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Perspective Start to Finish: Spying From the Rafters  So I go back to the first one, move the characters around a bit, and start to work out vanishing points. This is three point perspective - everything converges. The toughest point to place is usually the vanishing point representing down. But we've got a head start on that. If we look at our elevation, our down vanishing point will be directly below our camera. And our horizon line will be directly to it's left. With this, we can place the down vanishing point and the horizon line in such a way as the perspective within the panel won't be distorted. After I've got the down vp and the horizon (which can be done right on the original drawing, or on a tracing paper overlay or on a lightbox to make changes easier), I find an object near the center of the panel to work out the final two vanishing points. In this case, the object is the ring. I draw lines through the middle of the ring, heading towards the horizon. Where these lines cross the horizon are the vanishing points. Remember these points represent 90 degrees from each other; if the one on the left is West, the one on the right will be North. I draw some test lines for the ring, and once I'm happy with the vanishing point placement, I lay in the ring, the ropes, the catwalk, and a basic grid for the audience so their chairs line up.
Now, to keep the figures in perspective, I'm going to draw some boxes where the figures are standing. They don't need to mimic the postures of the figures; they're just there to help keep the figures relating to the ground plane and keeping the right way up when I draw them. There are a couple of things here that are rotated so I can't use the same vanishing points. For the kayoed boxer I lay in a box on the floor using two new vanishing points, and for the vanes on the spotlight, another vanishing point. Since all these lines are horizontal, all their vanishing points lay on the horizon
If you'd like to see more like this, including how to draw in Four Point and Five Point Curvilinear Perspective, take a look at my book Vanishing Point, from Impact Books.
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Now I pause to take stock. The original layout sketch was pretty accurate, but you can see where the perspective is just wrong in it. The vertical bars in the catwalk especially, as well as the heroine figure and the vertical supports on the spotlight. Changing these things to fit the perspective isn't going to affect my composition, so I'm ready to go. I can now fly through drawing the finished panel, because the perspective layout has solved my major problems for me.
Et Voila! A bit of ink and paint and we've got our finished panel.