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One-Point Perspective Art Lesson

5

I’m so pleased to post this lesson. It is my first successful perspective art lesson and I owe it all to Natalie at Smart Class. Her drawing steps for one-point perspective is so perfect that I didn’t change a thing. For anyone who hasn’t introduced a lesson on perspective to your students, I encourage you to give this one a try. I’ve tried to come up with my own perspective lesson and I never could figure out an easy way to do it. So glad we have a plethora of talent out there!

Struggling with teaching one-point perspective? This drawing lesson is super easy and offers lots of opportunity for your students to be creative and expressive.

My students LOVED this lesson. Perspective is part magic and part math and for creative types like me, there are specific rules that really work. My students discovered these as we worked through the lesson. About half of my fifth grade class finished this lesson in three, 50-minute sessions. The other half need an additional 30 minutes to finish.

Fifth grade perspective paintings…

Struggling with teaching one-point perspective? This drawing lesson is super easy and offers lots of opportunity for your students to be creative and expressive.

Here’s another 1-Point Perspective Lesson to Try:

Click the image below to be re-directed to my “Desert Landscape Perspective Drawing” post, best for 5th grade students.

One-Point Perspective Drawing Lesson & Video

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  • Tery

    Your students did a beautiful job on these! They really look spectacular!

  • Moira Dempsey

    I love the look of this lesson. The only problem I would have is that I have classes once every other week. It would take at least 6 weeks for the students to get them finished (maybe even longer!).

  • Pat Stevens

    Patty they turned out beautifully! I really liked this lesson when I saw it on Natalie’s blog. Your student’s use of color adds so much to the overall composition and they all look great!

    :)Pat

    • Annebelle

      It looks beautiful

  • Mali

    I love your website! I also saw this on Natalie’s blog a few weeks ago and love this lesson. I am wondering what kind of paper did you use to hold the watercolor and what size?

  • Terri

    These turned out beautifully! This is very, very similar to the method I was taught a long, long time ago in art class. I always loved doing 1-point perspective and remember drawing TONS of 1-point perspective pieces after I learned how to do it!

    • Patty

      Yes, I was SO pleased that my students grabbed onto this lesson. Like I said in the post, I really struggle with perspective so this lesson from Natalie was such a Godsend!!!

  • Kim

    This is so great. I’m going to use this for our next homeschool art lesson with my 5 and 12 yr old. Love your art lessons. Thanks

  • Lisa Jordan

    Thank you so much for providing great, usable lesson plans to all of us art teachers. I’m teaching this lesson right now and link back to this page so the students can see your students’ artwork. It gives them a wider variety of options to choose from than just looking at my example. Right now I’m trying it with 5th and 6th and I have to say that the 5th graders are rocking it! The 6th graders are very caught up in socializing so I can’t exactly declare they’re rocking it just yet. Hopefully the finished products will be wonderful. Thank you again!

  • Christine

    These are lovely!!!! You mentioned Pan watercolours. Is this a brand or type-Pan?

    • Patty

      Sorry…I hate it when I shorten up the vocabulary! I mean pan style watercolors…the “cake” kind than comes in a plastic container.

  • halee

    i luv all these!!!! they are beautiful!!!

  • Misty Hoover

    The link to “drawing steps for 1 point perspective” in the first paragraph takes you to a site called Kaleidograph. Thought you might like to know!

    • Patty

      Thank you, Misty!!!

  • ProfeBaltazar

    What type of paper were you using!? I always have to tape my kids down…would love not to have to!

  • ProfeBaltazar

    What type of paper are you using here? I always have to tape my kids down – and would LOVE not to have to….

    • Patty

      I use 76 lb sulphite paper. It’s basically a school grade drawing paper. I don’t tape down papers as I don’t mind the wrinkles and you can smooth the wrinkles once the papers are dry.

  • Greta Munns

    Used a variation of this lesson with my 5th and 6th graders (we used construction paper crayons on black paper rather than watercolor paint). I then “shared the learning” and made a bulletin board using cereal boxes as buildings. Turned out really great! Here’s how my bulletin board and project turned out. Thanks for the inspiration! -Greta

    Note from Patty: Sorry, but I had to remove this link. It didn’t go to the correct page.

  • E.Reeves

    Every year I do a one point perspective drawing, but every year I feel like there has to be an easier method. I think the steps you posted here are going to work marvelously! Thanks! I can’t wait to try this.

  • Sylvia Bisbee

    Love this! The directions are so easy and everyone is successful. I also downloaded a short video showing someone drawing a 2 point perspective picture. Thanks for sharing.

  • BOB

    They look awesome but wouldn’t they look better with a ruler?

  • Jennifer

    Thanks so much for sharing! As an elementary teacher I always struggle with how to teach art. I sure wish our school had an art teacher! Thanks again.

  • Anna

    I think this is really good art class

  • Elisha

    Just wanted to send a big THANK YOU for posting this lesson. I am a volunteer 5th grade art teacher and began teaching perspective last year. This year I could not get my notes on my iPad up last week and had to teach perspective from memory. I totally goofed up and felt like a failure! I sought a simpler way to teach it so I could remember and found this. I was so excited to share it with the kids and they did this project way faster-which made up for time lost doing it the wrong way.

    Thanks again,
    Elisha

  • James

    I love these! Your directions and the samples really make it easy to follow along. Thank you!

  • keri

    could you do this project with another medium or do watercolors work best? Also, could this project be done in say an hour?

    • Patty Palmer

      You can use whichever medium you like best, but for these results, you may want to consider the watercolors. This lesson is a bit complicated for most 5th graders. If you reduced the paper size, perhaps some students could finish in an hour. It also depends how many students are in your class. More students=longer time.

  • Jesssica

    Great idea. What size paper is this??

  • Angie

    I think it’s a shame schools have either no time or very little time for art. One session every other week is horrible. Schools think art isn’t as valuable as “core” subjects, but for some it could be EVERYTHING!This project is important for many skills.

  • polilla62@yahoo.com

    where can I buy the one point perspective for the city?

    • Patty

      I don’t have that lesson for sale. You can access a desert perspective lesson inside the membership.

  • Kayla

    What a great lesson! I was wondering how do you evaluate your students art work? What criteria were you looking for during this project?

    Thank you

    • Patty

      Hi Kayla,
      While I didn’t have to assess my students, criteria might include: did my students follow the basic rule of perspective? (small objects close to the horizon line, large objects close to viewer) or did my students create a horizon line?

  • s;lskldsldkfksdflkdf;lskfeorkfldriekmcnj

    Screw it

  • Andrea Holm

    Love it! I’ve taught perspective drawing before but I like the watercolor twist! Thanks

  • Rina McCormick

    I have been charged with teaching perspective to children ages 6 – 8. Any ideas, PLEASE?!

  • María

    Hello, I am an art teacher and I would like more information, thank you

  • HSMSE

    We’re taking this class in tenth grade in a specialized high school.

  • Manny

    hi

  • logan

    nice i got it now

  • Anna

    WOW! These students did an exceptional job!

  • Janice

    Do you have a rubric that goes with this assignment? If so, would love to see it!!

  • Troll

    This is great!

  • Libb

    Fantastic

  • Gonzalo ferrera

    very good

  • Amy

    It is wonderful!
    Thank you so much!

  • Helen

    Just wondering what size paper was used for this. Great lesson !

    • Hannah

      Hi Helen, any size works!

      The original lesson recommends bigger paper because it’s easier for children to paint within their lines 🙂

      -Hannah (Team Sparkle)

  • riley levier

    liked it and drew it in my notebook

  • mayan

    i really liked it was amazing

  • Sienna Roussel

    This is so cool!!!!!!!!!!

  • Elizabeth McMurphy

    Can you recommend a great children’s illustrated book to accompany this lesson? I’m really struggling to find a children’s book with excellent linear perspective.

    • Pam

      This comment is really late, but hopefully will help for the future. For a book recommendation, what if you approached the idea of “perspective” in general instead of just linear perspective? “They All Saw a Cat” comes to mind.

  • haniah

    that is so cool i am going to do this

  • hiii

    Your students did a beautiful job on these! They really look spectacular!

  • Celia

    I loved it!

  • Devorah Weinberg

    Amazing lesson!? Thanks for sharing Do you think we can use colored pencils instead of watercolor?

    • Bethany

      Hi Devorah! This is Bethany from Team Sparkle. Great question. You can use whichever medium you like best, but for the results you see in the pictures watercolors would probably work best!

  • Rita

    I, a 79 year old woman, am going to try this. Thank you. — Rita at ritamackall@comcast.net

  • Julie

    Thanks so much! Very helpful since I’m new to teaching art!

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