Viking Longhouse Tutorial
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Viking Longhouse Tutorial

Updated: Feb 26

To follow on from my first tutorial I am going to show you how to draw a basic Viking longhouse in 2 point perspective. We will be building upon my previous tutorial so if you haven't completed that It can be found HERE.


For this tutorial you will need:


Paper, Pencil, Pencil Sharpener/Craft Knife, Eraser, Ruler/Straight Edge, Pen (with a fine nib, fineliner, biro, ballpoint pen etc)


Tips:


Keep your pencil sharp because that makes it easier to accurate.

Don't press down hard with the pencil, try to keep the lines as light as possible.


(I am going to digitally draw over my sketches to help you know which part you should be drawing as pencil can be hard to see on photographs)


To start to draw the Viking longhouse you will need a completed rectangle drawn in 2 point perspective like the one in my first tutorial. The horizon line and vanishing points must still be there as we are working within the same perspective. So you should be starting with something that looks similar to this.



Step 1.


Measure with a ruler the halfway point between the lefthand vertical line and central vertical line and make a mark. Then draw a vertical line through the mark. This represents the central spine of the longhouse.



Step 2.


Mark a cross on the vertical line you have just drawn just above the horizon line.






Step 3.


Draw a line through the righthand vanishing point and the cross you have just marked. This is to represent the roof of the longhouse.



Step 4.


From the same cross, draw a line through the front lefthand corner of the building and a line from the cross through the front righthand corner of the building. These lines will help form the front of your roof.



Step 5.


From where the lines you just drew intersect with the red line (above,below), draw guidelines back to the righthand vanishing point.



Step 6.


At the intersection of the two red lines (below) draw a line going through the top back right corner of the box. This will create the back of the roof.



Step 7.


We need to extend the roof at the front. Along the same guideline for the roof you drew in step 3 (seen in red below) mark a cross slightly to the left of the cross you drew in step 2.



Step 8.


From the cross you just marked you need to draw 2 lines parallel to the lines you drew in Step 4.



Step 9.


Mark a cross on the righthand line you just drew about halfway between the top and bottom of the original box you drew. Then draw a line connecting that with the lefthand vanishing point and then make a cross where the line intersects with the lefthand red line (below). Then from both those crosses draw lines back to the righthand vanishing point. This will form the bottom of your roof.






Step 10.


To help make things easier to understand on your drawing, you can now outline the basic shape of the Viking longhouse which we have created by going over it with your pencil. Then erase any guidelines which are in the shape of the roof and righthand side of the building as seen below.



Step 11.


We are going to add the front lip of the roof. Simply draw 2 lines parallel to the front of the roof as seen below. Then connect them to the original roofline.




Step 12.


Now we need to turn it from a random house shape into something resembling a Viking longhouse. We will start by adding some beams at the front and side of the house. Do this by eye as pictured below.



Step 13.


Now we need to add the door at the front. Mark a cross on the vertical line through the front of the building below the beam you just drew, then draw a line through that to the lefthand vanishing point. This will be the height of your door. Then draw two vertical lines, one either side of the central vertical line which will be the width of your door. Then around the outside of the door draw parallel lines representing the door beams. You should have something that looks like the image below.



Step 14.


Now we are going to add the struts to the building. Mark a cross on the front corner of the building as i have below, then draw a line from there to the righthand vanishing point and one to the left. These lines represent the height of the struts.



Step 15.


Now we need to add the bottom of the struts. Mark two crosses halfway between the front corners of your house and the guidelines for roof. Then draw a line through them going to the righthand vanishing point as seen below.



Step 16.


Now we need to link the top and bottom to create the struts. Connect the cross marked in step 14 with the righthand cross marked in step 15. Then do the same with lefthand cross marked in step 15 and where the guideline in step 14 intersects the building. You should have something that resembles the image below.



Step 17.


Draw parallel lines on the inside of the two you have just drawn as pictured below.



Step 18.


Link the bottom of the struts.



Step 19.


Now we you to turn the struts into 3D objects. You do that by adding parallel lines on the inside of the left strut and outside of the right strut. Then link them to the front of the strut by drawing a line between them as seen below. We will then also add crosses for where the tops of the other struts will be. These should be aligned to the lefthand edge of the beams on the guideline you drew in step fourteen which I have also marked below.






Step 20.


Because in this perspective you can only see the righthand side of the building we only need to worry about adding struts to that side. At the points where you marked the crosses in the last step you need to add the rest of the struts. Repeat steps 16 to 19 for each cross and you should have something that looks like the image below.



Now because you have all the main structure complete you can outline it in pen and then erase the pencil lines, BUT, keep your vanishing points for now. Like below



Step 21.


We are going to start adding the wooden planks to the building. Around the doorway add vertical lines like the image below. You can do this in pencil then go over in pen or draw it in pen straight away. Ive chosen pencil but there is no right or wrong way to do this. (If you are unsure, skip to the end to see the final result then back to this step)



Step 22.


You need to add the horizontal panels to the front of the house. Just like in the previous step you can work in pencil or pen. Because these lines are on the front of the house they go back to the lefthand vanishing point. So you can use a ruler or draw them by eye.



Final Step.


Now we just need to add the wooden panels on the righthand side. I would advise drawing these in pencil first as you are only drawing these in the gaps between the beams and struts. Because these are on the righthand side of the building they go back to the righthand vanishing point. You should be left with something like the image below.



That is how to draw a basic Viking longhouse. I hope that was easy to follow but please let me know if it wasn't. I'm used to teaching face to face and you can see if people are understanding your instruction or not, so this is a bit strange for me. Later in the week I will be producing a tutorial on how to shade the longhouse you have just drawn. So if you want to do that then keep hold of this drawing for that tutorial.


For this drawing tutorial I used these materials


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