Adobe Illustrator: Using The Perspective Grid To Create A Building

This tutorial is going to show you how to create a simple building using the perspective grid.

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The Perspective Grid Tool

The tool can be located to the right of the live paint tool and just above the gradient tool.

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After clicking it will bring up the perspective grid.

There are 3 main parts to the grid, the first is the left hand side second is the right had side and last one is the ground.

You can switch between these 3 by using the widget which appears in the top left hand corner. To help you they have been colour coded so you know which one you are working on.

The left hand side is a blue colour, the right hand side is an orange colour and the ground is a green colour.

See the perspective grid below.

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Creating The Building

Now we have a grid we can start to create our building.

  • Select the rectangle tool and make sure right hand side is selected
  • Draw your rectangle, you will notice as you draw it keeps to the perspective so you can draw it as big or small as you like and it will still be at the same angle. This will be one side of your building.
  • Select the left hand side on the widget and do the same for that side.

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Now you have the walls of your building you can add in some doors and some windows!

To do this all you do is select the rectangle tool and then draw onto the walls some windows and a door. Remember to make sure that they are equal distance a part and all the same size otherwise it may look odd. I would also set them to a lighter colour so you can see them easily.

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Perspective Tools can also be used for vector images to expand their depth. For a guide on Turning A Hand Drawn Image To A Vector Image read here.

 

Adding More Details

Now we have a basic outline for the building we are going to add in a path and a road to make it more like a building. To start we are going to create the path which is very easy. First of all

  • Select a new layer and make sure it appears under the building layer.
  • Select the ground on the perspective grid
  • Select the rounded rectangle tool
  • Draw a rectangle under the building – make sure it is an equal distance all the way round.
  • Then give it a stroke so it looks like the curb.

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Now you need to create another new layer and have it under the last one and repeat the same process but you do need to use a round rectangle and you don’t need to give it a stroke. Next add some road markings, to do that – just draw some lines down what would be the centre of the road.

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Changing The Perspective

Now that you have your building you might want to look at it from another angle. To do this you need to go to the View tab and down to Perspective Grid and click Lock Station Point.

This will mean you can use the horizon points to change the angle you view the building at!

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This is what the horizon points look like.

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Now you have a building and you can change the angle of it and should have something which looks like this.

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Looking for more illustrator tips? Read our guide here on The Gradient Mesh Tool!

About Ben Richardson

Ben is a director of Acuity Training. He writes about SQL, Power BI and Excel on a number of industry sites including SQLCentral, SQLshack and codingsight.