In Yo Face!

fore·short·en

–verb (used with object)

1.

Fine Arts. to reduce or distort (parts of a represented object that are not parallel to the picture plane) in order to convey the illusionof three-dimensional space as perceived by the human eye: often done according to the rules of perspective.

In this drawing, I wanted the pill bottle to appear in the foreground using foreshortening. This may look simple, but it can be very hard to do. You have to create three-dimensional depth in a flat two-dimensional drawing. I struggled with this effect over and over during the sketch stage. I hit a breakthrough when I fixed the placement of the thumb holding the bottle. Once I got that right, it worked. It's funny how one small detail can affect an entire illustration.

BONUS SKETCH: Here's the inital sketch that I did. I realized he was WAY TOO SCARY LOOKING, so I decided to make him look a little friendlier.