ON THE HORIZON

The horizon line is key in achieving the illusion of forced perspective. It determines the elevation of any vanishing points, but beware - the horizon line should not be confused with the skyline. So, when you hear people referring to ‘the horizon’ things can get confusing… This sketch illustrates the horizon line as an invisible point of reference within the landscape. The outline of the hills (in bold) happen to break the skyline in this instance, rising up in front and obscuring it from view.

This building has two vanishing points along the horizon line - one for each aspect - so this scene is drawn as a two-point perspective grid. Different layouts will require a different positioned horizon line to the next because of height variables, including viewing position and baseboard height.

At its closest point to the layout, everything must be represented at, or just below, the scale of the railway. Behind this first layer, we are then free to introduce a series of smaller scaled elements to help create the illusion of depth.