Foreshortening — Art, 11–13
You learn why a shape pointing towards you can look much shorter, and how to draw that convincing change.
A shape pointing at you
Foreshortening happens when an object or body part points towards or away from you. Its length travels into depth, so less of that length is visible on the page. A pointing arm may look like a short shape with a large hand, even though the real arm is long.
Why flat drawings need it
A flat page must suggest a three-dimensional world. Without foreshortening, every arm, road or box seems to lie side-on, as if it never comes closer or moves away. Artists developed ways to show depth because viewers expect nearby parts to look larger and distant parts to take up less space.
Draw a hand reaching out
Imagine a hand reaching straight towards you. First draw the palm as a wide oval, because it is nearest. Behind it, place the wrist as a much smaller shape, then let the forearm narrow as it travels back to the elbow. Add fingers over the palm, not as five long strips; their visible lengths are shortened too.
The reasonable mistake
The tempting mistake is to draw the full side length of an object because you know how long it really is. That is reasonable: your brain stores the object’s size, not the changing view from your eyes. Trust what you can see in the chosen view, even when the short shape feels too small.
Where it appears
You see foreshortening in superhero comics, sports photographs, film storyboards and game characters reaching towards the viewer. It also helps when you draw a train coming towards you or a book held open at an angle. The aim is not to distort randomly, but to show distance through visible size.
Keep exploring
Other languages
Loading MyLeoNes™…