Cityscape Tutorials

Introduction of PERSPECTIVE, VANISHING POINT & HORIZON LINE:

CITYSCAPE INSTRUCTIONS:

PART 1: LET'S GET STARTED

STEP 1. About 1/3rd of the way up from the bottom- on each side of your paper- put a big bold dot. These dots are your vanishing points (the vanishing point is where the lines of the road or sidewalk come together or "converge" & it looks like they vanish). These 2 dots are VERY IMPORTANT! You will use them as references for drawing all of your lines in this project.

STEP 2. Lightly draw a horizon line across the middle of your paper (this is a line that goes from side to side). Draw the line all the way across the paper. You want it super light, because you will erase this line after you start drawing your buildings to get it out of the way

PART 2: LET'S MAKE A BUILDING- (MAKING A 3-D FORM)

STEP 3. In the center of your paper, draw a vertical line ( a line that does up & down). Don't draw the line all the way to the top and bottom of your paper. Leave about an inch at the top of your paper, and 2 inches on the bottom. This line is the corner of your middle building.

STEP 4. Drawing the sides of the building you need to lightly draw 2 more vertical lines- one on each side of the middle line. Draw these lines about 2 inches away from the middle line.

STEP 5. To do the roof top of your building, line up your ruler from the top of your middle line to the vanishing points (dots) on the two sides of your paper. Using your ruler, draw a line from the middle line to the line you drew on the side and stop there. That is your roof line. Make sure to draw both sides of your roof top, left and right. You will always draw a left and right side of each building. There in the middle of your paper, you have your first building.

PART 3: LET'S ADD A SIDEWALK

STEP 6. Now we are going to draw the side walk line. Line up your ruler from the bottom of your middle line to the vanishing point (it doesn't matter which dot you start with- you will do both sides). Now draw a line from the middle to the vanishing point. Remember to do both sides- right and left of your middle line. These are the right and left sidewalk lines.

STEP 7. Measure down an inch from the bottom of your middle line. Put a dot for reference at the inch you just measured. Line up your ruler from that dot you just made to the vanishing point like you did on STEP. 5. Now draw a line going to the other side.

STEP 8. Measure down again 1/4 of an inch below the dot you just did for Step 6. Do the same process of drawing a line from the new dot in the middle to the vanishing points. Now you have your sidewalk.

PART 4: LET'S ADD MORE BUILDINGS

STEP 9. Now that you have made your first building, you need to add more buildings. You will need to decide what you want your city to look like, and how close and tall all the other buildings will be to each other. Follow the steps above, starting with the corner of your next building (vertical line), and the sides of your building (another vertical line). You will probably only have to draw a second vertical line for each of your buildings, because the buildings are overlapping each other, and we won't be able to see the end of each of your buildings, unless you draw them too far apart (Watch the videos again if you don't understand). When you have drawn the vertical lines for the sides of your next building, draw the roof line as explained in STEP 5. Only this time, the "middle" line where you line up your ruler to draw the roof , now means the line you drew for the corner of your next building. Keep adding buildings. You may add as many buildings as you like, but you have to have a minimum of 5 buildings- it is supposed to be a city.

PART 5: LET'S ADD SOME WINDOWS AND DOORS

STEP 10. Add some basic details like windows, doors. (Sorry my head gets in the way sometimes) :D

PART 6: LET'S ADD SOME MORE DETAILS

STEP 11. More details ,like signs, trees, street lights, people, will bring your city to life.... The more details you add to make your city interesting and cool, the higher your overall score. Look at photos of real cities to get some good ideas of details to add. You can make an imaginary city (fake place on the map), or a real city.

MAKING LETTERS & SIGNS

ROAD LINES

PEOPLE

TREES, LAMP POSTS, ETC.