Life Drawing

Heres a few drawings showing different techniques, materials, timing, and of course poses.

These drawings (above) are 30 second poses. The idea with 30 second poses is the catch the essence of the pose. Get the action lines down and thats what matters, as long as you can see where the arms and leg are positioned, the direction of the torso, shoulders and hips, things like proportion and tone are not important.

These drawings were done using the circling method. The circling method is a technique used to daw the pose using just rounded shapes, no straight lines. For me this is one of the more used and accurate techniques. Using circles helps me keep proportion, add perspective and show weight more effectively.

This above drawing was one of my attempts to try and portray a bit of perspective and angle. I used a pose from my imagination and twisted the torso slightly to show movement within the action. A lot of things are technically wrong with this drawing, the proportions are out, the perspective didn't turn out like I intended, but it has a certain charm, I really like this one.

These drawings (above) are all about the action lines. Action lines are very useful for quickly capturing the pose and have help me develop my drawings massively. I laid down the action lines firstly and then build the pose around them. Using broken lines help give the drawing a rushed and unfinished feel which is not always a good thing but I really like this style. It gives it a feel of someone whose just noticed a passer by in the perfect pose and had a quick 7 seconds to capture it.

3D Walk Cycle

When initially planning my walk cycle I wanted a really energetic walk with lots of character and personality. I soon realised a walk doesn't have to be so upbeat and 'happy' to produce the same feeling of personality.

After this I decided on a tired, depressed, even as far as sad walk. I wanted to try and get the characters story across using just the movement of his limbs and try to get his experiences across.

Why is he sad/depressed/tired?

What happened to him?

This video helped me alot, it was the perfect walk I wanted to try and portray.

The way the character in this video drags his feet along the floor, the way his arms sag down, even his facial expression, all add to his background and, I think portray his story and personality very well.

Another source I used was Preston Blair's book, 'Cartoon Animation'

In my opinion, this and Richard Williams' Animator's Survival Kit are among the most important books any budding animator will read. The quality of the techniques used and showcased is none short of amazing, and they both really helped me understand how a walk can show so many different emotions, stories and personality.