Putting the Elements of a Pose Together
Earlier I reprinted some roughs as examples of a style of drawing appropriate for animation. These roughs are beautifully drawn, loose and expressive. What sort of thinking went into these drawings that made them spring to life as they do Let's take one of those drawings and analyze it in terms of the elements of the pose. The animator, Mark Henn, was not interested in parts, but only in telling the part of the story that occurred on that particular frame of film. Animators are not just...
Straight against Curve Squash and Stretch in the Pose
Simply put, a straight line is the symbol for a stretch, and a bent or folded line is the symbol for a squash. So whether the action is a broad stretch of the arm and body, or a subtle stretch on a face cause by a smile or an open mouth, the symbols are applied to the anatomy to put these ideas over. In quick, first-impression gesture drawing, two lines is all you need to locate and suggest the various parts of the arms and legs preferably one straight line on the stretch side and one curved...
Simplicity for the Sake of Clarity
One of our models, Ian Steele, said a very significant thing to me after a session. He said after holding a pose for some minutes he no longer had that fresh, intense feeling for the pose that he had when he first assumed it. That is something that happens in all phases of life. The artist, when he first gets an inspiration or tackles a pose in an action analysis class, sees the pose, is struck by its clarity, its expressiveness, then after working on it for a while that first impression is...
Chapter Elements of the Pose
Those who cannot begin do not finish. In our model sketching sessions we naturally employ our efforts to drawing the model, but our attention is directed not so much to copying or getting a photographic likeness but rather to studying and capturing the essence of the poses. Our goal is to be able to apply the principles we learn to our animation drawings whether we are animating, cleaning up or inbetweening. In searching the model's pose for a good first impression that says, This is what the...
Angles and Tension
Angles and tension are important elements in drawing. Little has been said about them in books on drawing and in drawing classes. They can be the difference between a donothing drawing and an active, dynamic drawing. Tension is brought about by the appropriate use of angles in a drawing. It is easy to imagine how a running figure can create tension by the angle of his body. Any time you pull a figure off its perpendicular norm you create tension. The figure is pulling away from one border and...
