When considering effects of perspective on the human body, the horizon line usually represents the furthest visible distance and is at the viewers eye level. An artist decides arbitrarily where to place the line and it is usually decided according to their own personal taste. In some cases the chosen composition will be the deciding factor as it was in my painting, Old Woodie.

It is obvious when studying the segment of the painting to the right that the view is from an eye level somewhere around the waist line of the main subject, yet the visible land disappears below this level which indicates the angle of the view. The reason for this was that the composition was taken from a photograph where the photographer was sitting down on a stool in front of the filling station and some several feet away.

I made several sketches from the photograph in attempt to change the angle of view. However, the original composition kept working itself back in as the first choice. I also drew different sketches that had trees, cacti, rocks and mountain behind the main figure. But I wanted a more desolate and lonely effect about the painting, which is what attracted me to the composition in the first place.

I decided after painting the picture that the perspective worked. We are looking up at the man’s chin and down at the feet.