How to Draw the Empire State Building easy with this how-to video and step-by-step drawing instructions. Easy drawing tutorial for beginners and all.
Please see the drawing tutorial in the video below
You can refer to the simple step-by-step drawing guide below
Step 1
Before you start working on a building, such as the Empire State Building, you must first establish an understanding of perspective. Let’s start at the beginning (if you already know how to use perspective to draw buildings, you can skip to step 10 to start drawing the Empire State Building). Let’s start with using one-point perspective to create shapes. Using a ruler and a 2H or harder pencil, lightly draw the horizon (blue line) and vanishing point (red X).
Step 2
Next, draw a few floating squares in various places on the page, but not too close to the vanishing point.
Step 3
Draw lines from the vanishing point to the nearest corners of each square (red line). Then close your shapes by drawing the back line of the cube (the green line), but make sure to stay within the red lines leading to the vanishing point.
Step 4
Erase your unnecessary guides that lead back to the vanishing point and darken the shapes’ lines. You now have a cube created in a point perspective.
Step 5
Now let’s work on the two-point perspective. After drawing the horizon, place two different vanishing points on opposite sides of the horizon. This time, instead of drawing a square, you simply draw a few vertical lines that float across the page in various places. These lines will become the front edge of our cube.
Step 6
From the top and bottom of each line (cube edges), draw paths to both vanishing points on the page. It’s fine if some of your lines run across each other because they can be deleted afterwards.
Step 7
Now close the edges of the cube in the same way as step 3 above. But we’re not done yet, as we still need to draw one more face of each cube.
Step 8
This is where it gets difficult. To complete the shapes, we have to draw a third face on all the necessary shapes. For any cube floating above the horizon, we will draw the bottom face of the cube by drawing lines from the bottom vertices of the side edges of the cube leading to the vanishing point for the cube. face. similarly, for any cube floating below the horizon, we will draw the top face of the cube by drawing lines from the top vertices of the side edges of the cube leading to the vanishing point opposite. Note that any shape with a previous edge running through the horizon will not require a third edge, as it is hidden from our view.
Step 9
Erase unnecessary lines and darken your cubes if you want. Now you know how to use the two-point perspective. These are the principle methods needed to draw buildings.
Step 10
Let’s get to work on the Empire State Building. Working on a wide surface, draw your horizon line and place two vanishing points at the ends.
Step 11
Next, create a cube that is wider than it is tall. This will become the base of the building and serve as our foundation for the rest of the structure. This part of the building is the lowest 4 floors of a 102-story skyscraper.
Step 12
Before drawing any more buildings, we should first determine the center of the building and the center of the facade of the lower floors so that we can later draw the entrance in the appropriate position. To find the center point of the front face of the base, draw an X from corner to corner of the front, left side of the cube. Then draw a vertical line through the intersection. This marks the center of the face of the building. To find the overall center of the building (so we can later draw the antenna in the appropriate position), draw X from corner to corner on the top of the cube. Then draw a long line protruding from the intersection. This is the center of the whole structure.
Step 13
Let’s go back to the base and draw the entrance and decorative columns separating the window panes. Notice how the columns don’t go all the way to the ground, as the lowest floor houses shops and businesses. Also, notice how the entrance is slightly arched relative to its top, which means you’ll need to clear it up a bit to give it proper clearance.
Step 14
We can now draw the basic structure of the building. Using the methods we learned in steps 5-8 for two-point perspective, create a very tall rectangular shape. This is the bulk of the building. On top of it are 3 smaller cubes stacked on top of each other, this block will get smaller as we go higher. Be sure to use the appropriate vanishing points as you do this.
Step 15
The center of the face of the building has a cut that we need to draw in. Notice how it starts about a third of the way up the largest part of the building and cuts through the cube that sits at the top of the large section.
Step 16
Near the foot of the building, there are additional protrusions to the outside. They wrap around the base of most of the building, but they are also cut down to the center by the notch.
Step 17
Add in the final sections of the structure on either side of the building. One block on the right side and one block on the farthest side.
Step 18
One of the building’s most distinguishing features is its massive antenna. Using the center guide that we created in step 12 as a reference, draw a complex antenna that has its own base. The antenna is very thick near the base and gets thinner as it reaches the top.
Step 19
Next, we can start working on windows. The Empire State Building is 102 stories tall, so this task can be difficult and requires patience. You don’t have to draw every level unless you want the image to be 100% realistic. Instead, you can simply draw a very large number of windows to suggest that there are multiple levels. Or you can draw multiple dotted windows suggesting the same thing. You will see an example of the window columns in this step. Each section has 4 glass panes, each cell is separated by concrete. First, draw multiple vertical lines separating the panes of glass. The glass panels are slightly large on the sections near the base of the building.
Step 20
Now draw horizontal lines that close the window, making them square. Be sure to watch your vanishing points. Again, this process can be quite tedious, so depending on how the illustration is used, you won’t necessarily need to draw each window.
Step 21
There are a few windows near the upper floor and the lower one has a dome above them. Also take this time to draw a pattern of crisscrossed windows at the building’s entrance, as well as the American flag above the entrance.
Step 22
Going back to the windows, we now have to delete the many horizontal lines that cut through the vertical concrete columns that separate the sections of the window. If you feel confident enough to ink the window before deleting these lines, do so in the next step.
Step 23
Finally, carefully ink the image with a ruler and a Micron or Copic Multiliner marker. Be sure to ink all the necessary lines, but not any of the unnecessary instruction lines. After you’re done inking, erase your pencil marks with a kneaded eraser. And that’s it! Now you know how to draw the infamous Empire State Building!
