Chapter 1 | THE TILED FLOOR
More than 500 years ago, architects and artists invented a geometric way to draw realistic spaces using perespective lines. This method is called line perspective. They often started with a tile floor. Here’s one way to do that:
Exercise 1:
Step 1: draw a frame with the help of a ruler and divide the bottom edge from the center into equal pieces of, for example, 2 cm. To the left and right of your frame you can measure more equal pieces, not visible here.
Step 2: just above half of the frame, draw a horizon line with a vanishing point in the middle. Draw as lightly as possible with a well-sharpened pencil. In later drawings you can choose other horizon heights.
Step 3: very lightly draw the construction lines from the measured points at the bottom to the vanishing point.
Step 4: from the middle point at the bottom, draw a diagonal (45º) to the right or left. Wherever that diagonal intersects the perspective lines, you automatically get the rows of tiles, further away, smaller and smaller. You only have to draw the horizontal lines of a number of tile rows.
On such a perspective tile floor, you can slide figures like chess pieces on a chessboard. In the following drawing, notice how the position of figure 3 on the right is determined. First, figure 1 is moved three tiles further away along flight lines (figure 2). Since figure 3 is at the same distance/tile row, it becomes the same size as figure 2.
Exercise 2: try to draw such a drawing in mirror image/flipped horizontally, so with the front figure on the right.
On such a perspective tile floor you may place figures like chess pieces on a chessboard. The further away the smaller the figures. To determine your point of view see the lesson Perspective drawing part 1 chapter 4.
Exercise 2: You can use the tiled floor for example for a room. Draw a back wall on one of the tile rows (in the example below the third row). For the side walls, draw perspective lines in the direction of the vanishing point. Then erase all construction/assisting lines except maybe the tile floor in the room itself. You can put figures in the room. The larger the figures, the smaller the room appears and vice versa.
Exercise 3: use the tiled floor for a square and a building. In my example the horizon and the vanishing point are hidden behind the building. Our eye level/horizon is higher than the two pawns so we see them a little bit from above.
Of course, you can find many more examples of the use of tile floors in perspective drawings and paintings on the internet. Try to find the horizon in the drawing by the Dutch architect/artist Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527-1609) and check whether the vanishing lines really go to a central vanishing point.