References / Lenses & camera heights

Child's eye level, 1.0 m

Adults, a table and a door from a camera 1.0 m off the ground.

Child's eye level, 1.0 m: Adults, a table and a door from a camera 1.0 m off the ground.
Open in the Perspective Box GeneratorDownload PNGLesson: How to Draw Figures in Perspective: Scale People Right

What to look at

The horizon crosses the adults at the waist; the table top (0.75 m) is just below it.

Everything taller than a metre looms; this is how a picture book sees a kitchen.

Same objects as the seated and standing references; only the camera height changed.

What this scene is for

The same furniture as the seated and standing references from a camera 1.0 m off the floor: a child's view, or a picture-book view. Use it for children's illustration, pet-level shots, and any scene that should feel slightly overwhelming.

The mistake it settles

Drawing the room from an adult height and then adding a child. If the viewpoint is the child's, the horizon must drop with it: table tops rise to become horizons of their own, adults are seen from the waist up, and door handles sit at eye level.

The camera

Lens35 mm on full frame
Camera height1 m above the floor (low)
Rotation25° to the scene's axes
Tiltlevel (verticals stay vertical)
Objects2 × 1.75 m figure · 1.6 × 0.8 × 0.75 m block · 2.1 m door
Floor1 m squares

Measured off this render

Taken from the same camera model the tool draws with, on the 1340 × 754 PNG above.

Angle of view54.4° across (35 mm on full frame)
Horizon407 px from the top, 54% of the image height
Depth-axis vanishing point63 px from the left edge
Width-axis vanishing point2,124 px beyond the right edge
ObjectDistanceHeight on the renderBelow the horizon
1.6 × 0.8 × 0.75 m block3.5 m279 pxall of it
1.75 m figure4.2 m570 px57%
2.1 m door5.5 m547 px48%
1.75 m figure6.7 m351 px57%

Draw it from these numbers

  1. Rule the horizon across the sheet at 54% of the picture height — 407 px down on this 754 px render. Every other line in the scene is measured from it.
  2. Two vanishing points on that line: 63 px from the left edge, and 2,124 px beyond the right edge — far enough out that you should match the grid angles instead of chasing it.
  3. Set the scale from the 1.75 m figure at 4.2 m: 570 px tall, with 57% of it below the horizon. That share is the camera height divided by the object's height (1 ÷ 1.75 m), and it is the same for every object of that height anywhere in the picture.

Open the reference in the tool to move the camera, change the lens, or add your own objects at real sizes; the share link keeps your version. Draw over the PNG at 30–50% opacity in any app with layers.

Question

What eye height should I use for a child?

Roughly 1.0 m for a five-year-old and 1.2 m for a nine-year-old. What matters more than the exact number is that the horizon lands below the table top: that single relationship is what makes a picture read as a child's view.