Perspective and composition
Art & Design · Key Stage 3 · The School
One-point perspective
Draw a horizon line at eye level and mark one VANISHING POINT on it. Every edge running away from you meets there; every horizontal stays horizontal, every vertical stays vertical. A corridor, a road or a room seen straight on works exactly this way.
Two-point perspective
Turn the object so you see a corner rather than a face, and you need two vanishing points, both on the same horizon line. Verticals stay vertical; everything else runs to one point or the other. The commonest error is putting the two points too close together, which makes buildings look violently distorted — spread them wide, often off the page.
Composition
The eye enters a picture, travels, and rests. You control that with placing, contrast and lines that lead. Dead-centre is usually the weakest choice because it stops the eye immediately; the rule of thirds is a useful starting habit, not a law. Ask where you want the eye to end up, then build the route.
Draw the horizon at eye level and mark two vanishing points, one near each edge of the page. Draw one VERTICAL line for the nearest corner of a box. From its top and bottom, draw lines to BOTH vanishing points. Two more verticals cut off the sides. The box now sits in space, seen from a corner. Move the horizon above the box and you look down on it; move it below and you look up. That one line sets the viewpoint.