopefully you ticked all those things on the success criteria, all those points, and you may have drawn something as complex as mine.

The best way to get good at perspective drawing is to keep practising.

And once you practise again and again, you will then be able to do city scenes and architectural drawings just as good as the experts.

Fantastic.

Well done.

We've now come to the end of our lesson.

So here is a quick summary of what we have learned today.

One-point perspective is a drawing technique, technique used to create the illusion of depth using a single vanishing point.

To set up a one-point perspective drawing, you need to start with a horizon line and place a vanishing point somewhere on that horizon line.

Key features of one-point perspective, drawing the objects closer appear larger, while those farther away appear smaller, mimicking the real world that we see in our everyday lives.

Outstanding today.

I hope you've had fun doing this.

Keep practising , and I'll see you next time.

Bye-bye.