Foreshortening — Art, 14–17 years
Foreshortening makes a part of a subject look shorter because it points towards or away from the viewer. It helps drawings and paintings feel solid rather than flat.
What foreshortening does
Imagine looking straight down the length of a table: its long surface may appear almost like a thin shape. In a drawing, a pointing arm or leg works in the same way; its visible length is compressed, even though the real limb has not changed.
Why artists need it
Artists noticed that copying an object’s usual shape can make a pose look wrong when the object turns towards us. Foreshortening solves this problem by showing the smaller visible shape caused by viewing direction, so the pose can look believable.
A pointing arm
Draw a person pointing at you. First mark the shoulder and the hand, then connect them with a centre line. The hand may be nearly as wide as the head but only half as long as the arm’s side view; add overlapping shapes for the upper arm and forearm. This makes depth visible.
The familiar-shape trap
A common mistake is drawing every limb at its normal length and width, even when it points towards the viewer. This feels reasonable because we know what an arm looks like from the side. But a picture records what the eye receives, not the full object stored in memory.
Where it appears
You see foreshortening in sports photographs, comic-book figures, animation and posters with a hand reaching towards you. It is also useful when planning a sculpture or photographing a person, because the viewpoint changes the apparent size of each part.
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