I need a little help understanding how to draw ellipses in perspective

[fauxfresh]

Hey there fauxfresh,

Keep in mind that we draw ellipses to illustrate a circle in perspective. Meaning it's perfectly round if we look at it straight on, and it's elliptical if seen on the side. (Which in the first image you provided illustrates). If the circle is indeed perfectly round, then we can also say that the circle can fit perfectly in a square..

The second image you provided does not illustrate a perfect circle. Couple of clues are: 1) both the minor axis isn't vanishing towards the horizon line. 2) Shape of the box is not a perfect square. The ellipse in question, if we look at it directly, should be oblong and not a circle.

In the third image, the minor axis is tilted towards the right vanishing point because the object is foreshortened towards the right, meaning, if we stretch the cylinder into the infinite, it's going to 'vanish' into the right vanishing point.

Hope this helps!

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question!

If its alright with you could you explain a bit more about the second image? I am still a little confused. I do not understand what you mean when you say the "minor axis isn't vanishing towards the horizon line"

If I trace the minor axis it does eventually cross the horizon line, is the issue that it is not heading towards the vanishing point? I also do not know how to tell if the shape of the box is a perfect square or not. Is this something I should be able to figure out intuitively just by looking at it or are there perspective rules I can use to confirm if it is a perfect square?