Artist insight Foreshortening
Anatomy expert Charlie Pickard introduces his vital tips so you can become a master of perspective and improve your figure drawing
One of the most challenging topics in the life drawing room, and in drawing more generally, is that of foreshortening; where a body part is coming more or less directly towards the viewer and appears shortened.
And that intimidating feeling isn’t without good reason. So often a strongly foreshortened limb can present us with a view of the body we’re entirely unfamiliar with, and our usual drawing methods can fail us when we attempt to represent it.
But despite what looks apparently difficult here, there’s actually a lot more similarity between the strongly foreshortened view and conventional positions. With just a slight change in our thoughts and approach, we can realise that all positions contain foreshortening in some degree. In a fashion, we already know how to draw this seemingly challenging topic, and this realisation will lead us to possessing a much more confident control over the form in our drawing in all positions. So, let’s get exploring the intricacies of foreshortening.
1 TERMINOLOGY
The first important concept for us to cover before we get into the more complex ideas is some of the useful terminology. We’ll find it helpful to look at these using the fundamental form of the cylinder. We have three important concepts in this vein that we need to be able to accurately define.
The outline contour: This is the outer limit of the object within our vision. After this line, the object disappears beyond our vision.
The central axis: This is an imagined axis line going directly through the centre of the form. In the human form this is often made up of a literal shape in the bones. This line is often the main area that’s shortening in the form, and is a useful and simple way to track the amount of foreshortening that’s going on
The cross contour: These are lines that move across the form, they’re called the cross contour because that’s exactly what they do; move across the contour. These lines make up all of the internal information in the form and are often undervalued by students.
The cross contour lines can be thought of as moving perpendicularly to the central axis line and can be tracked in relation to it. These cross contours are often the element that changes the most as part of the process of foreshortening, and are the most important element when we’re looking to communicate this effect to the viewer.
