How to Draw Pyramids

How to Draw Pyramids

Video by Vladimir London, a Life Drawing Academy tutor

In this video, you will discover how to draw standing and reclining pyramids including a very special method invented by me that ensures correct perspective. Let's begin with the simplest case - a one-point perspective. The view will be from above, so the horizon line is placed at the top. There is one vanishing point on that level. The base of the pyramid will be at the bottom. Its footprint is a square, the front edge of which is perpendicular to the line of sight, so one point perspective is used. We pick the pyramid's pinnacle on the vertical line of symmetry and connect this point with four corners of the square.

The next case is a standing pyramid in two-point perspective. To begin with, I need to draw a perfect square from this point of view. Such a square is circumscribed around a circle, which appears as a perfectly elliptical oval. The square sides are touching this circle in four points in the middle of each side. Such points are marked here in green. The next step is simple. I decide on the pyramid's height and connect its pinnacle with four corners of the base. Also, check how the aerial perspective is used here. Dark lines have different boldness according to the proximity to a viewer.

I will now show you how to draw a reclining pyramid. This method is unique and it was designed for the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course students. This course is undoubtedly the best drawing course in the world today because students receive a personal drawing curriculum and unlimited tutoring for a very low one-time fee. By the end of this course, you will reach the advanced level of drawing skills because it teaches drawing methods and techniques that are not taught anywhere else. The method is based on drawing a vertical square in perspective and we know it is a square because a perfect oval is inscribed into it. This will be a modular pyramid. How to draw modular objects is explained in the dedicated video lessons of the Life Drawing Academy course.

Once again, I'm using the aerial perspective to outline this object. You may see that this pyramid touches the ground and this ground is depicted in the last step. But what about when we need to build a reclining pyramid from the ground up? I will show you how to do it in the next example. Once again, the drawing starts from a square, which this time will lie on the ground. To make sure it is an undistorted square, I start with a circle in perspective, which appears as an elliptical oval. The square is circumscribed around that circle. I plot another square vertically upward. These two squares have the same size and use the same two-point perspective. The center of the pyramid's base is found as a cross-point of two diagonals. The horizontal axis goes through this center. As in the previous case, this will be a modular pyramid. Its height will be one and a half times larger than its base. After finding the pyramid's vertex using the modular approach, the rest is very easy. I outline the pyramid's base and then connect the vertex with four corners of the base using the rule of aerial perspective, drawing outlines that are closer to a viewer bolder than those further away.

And finally, I will make one more drawing of a reclining pyramid; this time its height will be equal in size to its base. Like in previous cases, I will use the unique method of drawing a perfect square in perspective. An elliptical oval is used in this method. Its width will be equal in size to the pyramid's base. This measurement ensures that the base is a perfect square in perspective. Two diagonals of this square give us its center. Through this center goes the axis of the pyramid's symmetry. The next step is to find out the pyramid's height, which is equal in size to its base. And the next steps are straight forward: the base is outlined and its four corners are connected with the vertex, making sure that the aerial perspective is in place.

I hope you found this tutorial interesting and helpful. It is a very small part of just one task out of 100, which students get in the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course.

To learn good drawing techniques, enroll in the Life Drawing Academy course: