A mark, a yen...

Remember that hideous William and Catherine coin I was kvetching about a couple months ago?

Michael Alexander at coin Update has an interview up with the sculptor:

Mark Richards, a Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors specializing in life size and over life size sculptures rather than coinage has presented us with an intimate depiction of William and Catherine and approached the task of coin design from his own unique take on the project...
"There are two reasons why the coin looks the way it does [Richards said]. It’s really a close-up portrait of them which is a very important part of demonstrating the intimacy of them as a couple. By positioning them in this way, I could capture their expressions and features. If I had chosen to create the design with two full heads, they would be very small and in the middle with space underneath. So, the impression that you are seeing them through a porthole or lens was an unintended consequence due to my aim of trying to capturing a real sense of intimacy which gives the impression of the viewer being quite close to them.

So the Royal Mint gave the task of a coin design to a monument sculptor who didn't know how to use the space on a coin, and made up a solution of his own. Which at least accounts for the godawful composition. Why he looks like a mannequin and she looks like a bad tattoo portrait... That's a question for another day.