P5: Perspective

Digital Submission Specifics for this Project:
Section 1: Inquiry Question and Concept Exploration

Explanation of the guiding question or concept

• Inquiry Statement: How can perspective drawing techniques be used to invent a believable space that blends imagination with realism?

• For this project, I explored how two-point perspective can transform a flat surface into a convincing three-dimensional space. My guiding question pushed me to think beyond copying what I see and instead invent an architectural world that feels real even though it came entirely from imagination. I was drawn to the idea of designing a grand, classical building, one with ornate arched windows, decorative columns, and layered stonework, and using perspective as the tool to make it feel like it could actually exist on a street corner. The challenge was balancing technical precision with creative freedom: the vanishing points had to be consistent, but the details had to feel alive.

Section 2: Connection
Cultural, historical, and artistic influences with critical evaluation.

• My work was influenced by the classic pre-war commercial architecture found throughout New York City a style characterized by ornate masonry facades, arched windows, decorative cornices, and ground-floor colonnades. Buildings like those found in SoHo's Cast Iron Historic District or along the older blocks of Midtown feature this kind of layered, detail-rich stonework that I drew inspiration from. This architectural tradition, popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, blended European classical influences with American urban ambition and it directly shaped the grandeur and corner-building composition I chose for my drawing.

• Walking through cities, I often notice how corner buildings have a dramatic presence, they command attention from two directions at once. This personal observation inspired me to place my imagined building on a corner, using two-point perspective to capture that same sense of grandeur. I photographed various architectural details and street corners from different angles to study how surfaces recede and how light and shadow define form.

• Writing and image requirements as detailed in Digital Submission Requirements 

Section 3: Investigate
Visual evidence of material tests, alternate compositions, sketches.

• Notes on Perspective/ Artist: I began by practicing the fundamentals of two-point perspective establishing a horizon line, placing two vanishing points at opposite ends, and drawing boxes to understand how vertical edges stay straight while horizontal edges converge. This foundational exercise gave me confidence before moving into the full composition.

• Compositional Sketches (include all)

• Experimentation. How did you go above and beyond the instruction to include your own artistic voice? Maybe it was successful, maybe it was not, either way, include your visual documentation. To go beyond the basic instruction, I challenged myself to add ornate architectural detailing carved medallions above each arch, layered column capitals, and crosshatched shading to suggest the texture of stone. I used dense hatching and cross-hatching to build up shadow and depth rather than relying on outline alone. Not every detail came out perfectly some of the decorative elements on the upper floors feel slightly inconsistent in scale but the attempt pushed my drawing further than a plain geometric building would have.

• Writing and image requirements as detailed in Digital Submission Requirements 

Section 4: Create
Visual documentation of steps of creation

• Photos of Process Documentation

• Writing and image requirements as detailed in Digital Submission Requirements 

Section 6: Communicate and Reflect

Challenges, successes, and self-evaluation of how the artwork aligns with the inquiry question.

• • Looking back at this project, the greatest success was learning to trust the perspective framework once the vanishing points and horizon line were locked in, the rest of the building followed logically. The most challenging part was maintaining consistent scale across the decorative details, especially the arched windows on the upper floors where the foreshortening becomes more pronounced.

  • think this work answers the inquiry question well: two-point perspective gave me the structural rules I needed to make the space believable, while the Renaissance-inspired detailing gave me the creative freedom to make it feel inventive. If I were to revisit this piece, I would spend more time planning the decorative elements in advance so they scale more consistently across all three floors.

  • Overall, I'm proud of the level of detail achieved and the way the corner composition creates a sense of a real building existing in real space — which was exactly the goal from the start.