Movement Toward The Viewer in Illustration

Want to freak your audience out? How about a one point perspective illustration of something heading straight for them at speed?

Ebony Jr January 1974. Illustration by Orville A. Hurt
Ebony Jr January 1974. Illustration by Orville A. Hurt
The expression on this woman’s face suggests she is posing stationary. (Women are required to look pretty.)
Harper’s Weekly, February 2, 1912. Art by Valentine Sandberg. This composition achieves symmetry, so isn’t quite so alarming.
Woman’s World Magazine January 1917 cover art
THE BIG RED PAJAMA WAGON Whitman Tale-A-Tale Book
Poster by Leonetto Cappiello c1910
もしも月でくらしたら 山本省三 2017
Adrienne Adams in ‘Childcraft The How and Why Library’ Volume 5, Field Enterprman and dog in car
‘Rockets To Nowhere’ cover illustration by Alex Schomburg, 1954
Umberto Tirelli Modena Express 1908
Umberto Tirelli Modena Express 1908. Is it the composition or the faces? Be right back, I need to have a nightmare.
Mercy the Pig is full of energy, beautifully captured on this cover.
John Patience - The Little Mermaid
John Patience – The Little Mermaid. This angle can’t have been easy to pull off. She comes very close to looking as if she’s got three chins.
A Castle In Canada by Caroline Farr
A Castle In Canada by Caroline Farr
Poster by Boccasile, circa 1950 train track walk to school
Poster by Boccasile, circa 1950 train track walk to school. People walking along train tracks is always a little alarming, especially if you’ve seen the movie Stand By Me.
Paris, Texas
1909 Frank Pape, for Anatole France's Penguin Island running towards viewer
1909 Frank Pape, for Anatole France’s Penguin Island

The following images aren’t quite so alarming. Although vehicles and creatures come towards the viewer, they approach obliquely.

Baba Yaga stories in Jack and Jill Magazine illustrated by Ursula Koering
Baba Yaga stories in Jack and Jill Magazine illustrated by Ursula Koering
Ravel - Swiss Auto Advertisement - art by Lucien Pillot - c 1925
Ravel – Swiss Auto Advertisement – art by Lucien Pillot – c 1925
Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré from Orlando Furioso, Frenzy of Roland
Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré from Orlando Furioso, Frenzy of Roland
LATEST AUDIOBOOK (short story for children)

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