The horizon line

In the post Perspective The Terminology I defined the horizon line as a line that, imaginatively, through the projection plane at the same height of the point of view. In a landscape the horizon often coincides with the line that separates the sky from the land. The first choice that an artist must make is decide where to place the horizon in his drawing sheet. Many artists do not place this line exactly in the middle, to avoid too much symmetry between sky and land in the landscape.

To avoid this symmetry there are only two alternatives:

1. the horizon line is placed in the top half of the drawing sheet;
2. the horizon line is placed in the bottom half of the drawing sheet.

In the first case, the land will be the protagonist.

In the second case, the sky will dominate the scene. A landscape like this is called Skyscape.

Then, as before, you need to decide whether to predominate in your landscape will be the sky or the land. The horizon line will be placed accordingly.