Page:Drawing for Beginners.djvu/167

 we shall have the same perspective. A toy house standing on a little platform will serve our purpose excellently. The parallel lines of the projecting chimney-pot, the upper line of the roof, the lower line of the roof, the lower line of the roof on the far side of the house, the near line of the platform, and the far line of the platform&mdash;these all run parallel and meet on the horizon, the eye-level on the left of the diagram; while the front angles, the two overhanging points of the eaves, the base of the house, the front base of the platform, the windows, shutters, and doorways, all lie parallel, and disappear at the other vanishing point on the right of the diagram.

When you are sketching houses, boxes, or other objects, that demand clear perspective, do not begin by drawing a mere plan of the lines. Remember you are trying to be an artist.

Sketch your house first, then puzzle out your perspective. Check the drawing by the perspective, never the perspective by the drawing. You will find, as time goes on, that you will rightly register the perspective with more and more ease.

Rules for perspective might be cited without end, but a few diagrams well studied will obviate many questions.

Receding lines that are not parallel to the earth, says a perspective rule, do not meet on the horizon, but either above or below.

The sloping lid of a box, the sloping flap of a cellar, and the sloping roof of a house do not lie parallel with the earth. This rule is clearly demonstrated in the diagrams shown on pp. 130 and 131.

The student often meets in examination papers the statement: "The drawing of a direct front view, or a full side view, will disqualify a candidate."

"Why is this?" students invariably ask.

Think for a minute.

A box, a table, a wall, that faces your vision exactly has lines that lie parallel, and never meet. They cannot meet because they do not recede from you.

A full front view, or a full side view, has no vanishing point right or left.