Introduction to Composition Arrangement
Primary 6 · Creative Arts
Introduction to Composition Arrangement
Lesson 3 of 4
20 min
Let's begin
Mugisha and his aunt wait for a bus at the side of a long, straight road in Bugesera. Mugisha looks along the road. Near him it is wide, but far away the two edges seem to come closer and closer until they touch. The electricity poles look shorter and shorter, and closer together.
"Does the road really get thinner?" he asks. His aunt laughs. "Walk to the end and see!" Of course it does not. It only looks that way, and artists use this to make pictures look deep.
The two edges of the road are parallel: they stay the same distance apart all the way. But as they go away from you, they seem to get closer, until they meet at one point far away. The same happens with the rows of desks in a long classroom, the edges of a corridor, or a row of trees along a road.
When a picture has only one vanishing point, we call it one-point perspective.
You need: a pencil, an eraser, a ruler and paper.
A house, a shop or a box can be drawn the same way. Draw its front face as a normal rectangle facing you. Then draw guide lines from its corners to the VP. Choose how deep the building is, and draw a line to end the side.
Where you put the box compared with the horizon line changes what you see. Above your eyes (A) you see its bottom, like a box on a high shelf. Below your eyes (C) you see its top, like a box on the floor. When the horizon line passes through it (B) you see neither the top nor the bottom.
Meindert Hobbema, a Dutch painter, made this picture of a country road more than 300 years ago.
Tip
Everything going away goes to the VP
Road edges, roof edges, rows of desks, rows of trees: if it runs away from you, its guide line runs to the vanishing point on your eye level.
Try each one first, then tap Show answer to check.
What is the vanishing point?
Answer: The point on the horizon line where parallel lines going away from you seem to meet.
Umutoni sits on the floor to draw the classroom instead of standing. What happens to the horizon line in her drawing?
Answer: It moves lower, because the horizon line is always at the height of her eyes.
Why do the electricity poles in a one-point drawing get shorter as they go back?
Answer: Their tops follow a guide line to the vanishing point, so each pole is a little smaller. Faraway things look smaller.
Gatete draws a box above the horizon line. Will he see its top or its bottom?
Answer: Its bottom, because the box is above his eyes.
Make it: With a ruler, draw a straight road going to a vanishing point. Add poles on one side, and two shops on the other side drawn as boxes with guide lines to the VP.
What you learned today
Sources and credits
The rest of the lesson, the diagrams and the exercises (Try it yourself and the practice questions) are written by Ganzaa.
Quick check
Mugisha looks along a long, straight road. Where do its two edges seem to meet?
