Managing Distant Vanishing Points

A helpful painting tip from a fellow artist.

From Anil Agashe.

In paintings containing buildings there is a mixture of organic shapes and man-made geometric shapes. If vanishing lines are converging far outside the frame of the painting, controlling their convergence becomes difficult. In Figure 1 the edges of the building that are going away from the viewpoint are converging within the frame, but the other horizontal edges are converging far away on the right of the frame.

^{Figure 1. Image © Anil Agashe}

While drawing and painting these lines, if a straight edge is anchored to a rigid support (in this case to a headrest of a bed, see Figure 2) managing convergence becomes easy.

^{Figure 2. Image © Anil Agashe}

A piece of 'twisty tie' will hold the straight edge anchored to the rigid support (see Figure 3). It is necessary to use the straight edge which is in contact with the anchor, not the opposite edge. If the edge is beveled on the underside, a brush or pen can be used to rule the straight lines.

^{Figure 3. Image © Anil Agashe}

See Also:
• Painting Problem Solver
• More Painting Tips