City street, two-point
Four buildings along a 10 m wide street with two figures, from the corner at 28 mm.
What to look at
Building tops rise above the horizon and slope down toward the vanishing points; their bases slope up. The horizon is the hinge.
The figures' heads sit on the horizon: the camera is at standing height.
Windows and floors would repeat the diminution of the ground squares up the facade.
What this scene is for
Four buildings on a 10 m street, seen from the corner at standing height. This is the workhorse scene for urban backgrounds, comic establishing panels and architectural sketches, and the two figures give you the scale that makes a building read as twelve metres rather than a shape.
The mistake it settles
Letting the building tops and bases slope the same way. Above the horizon a roof line slopes down toward its vanishing point; below it a base line slopes up to the same point. Every horizontal edge hinges on the horizon, and getting that reversal wrong is what makes amateur street drawings look bent.
The camera
| Lens | 28 mm on full frame |
| Camera height | 1.6 m above the floor (standing) |
| Rotation | 32° to the scene's axes |
| Tilt | level (verticals stay vertical) |
| Objects | 8 × 14 × 12 m block · 8 × 12 × 18 m block · 8 × 10 × 9 m block · 8 × 16 × 15 m block · 2 × 1.75 m figure |
| Floor | 1 m squares |
Measured off this render
Taken from the same camera model the tool draws with, on the 1340 × 754 PNG above.
| Angle of view | 65.5° across (28 mm on full frame) |
| Horizon | 452 px from the top, 60% of the image height |
| Depth-axis vanishing point | 19 px from the left edge |
| Width-axis vanishing point | 998 px beyond the right edge |
| Object | Distance | Height on the render | Below the horizon |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.75 m figure | 5.1 m | 365 px | 91% |
| 1.75 m figure | 9.1 m | 203 px | 91% |
| 8 × 10 × 9 m block | 12.2 m | 769 px | 18% |
| 8 × 14 × 12 m block | 15 m | 2,313 px | 13% |
| 8 × 16 × 15 m block | 26.9 m | 607 px | 11% |
Draw it from these numbers
- Rule the horizon across the sheet at 60% of the picture height — 452 px down on this 754 px render. Every other line in the scene is measured from it.
- Two vanishing points on that line: 19 px from the left edge, and 998 px beyond the right edge — close enough to reach on a larger sheet.
- Set the scale from the 1.75 m figure at 5.1 m: 365 px tall, with 91% of it below the horizon. That share is the camera height divided by the object's height (1.6 ÷ 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
Where is the horizon in a street drawing?
At the height of the eyes of whoever is looking, which for a standing person on the pavement is about 1.6 m. That means it cuts the ground floor of every building, near or far, and it passes through the heads of everyone else standing on the same street.