How to Draw Furniture in 3D

Any shape can be drawn in convincing 3-D by utilizing the tool of perspective drawing. Creating objects like furniture using two-point perspective allows you to use simple shapes like cubes and squares to create the building blocks of each piece of furniture. Once you have drawn one piece of simple furniture using perspective you can apply this technique to almost any other piece of furniture. Drawing convincing tables, chairs, even cabinets and beds will take much less effort after your first drawing in two-point perspective.

Things You'll Need

• Paper
• Pencil
• Black ink pen
• Kneaded eraser
• Art markers

Instructions

1. 

   Draw two small points, one on the left side of the page and the other on the right, to create the two vanishing points. Draw two lines coming from each vanishing point and meeting in the bottom center of the page. This will create a three dimensional square shape to base your drawing off of.

2. 

   Add another diagonal line coming from the right vanishing point and continuing above the previous two lines until it hits the bottom left side perspective line. Add two diagonal lines coming from the left side vanishing point and continuing above the other two left side perspective lines. This will create a topside square shape. Connect the bottom square to the top with three vertical lines, one in between the bottom left corners, bottom right corner and the top right corner.

3. 

   Draw the baseboard of the bed with a rectangular shape that lines up with the left side vanishing point at the foot of the bed. Add the headboard with a curved line at the top of the bed. Add the bed posters with a vertical line at each corner. Separate the mattress from the frame of the bed with a rectangle on the right side of the bed that follows the perspective guidelines.

4. 

   Erase all of the perspective lines on the left and right side of the bed drawing. Erase any overlapping lines. This should leave behind a clean image of a three-dimensional bed.

5. 

   Ink the illustration and let the ink dry for five minutes before erasing the pencil lines. You can add pillows with rectangular shapes by the headboard. You can also color the entire illustration with art markers. Use brown for the wood and a bright color like blue or red for the sheets.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a ruler to ensure that you are getting straight lines.

• Be sure that all of the shapes except for the pillows, posters and headboard line up with the perspective points or the image will look sloppy and unrealistic.

References

• Basic Principles Of Perspective Drawing
• "Perspective Made Easy," Ernest Ralph Norling, 1999

Resources

• Watercolor renderings of three-dimensional architecture and furniture