My Recommended Perspective Books

During the Head and Hands Drawing workshop I taught this past weekend, quite a few students asked if I could recommend any good resources on perspective. It’s a question that comes up a lot, so I thought I’d share my favourite perspective books (and one excellent YouTube channel) that have helped me most over the years. Some of the books are available in the public domain and some aren't so I've linked them either to where you can read the pdf or where you can buy them if you're interested.

1. Perspective Made Easy by Ernest R. Norling

This is the book I started with, and I still think it’s a really clear and approachable introduction to perspective for beginners. Norling breaks everything down into simple, logical steps. If you’ve ever felt confused about vanishing points, horizon lines, or how to make boxes sit properly on the ground plane, this is the book to start with.

2. Perspective Drawing Handbook by Joseph D’Amelio

Another great choice for beginners. This one covers more or less the same things as 'Perspective made easy' but I found his little character that accompanies his perspective instructions and diagrams make it a little less like reading through a textbook.

3. How to Draw by Scott Robertson

This one starts with basic perspective principles but moves quickly into more advanced territory — constructing complex forms, rotating them in space, drawing ellipses accurately, and understanding how to design in perspective.

It’s not a quick read, but it’s an incredibly valuable one if you want to master the technical side of drawing objects and environments from imagination.

4. Framed Perspective Volumes 1 & Volume 2 by Marcos Mateu-Mestre

These two books are brilliant for artists who want to use perspective in a storytelling context — comics, animation, or illustration. I'm working through these two beasts now myself.

In Volume 2 he goes into figures in perspective. Volume 1 seems more about creating an environment using ariel perspective, then volume 2 is about putting people in it and lighting it all.

Bonus: Dan Beardshaw’s YouTube Channel

For anyone who prefers learning through video, Dan Beardshaw’s YouTube channel is one of the best free perspective resources I've found. He covers everything from one- and two-point perspective right through to five-point “fish-eye” perspective, explaining each concept clearly and methodically.

His demonstrations are really nice for visual learners — you can watch him construct scenes step by step, which really helps reinforce the theory from the books above. Good to draw along with.

Final Thoughts

So if you’re just starting out, I’d begin with Norling or D’Amelio. Once you’re comfortable with the basics, move on to Robertson and Mateu-Mestre to take things further — and use Dan Beardshaw’s videos alongside them for practical demonstrations.

These are my favourites! Hopefully, they’ll help you as much as they’ve helped me.

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