Horizon Lines: Deceptively Simple or All Screwed Up?
If you aren't thoughtful about placing your horizon line, you're playing Caribbean Stud Poker with your drawing. You're most likely gonna lose.
That little line across the canvas is more important than you think, and getting it wrong is a tell you don't want to drop. You'll lose the hand and your baby's new set of shoes. Tired of my poker metaphor?
Let me say it another way: if you fail to master the horizon line, your artwork will never achieve its full potential.
And if you’re reading this and thinking, hasn’t he covered this before? Good Job! You are paying excellent attention. I have. But I’m teaching a perspective workshop called Beyond The Basics at the Art Students League of New York at the end of July, and I thought it worthwhile to review the fundamentals.
Mastering Eye Level in Art
The horizon line is one of the most fundamental aspects of perspective drawing. It is not merely a line across the canvas but a representation of the viewer's eye level, directly influencing how we read a picture. Mastering the horizon line is a crucial artistic choice.
The Horizon Line Defined:
The horizon line is the visual boundary where the sky meets the ground. On a more practical basis, it's the eye level of the viewer in your scene. If you understand this, you won't waste time looking for it when it's not visible, like a forest interior or a busy urban scene. Again, the horizon line represents the eye level of the viewer. I'm sorry for saying this twice, but it's a fundamental and frequently misunderstood part of linear perspective. Changing the horizon line's position alters the viewer's perspective, affecting how all elements in the artwork are viewed. A squirrel, a farmer, and a dragon have different eye levels. If we see through their eyes, that horizon line will be found at whatever height their eyes are located relative to the ground plane.
The Role of the Horizon Line in Art:
The horizon line guides the composition. Often, it's the spine of the picture from which everything is built. In great compositions, artists position it meticulously. A low horizon line has mostly sky and a little ground, and a high horizon line is mostly ground and a little sky. The position of the horizon line directly corresponds to the height from which the scene is viewed—whether sitting on the ground chewing a peanut, driving the tractor, or descending on a helpless band of adventurers.
John Ford was obsessed with the horizon line, and Steven Speilberg relates a funny story: Ford brutally interrogated him while they studied photographs on Ford's office walls. Ultimately, Ford pressed Speilberg on picturemaking, which starts with an intentionally placed horizon.
Practical Application:
Setting Up the Horizon Line:
To accurately depict a scene, artists must establish the horizon line based on the viewpoint they wish to portray. It's almost always parallel to the edge of your paper, so pick a horizontal line that makes sense for your picture.
Common Misunderstandings and Mistakes:
One common mistake is placing the horizon line too high or too low, which can distort the scene's focus. Another mistake is forgetting to define the horizon line in your drawing. Like character backstory is necessary for a writer, your viewer might not see the horizon line, but the artist must know where it is. Incorrect placement can make buildings seem to float or like they're leaning oddly, or people appear unnaturally tall or short, compromising the believability of the artwork.
Now, you might think all horizon lines are horizontal and parallel to the bottom of the picture. However, pitching the horizon is not only possible; it has its own term called "dutching," which is when one side is higher than the other. Why? Because sometimes we see the world at an angle. If you've ever had a bad night with a bottle of tequila, you KNOW what I mean. When we're off balance, and our eyes are no longer parallel to the ground, the horizon line (our eyes' angle relative to the ground) is angled. It's a great artistic technique occasionally to show instability, but like slow motion in a Michael Bay movie, it becomes tiresome when repeated ad nauseum.
Real-World Examples and Case Studies:
Examining well-known artworks that effectively use the horizon line can provide valuable insights. Studying an artwork's horizon can reveal the impact of different placements on the overall composition. Perspective is a puzzle you can wrestle with whenever you see a picture worth studying. Stop momentarily and reflect on where that artist put her horizon line. Then ask yourself, why did she choose there? How does its placement affect the picture?
Exercises to Master the Horizon Line:
Drawing scenes from different eye levels—sitting, standing, and atop a ladder. Just be careful up high; no cracked skulls, please.
Practice placing the horizon line in urban and rural landscapes to see how it affects the scale and depth of buildings and natural features.
A Strong Foundation:
Understanding and choosing a perfect spot for the horizon line is an art fundamental. If you are not an abstract artist, creating engaging and believable visual art depends on it. By experimenting with different horizon line placements, artists can better appreciate their impact on their work. Mastering this fundamental aspect of art can significantly enhance the effectiveness of visual storytelling.
Take Action:
Actively consider these insights in your next artwork. Study the great pictures and think about the artist's choice. When you see better, your choices become intentional. The exercises provided are designed to facilitate experiential learning, allowing you to solidify your understanding and application of the horizon line. By doing so, you'll be taking a proactive step towards mastering this aspect of art and elevating the impact of your work.
Charles Merritt Houghton
1 June 2024