Author: kitaye, Contributing Editor

It doesn't look like much right now, but we are getting there. Keep in mind that the arch should be proportional, regardless of the size of paper you are using. The next step is to draw the inside top and outside top lines of our arch. The top inside line will be just under 4 times the measurement of the space between your center line and your inside line. For example, if the inside line is 1.5" from the center line, then the top inside line will be approximately 5.5" from the bottom of your wall. The exact distance will depend on what looks right to you. The outside top line is far easier to draw. The distance between the inside top and outside top lines should be the same as the distance between the inside and outside side lines. In my example, it is 3/4" above the top inside line. You should have what looks like two rectangles, one inside the other, resting on your bottom line. You will notice in the picture to the left that I have drawn the inside top line between the two inside side lines and the outside top line between the two outside side lines. This creates fewer pencil marks to erase later.

I've erased part of my center line to make it easier to see what I was doing. This is the step when we need to indicate where the support stones stop and the arch stones start. The support stones are as tall as the doorway is wide. Measure the distance from outside line to outside line of your arch. Using this measurement, draw a line the same distance from the bottom line. This line indicates where the top edge of the support stones is located.

The upper portion of the arch is drawn from the horizontal line (mentioned above) to the two upper limit lines. The curved portion of the arch must be identical on both sides. To do this, I draw one side first, and then I trace it onto a thin sheet of paper. Tracing paper, onion skin paper, or thin typing paper will all work for this method. The image to the right shows the tracing next to the finished arch. Flip the tracing over and line it up with the same points on the other side, then lightly trace over it to transfer the graphite on to the paper underneath. Use this same process to draw the inside and outside lines of your arch.

Now that you have the basic shape of your wall and arch, you need to erase all the extra pencil marks. This is the reason why I suggested very faint lines when we started. If you don't make your lines very light, they will leave indentations in your paper and might leave a shadow mark in your final piece. With the outline of the arch drawn, you can begin to block in the stones of the arch. Using light pencil lines, break the supports and arch into blocks. You can choose to use small or large blocks, but the blocks in the supports should be larger than the blocks of the arch. When creating the blocks of the arch, remember that you are shaping these stones to create the arch. That means each block will be wedge shaped, with the narrow end towards the inside of the arch. You should also have the same number of stones on each side of the stone arch. The image to the right shows how I chose to draw my stones. I used the ruler to mark out the stones, making sure that I had the same number and size on each support.

Choose a point somewhere within the area of your entrance. This will be the vanishing point for your wall's perspective. This can be anywhere you wish, depending on how you want the painting to progress. If you want the inside of the entrance to be even on both sides, then you would choose a point along the centerline. If you want to shift the perspective to the left or right, you would choose a point to the left or right of that center line. Use a ruler to draw very faint lines from the vanishing point to each of the outlines for the blocks in the arch and supports. The image on the left shows how I did it. Now you need to decide how thick your wall will be. Once you decide, you simply draw another arch to the inside of your current arch, crossing the perspective lines you have just drawn. This is the furthest edge of your stones. When you are finished, erase all the lines that are not being used to indicate stones.

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