Foreshortening:

creating the illusion of depth in a figure drawing

One of the earliest extant examples of foreshortening in the history of art: The Roman Alexander and Darius Mosaic from the 1st Century AD

Closer forms are larger in scale.

Individual volumes of the body overlap one another in space.

Intervals of space between parts of the body are dramatically shortened.

Exaggerating the scale of closer forms will pull them forward into space.

Think of the lines of the body like perspective orthogonals projecting forward or backward into space.

Michelangelo

(16th C. Italian)

Paul Cadmus (20th C. American)

(Example of subtle foreshortening)

Paul Cadmus

Where is the foreshortening here?

De La Tour

18th C. French)

(An example of foreshortening in the face.)

Student work:charcoal pencil on toned paper

Student work:

Pastel

Student work:

Graphite

Student work:

Charcoal

Student work:

Charcoal

Student work:

Conte

Student work:

Conte

Student work:Charcoal Pencil

Student work:pen and ink

OK: let’s do foreshortening!