PRINCIPLES OF DEPTH
3. Foreshortening This six-part guide from Figure Drawing author JAKE SPICER helps create a greater sense of space in your work. Here he shares useful strategies for drawing at awkward angles
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eloved by some and frustrating to others, foreshortening describes the principles of diminution applied to a single subject. Whether you are drawing a log in a landscape or a figure in repose, the part of the subject that is closest to you will appear larger than an equivalent part of the subject that is further away. Despite knowing that the cylindrical body of a wine bottle has a consistent diameter, its cylindrical form appears to taper into a cone when you are drawing it from one end. From our singular perspective, we should just be able to simply draw it as we see it, but our rational mind interrupts our observation so that we see and draw the subject as we think it should look, rather than how it actually appears. While extreme foreshortening presents a common challenge for beginners, most experienced artists also fall foul of the brain’s subjective challenge to the eye’s objectivity, so in this third instalment of our series, I want to introduce four simple ways to improve how you deal with foreshortening in your drawings.
ABOVE A foreshortened subject viewed across your line of sight [above] will appear compacted when it is seen along your line of sight [below]. 46 Artists
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