Multiple Figures on the Same Plane

Concentrating on one simple method for placing multiple figures on the page in perspective without having to work out the perspective lines in done with a horizon line.  Drawing a standing figure in the right proportion and then adding another one approximately the same height is easy with this little rule: the horizon will “pass” through at the same place.  If the horizon is at the waist of the first it will also be waist high on the second.  If the horizon is at the shoulder height for one it will be shoulder height for the other too.

If a figure is seated or bent over, you then calculate the size of that figure by visualizing it standing up on the plane.  So, one of my figures is standing on a rise of 2 inches (bathroom scales).  I have to compensate for that and adjust everything on the horizon.  This requires some thinking and planning.  What I did was just drop the figure on the scale vertically down to the plane so I could see where that figure's body would cross the horizon line. Then adjust the placement of the scale accordingly.

Once you understand this concept, you should be able to put several or a group of people on a plane, and know that they are in perspective without having to work out all the perspective lines. It only requires a little knowledge of proportion to work it out.

I think I read somewhere that you should be lining up the eyes of the subject with the horizon.  However that implies that "I"/the audience is the same height as all the other subjects.  The horizon isn't what the people on the plane see, it's what the audience see's as the horizon.  So if I'm short or want my audience to feel short, I place the horizon low on the page.  If I want my audience to feel taller than the subjects on the plane, I place the horizon line higher on the page.  It took me a while to "get" this concept but once I got it, it feels like power.  I can "make" my audience feel short or tall.  I have the power!  (Insert maniacal laugh here)