London Design Silver

2026

Drawing Series

Entrant

Ziyuan Xu

Category

Communication Design - Illustration

Client's Name

-

Country / Region

China

Gallery

About The Entry

This drawing series explores the human figure through direct observation and shifting viewpoints, examining how perspective transforms the visual perception of facial features, body structure, and movement.

The first work is a colored-pencil portrait viewed from below the chin, using an upward angle to reinterpret facial proportions and contours. The second deconstructs facial features into distinct blocks of form, adopting a graphic, advertising-inspired visual language that emphasizes structure, contrast, and visual impact. The third returns to the exploration of unconventional viewpoints, depicting a portrait from above to simulate the curious gaze of a cat observing a human subject. Together, these portraits investigate how changes in viewing angle influence the interpretation of familiar facial features.

The final two works are color sketches focused on the diversity of human movement and posture. Through rapid observation and expressive color application, they capture the essential characteristics of the body in different dynamic states, prioritizing immediacy and gesture over meticulous detail.

Across the series, the alternation between viewpoints, drawing methods, and levels of abstraction forms a systematic study of visual perception and representation. By moving between detailed portraiture, geometric simplification, and spontaneous color sketching, the project develops an understanding of anatomical structure, spatial relationships, and the expressive potential of color.

More than a collection of figure studies, Shifting Perspectives is an exploration of how observation shapes representation. Each work offers a different way of seeing the human subject, turning changes in perspective into a practical approach to understanding form, capturing movement, and expanding the language of drawing.

Credits

Summer Xu
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