Drawing 1 Point Perspective

 Your dream bedroom 

What would your dream bedroom look like? That's the first question I ask the kids when we start our 1 point perspective lesson. And wow, the kids really come up with a lot of different ideas for  the answer to that question.

Working with rulers

This lesson involves a lot of ruler work. (Math connection, yea!) So before we start working with the ruler, I review our vocabulary words- vertical, horizontal and diagonal. They usually are familiar with them, but it's good to review. Knowing them helps to place the ruler correctly on the paper when we begin measuring.

We start off the room by drawing in a 2 inch horizontal margin for the ceiling and floor. Then we draw in 3 inch vertical margins for the two side walls. That leaves us with a 8 x 12 rectangle in the middle of the paper for the back wall. The vanishing point is placed in the center of the rectangle. Four orthogonals are then drawn from the vanishing point to give the room that 3D effect.

What's required in the room?

  

The lesson requires that the rooms all have a bed, door, and a window- all aligned to the vanishing point. The rooms also have to have some kind of a light source. The window, though, can be turned into a flat screen or a poster to fit individual styles.

The beds all have to be located in the center of the room. I'm not trying to be a Grinch. I've tried giving them the option to place the bed on the right or left, but it's just me in a room of 28 students. Yikes! It became too hard to deal with all the issues and problems that popped up with  beds being placed all over the page. So, therefore, all beds are placed in the center. They can develop their individual styles in other areas of the room. And believe me, they do!

This lesson lets the kids really create their own style, no bedrooms ever look alike!

 Do you think making these bedrooms  would work in your art class? How do you teach 1 point perspective? Let me know in the comment section.

Do you need a lesson on 2 point perspective? Check this out here. And here's another one right here.