How to draw a 2 point perspective city for beginners!

Welcome! This blog post features a guided perspective drawing to create a 2 point perspective city for BEGINNERS. For this activity, you will need a piece of white paper, pencil, eraser, and ruler. This drawing can be finalized in many ways— such as using sharpie, collage, colored pencils, paint and more! Get creative and think about how you can put your own unique details into your 2 point perspective cityscape. Have fun! 

*Hey educators! scroll below to purchase an instructional presentation of this guided drawing.* 

Step one:

Near the middle of the picture plane, lightly draw a HORIZON line and TWO VANISHING POINTS on the left and right side.

Step two:

Draw a VERTICAL line that meets with the horizon line at a perpendicular, 90 degree angle. It looks somewhat like a giant plus sign.

Step three:

Draw four VERTICAL lines that converge towards the left and right vanishing points. This will create what looks like a “kite.”

Step four:

To create the sides of the first building, draw two VERTICAL lines, one to the left of the mid line and one to the right of the mid line.

Step five:

Let’s add some windows! It’s important that your windows follow the rules of 2 point perspective or they will look quite “wonky.”

Begin, by LIGHTLY drawing guidelines with DIAGONAL lines that converge to the left and right vanishing points.

Step six:

Draw VERTICAL lines to create windows. Note how these lines are very straight and meet at the horizon line at a 90 degree angle.

One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is that these lines look crooked and diagonal.

Step seven:

Erase out any unneeded guidelines to finalize your first building.

Step eight:

Care to add a roof? Simply extend the mid line of the building up a bit and then draw DIAGONAL lines to the left and right vanishing point.

Step nine:

Finalize the roof and erase out any unneeded guidelines.

Step ten:

Let’s add another building! Draw a VERTICAL line to define the midpoint of the next building. Then connect two DIAGONAL lines to the vanishing point.

Step eleven:

Draw another VERTICAL line to define the side wall of the building. Then, draw two more DIAGONAL lines that converge to the other vanishing point. Note how these lines tuck behind the building in the front.

Step twelve:

Darken in final lines to form the second building.

Step thirteen:

Using the same method used for the first building, add windows, doors, and additional details of your choice.

Step fourteen:

Erase out any unneeded guidelines and areas of the horizon line that go through the buildings.

Step fifteen:

You may be starting to get the hang of it now! Add another building on the other side using the same methods above.

Step sixteen:

Erase out any unneeded lines.

Step seventeen:

Let’s add a sidewalk. Draw DIAGONAL lines that converge towards the left and right vanishing point. Bring these lines to the bottom of your picture plane. This will create the effect of a “corner” street view.

Final step:

Using a tool of your choice (such as pencil for shading or colored pencils), define a light source. In this example, there is a sun setting on the left which creates cast shadows the right.