Hello and a warm welcome to all! You’ve found yourself in TasaStock’s little Challenge arena, so whilst you’re here you might as well stay a while. (There will be tea and biscuits at the end.)

So what’s going on you might ask?
Well, I had this idea to come up with a series of challenges to get all you artistic people working and practicing what we do best, art. Now if there’s one thing I’ve noticed, is that sometimes people (myself included) will avoid a particular image or a particular subject because it’s too difficult, for example, there is extreme foreshortening, so you skip it and go onto the next one, because drawing that would make you queasy.
Well, I’m going to be a big bully, and demand that you pick an image with Foreshortening and draw it. What have you got to lose?

Basically, these challenges are just a way to get you all practicing your skills, to improve, to go back on something you’ve not looked at in a while. To get back to basics almost, or maybe just to push you back into doing art, to get that pencil/pen/paintbrush moving on that paper again.

This is the first in my series of challenges, and this challenge is all about Foreshortening.
(If you haven’t had the joy of having this drummed into you by an art teacher, I’ll take on the role of teacher for a second *adopts odd quirk*)
Foreshortening is where you are sat at an odd angle to your model. Say the model is lying down, you are by their feet, and in proportion to the feet, their head looks much smaller because it’s further away. Or say if you’re drawing a picture from stock, and the model was pointing towards the camera, so their arm looks really short, now we know it’s not because they had their arm chopped off in some bizarre accident and their hand was reattached, it’s all about visual perspective. Which can be rather difficult to get down on paper. Which is just what I want you lot to do.

Before you ask, no, this isn’t a contest, there are no prizes at the end. There is only the sense of self-satisfaction, and pride in a piece that you know was aesthetically difficult, that you put a lot of effort into and perhaps you think came out rather well. Oh, and recognition in a news article when the challenge is done and dusted. So everyone gets to see your final piece/s.

Now I’m going to give you just over one month for this. (Which is enough time if you do a little bit every time you have a spare moment all you busy bee’s. If you never have a spare moment in a month, well I think you’re heading for a heart attack and need to slow down, but if you insist that you don’t, then I insist that you don’t need sleep. Or perhaps you don’t need to do that big project – and if anyone asks why you didn’t, you can tell them that nasty bully TasaStock shouted at you and told you that you had to do something else instead. )
So you shall have until 18th August.

So other than that, it’s pretty simple. Your piece can be in any media, pencil, paint, ink, (digital, so long as you’ve drawn it freehand) (No cheating in any media, this means tracing (it’s UNCLEAN!) using a light-box or projection or anything like that.)
It must contain foreshortening. It doesn’t have to just be a study, but it can just simply be that if you want. You can make a really elaborate and detailed piece if you so wish, I won’t stop you, only encourage, but if it doesn’t contain foreshortening then it’s out.
(Try to do something with a lot of foreshortening as opposed to a little.)

I’m going to say if you want to litter me with deviations, that I’ll limit you to three. So feel free to make more than one. Get the practice in!

Note me with your end result with the title “Foreshortening Challenge”, and most of all have fun!



Since reference would be a good thing to have, I’ve done a bit of your dirty work for you, and collected some stock with good foreshortening examples. (Yes, some of it is my own, I took it especially, shoosh. )






(You don't have to use these ones, before you ask, just thought I'd have a quick rummage so see what I could find for you lot.)

(Also, I lied about the tea and biscuits.)