How to Sketch a 2-Point Perspective Drawing for Beginners

These drawing exercises will help you learn how to use 2-point perspective grids to add more depth and dimension to your work. 

2-Point Perspective

2-point perspective is the most commonly used perspective in design and illustration (mostly because most events happen at eye level on the ground). Interesting enough to share a couple sides to a story, 2-point perspective shows you two planes displaying two different angles of your object or scenery.

With 2-point perspective, the face-on horizontal plane is eliminated. You'll always draw with vertical lines and any orthogonal lines extending back toward two separate vanishing points on the horizon line.

Buildings from an eye-level corner view are a good example of 2-point perspective.

This beach house is nearly exact 2-point perspective. You don't find any horizontal lines except for the horizon line. 2-point perspective uses only vertical lines and perspective lines to show two faces of your object.
 

TL;DR for 2-Point Perspective Sketching

1. Set up a 2-point perspective grid. This grid has a horizon line and two vanishing points anywhere on the line, with orthogonal lines extending through each point.

2. Draw a vertical line anywhere on the canvas.

3. Draw an orthogonal line from each end of the vertical line to each vanishing point on the grid.

4. Add in the outside edges of your object, and erase any extra linework.
 

Exercise 1 - Draw an Urban Sketch in 2-Point Perspective

1. Set up a 2-point perspective grid on the canvas. This grid has a horizon line with two vanishing points anywhere along the line.

Set your vanishing points fairly distant from each other for a more accurate view (you have quite a wide visual field, naturally), or fairly close to each other for a more distorted view.

2. Draw a vertical line between the two vanishing points. For quick straight lines, use 100% line smoothing or activate Align.

3. Draw an orthogonal line from each point of the vertical line to each vanishing point on the horizon line. You'll see two planes appear.

4. Add the outside edges to your object, and erase the remaining perspective lines.

You can leave it as-is for an opaque object or add in rear lines for a transparent object. For an even volume, if you count the number of grid spaces you've drawn from front to back, you'll cover the same amount of spaces parallel in the rear.

Extension - Add Architectural Details

1. Add urban details to your drawing. Draw windows and doors, using the orthogonal lines to draw them at the correct angle.

2. Add some trees and people at the end to show the scale of your building. If you have access, you can utilize Objects to help you with this part. 

Exercise 2 - Sketch a Complex

1. As with the 1-point perspective exercise, try drawing several vertical lines on your page. Draw orthogonal lines from each point on each line back toward the vanishing points.

You can create separate structures, or try putting them together into a single building structure. This will help you to get a feel for how they appear from different areas on the canvas, and how a perspective grid can actually help give your drawing a sense of cohesion.

2. When thinking about which lines to keep and which to erase, think first about where your front lines are - these are the vertical lines you drew. Leave them alone, but pick one and trace the orthogonal lines back until they intersect with another set from an alternate line.

Draw a vertical line where they intersect. Do this for each of the objects. Then erase any line work extending behind these intersecting planes.

3. Go ahead and sketch in some simple details if you'd like, and add a simple color fill. Use a light shade for the side closest to the sun, use a medium shade for the side adjacent, and use a dark shade for any shadowed areas.

Below, we have curated some stunning examples of 2-point perspective renderings from our Creative Community members. We hope this inspires your process!

We would love to see what you create from following these tutorial exercises and celebrate your creative journey. Join us over on Discord, share your work with us and be a part of our growing Concepts Community. 

Written by Erica Christensen, Updated & Curated by Jessica Donnelly

If you'd like more practice sketching in perspective, check out our Learn to Draw: Basics of Perspective video tutorial.

Recommended

How to Set Up a Perspective Grid - Learn how to set up and edit your perspective grids in Concepts.

How to Edit Your Grid - Learn how to set up and customize grids in Concepts.

3 Ways to Draw a Straight Line - Three ways to draw a straight line in Concepts and when to sketch it.