Prompt
Draw 6 hours of 5-20 min. gesture drawings of poses that show foreshortening. Emphasize bony landmarks, especially the joints in the arms and legs.
Foreshortening can be extremely dramatic, or it can be very subtle, sometimes it’s barely there! Aim to bring out the foreshortening anywhere you can.
Tips
Search for overlaps in the figure, where do you notice a muscle or bone that is in front of another? Think about the figure as if you were a sculptor, concentrating on where the forms of a figure are in space in relation to each other.
Try to distinguish between bone and muscle when you look at the figure, identify as many as you can while you draw.
Anatomy Book
It’s helpful while you are drawing to have an anatomy book and/or your anatomy notes out so you can reference them. We recommend Dr. Paul Richer’s Artistic Anatomy.
Anatomy Lectures
Reference Images: Foreshortened Figures
Inspiration
- Dead Christ, Andrea Mantegna, 1480-1500
- Study of a man standing, Jacopo da Pontormo, 1522-1525
- Crucifixion of St. Peter, Caravaggio, 1600
- Supper at Emmaus, Caravaggio, 1606
- Male Nude, Paul Cadmus, 1954
art media
Use any traditional or digital art medium.
SUPPLY LISTS
Visit these pages for specific supply lists: colored pencil, conté crayon, graphite, soft pastel, oil pastel, pencil, charcoal. Explore a comprehensive list of all drawing supplies in Part 1 of our Drawing Curriculum.
Recommended traditional art media
Caran d’Ache Neocolor I Crayon, General’s Woodless graphite pencils, Conté à Paris Crayons, Vine Charcoal
Recommended software
Procreate, Krita, Adobe Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, Paint Tool SAI, Adobe Fresco, MediBang Paint, Gimp
Foreshortening Tips for Figure Drawing
Get essential tips on how to draw a foreshortened human figure. Learn to identify key points on the figure that will make foreshortening clear and concrete.
Foreshortening is when an object appears to be shorter than it actually physically is, creating a point of view that is dramatic and challenging to portray in drawing. Discussion led by Art Prof Clara Lieu.
- Video Walkthrough & more
- Watch the 4 min. version
- Watch the 58 min. version
- Slideshow
Drawing Foreshortened Legs
This video demos how you can draw convincing foreshortening in your figure drawings, focusing on legs.
Techniques for how to draw foreshortening are explained as well as what anatomical landmarks to look for, using Photoshop and a Wacom Cintiq 22, and also Procreate with an iPad.
Demo by Art Prof Clara Lieu and Teaching Artist Jordan McCracken-Foster.
As a free educational source, Art Prof uses Amazon affiliate links (found in this page) to help pay the bills. This means, Art Prof earns from qualifying purchases.
