How to determine the horizon line

Question from Dermott, Drawing Academy student

I’m having trouble determining the horizon level when drawing pictures in perspective.

Is there a rule of thumb I can use to accurately locate the horizon line?

Thanks,
Dermott

Dear Dermot,

Many thanks for your question.

Yes, there is a rule of how to determine where the horizon level is for you as a viewer – it will always be at the level of your eyes.

When you stand, it will be a bit higher when you sit. Even if you climb on the high mountain, it still will be at your eye level. That is why people go higher to see further : )

You may check landscape and still-life drawings (and photos) to determine where the horizon level is in each artwork.

In landscape it is quite easy – the eye-level of the artist is where he/she marked the horizon.

To define a horizon line in still-life, analyze the objects – do you see them from above or below? Find edges of a cube, for example, check where virtual lines of its edges go. If you don’t have a cube, inscribe any object inside a virtual cube.

As an artist, you have a creative license to make pictures other viewers will see “through your eyes”. You can draw horizon level higher or lower when you need to portray a certain angle of view. It depends on your creative task.

For example, making a bird’s eye view of a cityscape might work for a comic illustration of a flying superhero, but it would be better to draw an everyday still-life at a normal view to depict it realistically.

Kind regards,
Natalie Richy and Vladimir London
Drawing Academy tutors