The distortions of drawing angles

All the drawings of Sam (see Sam seated in a suit post) have the same weakness: heads too big for their bodies.

Not grotesquely too big, and in some cases it’s hardly an issue. But oversize heads do nothing for elegance and stylishness, two things central to this ‘man in a suit’ session.

There are several possible reasons: at first I thought it was because people were drawing heads first then struggling to append the bodies. But it became clear that a big factor was angle of drawing board.

If your board/sketchpad is flat there is a foreshortening in your view of your paper. It makes a lot of sense to draw at a 45-degree angle. I think most professionals do this. Easel painters take this most seriously of course, aiming to have their canvas almost upright to view alongside their subject.

To illustrate this important point, I have taken the drawings of Sam and subjected them all to ‘keystone’ correction – which involves offsetting the foreshortening.

What do you think?