Gesture Drawing Vol 3 by Ryan Woodward [PDF]

Zitiervorschau

Yo u Sho uld Know This is not an ac ademic figur e-dr awing book; nor does it cover the basics of dr awing ng the human form. m. Wh at t this t book does doe is explor xpl e and examine exam my per personal cr eative app appr o ach to dr awing g a and styli zing sty ing the human figur igu e. I co uld not h ave obtained any of this knowledge dge witho ut h aving ing spent many spe y h ho urs in intr oductor r y co urses pr acticing the fundamentals of dr awing the human an form. An intr od oductor or y figur gur e-dr e-d awing co urse wo uld cover pr inciples ipl like: basic pr opor o ti ons, volume, for eshortening, ng, anatomy, my, light ght and sh adow, etc., etc. - these ar e things which I do not cover in this book. Ther e ar e do zens of fantastic books o ut ther e th at cover these pr iinciples ple in a much mor e compr omp ehensive way. y. In other wor ds, don’t get ge bother ed with this book if it feels a little light on basic instr ucti on - I didn’t design it th at way.

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THE UNRE ACHABLE GOAL Overview Ther e ar e a lot of differ ent appr o aches o ut ther e on dr awing the human figur e, none of which ar e th the “r r ight” way or the t only y way. I certainly tainly do not think th at my appr app o ach is any mor e valid th an n the next, but ther e ar e r eas easons why I h ave gr a avitated ated to dr awing this way and an hopefully hope th at will shed some light on this pr ocess. As a yo y ung g tr aditi onal animator, I was taught ght th at dr awing ing the figur igu e in qui quick pos poses was an essential ential ial pr actice act for r any aspir asp ing ng animator ani animat who wanted to learn how to master the gestur ge e of the human figur e. While this pr actice still r emains tr ue, I was as hoping th at qui quick gestur es of the figur e co uld become an aesthetic ally fig lly pl pleasing ing piece of art as well. Reali zing th at absolute mastership mas p of dr d awing the human uma form is never r eally lly achievable, I kept kep tr ying to figur fig e o ut new ways to dr aw the figu figur e and exper iment nt cr eatively. y. I wonder ed, wh at is mor e important por to pr a actice, technique iqu versus cr eativity, y, accur acy cy versus design? I am not sur e I h ave these answers yet, but my quest yet que for finding ng these answers, thr o ugh ug dr awing ing the figur igu e, sur e h as been a fun one.. This book is a c collecti ect on of my exper per imenta ntati ons knowing g f full well, th at I will pr obably never find the answer. Enjoy.

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Conté Cr ayon While other artists use ch arco al pen pencils, vine ch a arco al, and p astel, I h ave av fo und Conté cr r ay ayon to be my favor ite tool for ges gestur e dr awing. ing Conté comes in var i o us s g gr ades of h ar dness with a 2B B gr g ade being g wh w at I like to use most. If yo u ar e a mor e heav y-h anded artist, think of investing g in a h ar der gr ad ade of Conté.

Note: When purch asing ing yo ur Conté, make certain cer th at the Conté sticks ar e not br oken within the p a ackag ging. Sometimes, the Conté is mish andled ing led which c an destr oy y iits us ability. ity Save yo urself a r et eturn tr ip and examine the Conté befor e leaving the stor or e. e Warning: g: Conté likes to end up on yo ur face! After dr awing with Conté, yo u u’ll fr equently ently ly find black smudges dge on n y yo ur nose. How th at h appens, ppe to students and to my myself, is a myster yster y. y So check a mi mirr or befor e yo u leave yo ur dr awing p ad for a job inter terview.

Newspr int Pad An 18” x 24” newspr wsp int t p ad willl give g yo u plenty p ty of r oom to dr aw. Any br and will do. My personal per pr e efer ence is smooth newspr spr int as opposed oppos pos to r o ugh. gh. Ro ugh h as a much mor e tooth thus thu leaving eaving ing a bit mor e textur e to yo ur dr awing. Smooth will look softer and cleaner.

Sandp aper Block In or der d to sh arpen the Conté, té, a s andp aper block is needed. It is essentially y a piece pi of wood with str ips ps of s andp dp aper attached to it. Many any starving students h ave fo und th at a piece of s andp aper fr om the h ar dwar e stor e works rks just as well.

Episode 1

Sh arpening Yo ur Conté Things yo u need need: n X-Acto knife, Conté, and Sandp aper block. The Pr ocess: Step 1 - Using an X-Acto knife, sh ave yo ur u Conté away way so th at the point po on the stick is r o ughly h alf an inch long. Yo u want the Conté point poi to be fairly rly sh arp. arp This enables yo u to h ave differ ent edges edg to choose fr om when n yo y u start working g on yo ur dr awings. Aim for h a aving g a str ong flat edge, a r eal sh arp edge, and a medi um edge. dge The sh aving ng pr ocess o may ay be messy so yo u might want to do it over a tr ashc an. Step p 2 - Once e yo y u h ave the Conté sh aved down, yo u ar e now r eady dy for the s andp p ap aper block. The s andp dp aper block r efines the sh arpening arp ng in or der to achieve a nice edge. edg While r otating ng the Conté, r ub it up and down the s andp p aper ap until yo u h ave cr eated a r o und needle-like point.

THE TI P

ME DI UM E D DGE

BROAD E DGE E

Step p 3 - The final step ep is r ubbing g the t Conté Con on the p aper to get ge off all the excess sh a avings gs th at ar e h anging ging o on the tip tip. Take a co uple ple of swipes pes up and down yo ur p ap aper to get alll t those thos off and yo u’ll h ave the perfect edge to dr aw with. Rep Repeat the final two steps if yo ur lines s do n not come o ut evenly.

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Exper imenting With The Medi um As yo u ar e beginning egi ng to exp exper iment, t, p ay sp special al attenti on to using ing the br o ad, medi um, and fine edges of yo ur edg u tool. Spend plenty p ty of time exper xper imenting with the thr ee differ ent edges. Keep in mind, as yo u ar e dr awing, ing to var ar y the e pr p essur e of the Conté nté on p aper which will give y yo u a var iety ty of line weight. eig This cr eates inter est and depth in yo u dep ur dr awings. ing Yo u sho uld h ave some r ea eal nice dark, heav av y lines mixed xed in with some soft lines to give the illusi on of volume. Yo u will want to make sur e th at t y yo u r un yo ur br o ad edge on edg n y yo ur p aper a few times pr i or to the first line of f yo y ur dr awing. ng. This will help smooth o ut the irr egular ities in the Conté. A simplified imp tool like Conté helps elp the artist to loosen up and focu focus on n t the mor e g gener r al sh apes. At times, we tend to get r eal tig tight and noodley ey when we use a p pencil or pen pen. This tool tr ains the artist to loosen up. p. Conté té willl a also enco ur r ag age yo u to dr aw with h y yo ur sho ulder versus s y yo ur fingertips by gertip y holding h ing the Conté like a p ai aintbr ush. The sho ulder will dr aw in big br o ad sh apes and sweeping epi arcs, much mor e th an the fingertips will.

‘Let t g go’ when warming ing up the sho ulder. Instead of being ing overly rly concerned d with w cr eating a beautiful work of art, tr y t to focus mor e on loosening up and fr eeing g y yo ur cr eat eativity. ty. Tr y n not to over analyze aly ever r y line dur ing ng warm up; it will only nly impede e y yo ur cr eativity. ati y. Make an a effort to allow yo ur u br ain to make mistakes. I h ave fo und fr equently ly th at many y mistakes m I h ave made end up becoming “Einstein moments”.

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Er aser-less Conté is a bit b waxier wax th an ch arco a al or nup astel; ther efor e it works pr etty y w well for r q quicker dr a awings. gs. Once yo u put d down a line, e, it doe does not er ase ea easily, y, ther efor e,, yo y u h ave av to learn ear to accept ept the line and work with it anyway. anyway The absence of subt abs ubtr active dr awing build builds confiidence and allows for h appy mistakes, es, which we r ar ely exper ience when er asing all the time.

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Look F or Feedback As with all artistic pr ojects, be certain to h ave others (artist (a s and non-artists) cr itique tiq on yo u ur work.. S Sometimes tim we ar e blinded by o ur own achievements to the ach e point p wher e we no longer ong explor e any exp ny further avenues for impr mpr ovement. Another tr ick I like to use is to look at my work in a mirr or. Yo u may be surpr rpr ised at the err ors th at pop o ut when seeing yo ur work in r everse.

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Episode 2

Br o ad Edge Dr awing Tr y dr awing with the br o ad edge only nly for a while. Do not gi give up after the first few dr awings. ing They y may not initially y be pr p etty. ty. This technique que limits yo ur ability y t to dr aw detail and forces the h and and eye to see the big sh apes ape and curves of the form. This will help elp tr ain yo ur eye to see the over alll gestur g e and how it r elates to the form as a whole.

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To Measur e Or Not To Measur e Yo u may y h ave been pr e evi o usly y tr ained how to measur e the body y w with yo ur thumb or a stick. Tr y to deny this urge to measur asu e and instead, stead, go with intuiti on, or wh at feels r ig ight. The idea dea with this s p pr ocess is to develop op an intuitive measur ing g tool for human pr oporti ons. It may not be 100% too 100 accur ate, but as I stated earlier, wh at’s mor e important, accur acy imp y or o design? gn? However, if yo u h av ave no understanding nderstanding nde of pr oporti ons at all, I wo uld highly enco ur r age yo y u to study dy up so th at yo u c an build yo ur dr awings off of knowledge and not just guesswork.

ME DI UM E DGE

BROAD E DGE

F I N E TI P E DGE

BROAD E DGE ME DI UM E DGE F I N E TI P E DGE

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The Whole F orm One of the h ar dest things to conquer is how to observe the human body. y. F or most of us, we see it as a bunch of individu al members making up a whole. The e pr p oblem with th at a is when we “look” at the arm, or the thigh, igh or the sho ulder as indiividu al members, rs, it will distr act us fr om seeing ng their r elati onship hip together get as a whole body. y. The ability y to t see the human form as a whole, instead of a collecti on of differ ent members, massively impr oves yo ur ability to effectively design.

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In or der to tr ain the eye ey to see the entir e form as a whole, as opposed to just individu al p arts, it is important imp to identify ify the rhythms hyt of the form. I ask myself mys questi qu ons like: “Wh at is the r elati onship hip between the head and the ankle, wh at abo ut the p alm of the h and and the knee or the rhythm yth thr o ugh the neck, down the spine and along one leg?” Notice the r ed lines on the following dr awings. They indic ate the rhythms between body p arts.

These dr awings ar e 1-2 minute poses.

Episode 3

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How Long Did This Dr awing Take? People ple fr equently equ ly want to know how long ong it took to do these dr awings. ing In my ges gestur e dr awing classes, we typic ally start o ut with 2 - 3 minute poses. po If I feel we r eally need ed to loosen up, we will dr op p a all the way y d down to 10 second po poses.. Most of the dr awing awings in n t these first t co uple ple sessi ons fall in the time limitati on of 1 to 3 minutes. Later on, when we explor xpl e light, ght sh adow, and clothing, we str etch the time to 5 - 8 minutes. Some of the cr eative dr awings gs towar d the end of the book may fall into the 15 minute zone, but th at is the limit. I h ave fo und th at most of wh at needs to be learned in dr awing the human f form h appe appens within the f first t 2 minutes. Th at is when 90% of all the cr itic al decisi ons ar e made. After th at, it is all just icing on th the c ake. So, yes, w we tend to go thr o ugh a lot of dr awing p ads!

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Tr y switching g t to a br ush pe pen fr om time to time. It c an be ver y diffi d icult, but yo u will learn to be ver y efficient with ever y line.

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Step By Step Her e ar e some step-by-step tep-by ep demonstr ati ons. It is h ar d f for me to explai explain exactly xactly how I pr ocedur ally lly dr aw the form. In all honesty, y, it is differ ent ever er y time. Sometimes, I dr aw the sh a adow sh apes ape first. Other times, es, I will start tar with a gr aphic aph sh ape. pe. Commonly nly I will start with the head and occ asi onally, y, I will start with the hips. F or the s ake of demonstr ating hip ng a pr p ocedur e th at c an help the r eader, her e is a pr etty s afe one: Step 1 - Basic rhy rhythms of the form ar e put down first. Step p 2 - Simple ple sh ape apes ar e added in. Step 3 - Some added detail to descr ibe the form Step 4 - Light and Sh adow.

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This is wher e the form r eally ly starts to come alive. Witho ut lig light and sh adow, yo u h ave to descr ibe the depth ept of the form with conto ur lines. Ther e ar e only ly two ty types of sh adow edges dge th at I use in gestur e dr awing, form sh adows and c ast sh adows. F ORM SHADOWS ar e cr eated by the e gr g adu al fading ing away ay of the form fr om the lig light so urce. Bec ause the pla plane of the form is no longer ger in the pr esence of light, form sh adows ar e also c alled cor e sh adows - they y a ar e the darkest p art of a sh adow. These sh adows ar e dr awn soft, with the medi um edge of the tool. C AST SHADOWS ar e cr eated by a p art of the body y c asting ing a sh adow onto another surface. These sh adows ar e dr awn with cr isp, fine, h ar d edges. Not br o ad, dark edges.

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Episode 4

C AST SHADOW

F ORM SHADOW

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C AST SHADOW

F ORM SHADOW

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Dir ect Light It helps ps to h ave a ver r y dir ect singular ngu light ght so urce when defining ng the sh adows. If yo u ar e using mor e ambient lighting, igh g, or north light lig fr om a large ge window,, y yo u will not get cr isp c ast sh adow lines on the form.

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F ORM SHADOW

C AST SHADOW

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Episode 5

In qui quick ges gestur e dr awings, ing it is r eally lly imporpor tant to simplify imp y clothing c g a and costumes as much as pos possible. Bec ause ther e is not eno o ug ugh time in the po poses to c aptur ptu e ever r y single gle fold, yo u h ave to qui quickly y a assess the fold p attern gener ated by the tensi on poi point. After yo u’ve determined th at, then n y yo u make up the fold design. gn. Th at’s r ight, igh yo u make them up p a and design ign them the way y y yo u think looks best. If yo u tr y t to r eplic epl ate the folds exactly, y, yo u will over noodle yo u ur dr awing ing and waste alll yo y ur time on one p ant a leg, leg AN D, it will not look as good as if yo u made it up.

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Notice the simplific imp ati on of the folds. None of these folds existed like this. After finding the tensi on point, I made the r est up.

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Illustr ate An Idea These dr a awings gs ar e a bit mor e illustr at ative. Once yo u ge get the Conté under contr ol, understand light and sh adow, and able to design folds in the fabr ic,, then fab t yo u c an start to cr eate some fun illustr ati ons.

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Exagger gge ating ing the form is the e first step tep in adding g a little cr eativity y to yo y ur dr awings. ngs It c an be ver y difficult d to do this at first, t, especially esp y if i yo u ar e one of those artists whose dr awings ing r ely mor e on observati on th an imaginati on. To br eak it down even further, think of exagger ati on in these thr ee ways: 1. 2. 3.

Exagger ating the Gestur e Exagger gge ating ing the Pr r oporti op on Exagger ating the Style

EXAGGERATI NG THE GE ST U RE is when yo u pu push the po pose further th an the model is actu ally y demonstr ating. Yo u c an widen the stance, arch the back further th an yo u see, and str etch the arms str aight igh instead of th at slight ght bend. Yo ur knowledge dge of human anatomy my becomes incr easingly ingly important her e, bec ause it’s not easy imp y pushing p ing the form if yo u do not know wh at’s going on under the skin.

Episode 6

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EXAGGERATI NG THE PROPORTION is when yo u cr eatively y decide d to manipulate ipu the standar d pr opor oporti ons of the body. dy. Yo u c an make the h ands and feet larger, elongate the neck, or shorten the torso. Tr y adding ing 200 0 p po unds of fat to yo ur model, or adding g 2 200 po u unds of muscle. Taking ing away y 50 p po unds ds of body mass c a an r eally r eveal yo ur knowledge of the skeletal str uctur e.

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Designing The Exagger ated Pr oportions One thing ing th at yo u MU ST consider when exaggerxagger xag ating ng the pr opo oporti on is th at t y yo u do so with h g good design pr inciples. iples. Don’t n’t just make humungo us toes s and leave lea the r est of the form pr oporti onally ly corr ect. Th at’s ju just weir d looking g and a people ple will think th at t yo y u made a mistake. If yo u ur decisi on-making ng is gui guided by go good design, ign, iit will look intr iguing and intenti onal r ather th an a bad mistake.

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Pushing The F igur e I like to think of gestur ge e dr awing a g as a cr eative jo u urney. y. In the beginning, gin g, cor e p pr inciples cip of dr a awing, g, such as pr oport oporti ons, s, volume, comp composi omp ositi on, n, design, g gestur e,, body rhythms, ythms, and ligh light and sh adow, must be learned. After r yo y u feel th at yo u h ave a ba basic understanding of the these pr iinciples, ple yo u c an start the cr eative jo ur u ney into exagger gge ati on. The first step p iin dr awing fr om yo u ur cr r eativ eative mind ind is the th a ability ity to not fully r ely on wh at yo u see in fr ont of yo u.

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The better r y yo u understand the cor e pr p inciples cip of dr awing, g, the better r yo y u will be able to know how to bend those e pr p inciples cip to work with h y yo ur pe personal cr eative ideas. It is ver r y h ar d to o g gr asp p this concept at times. I h ave fo und th at pushing the bo undar ies of cr eativity, y, way beyond yon wh at yo u may y t think is acceptable, pta , g gives s y yo u a better understanding g o of bo undar ies. If f y yo u never pus push away y fr f om r eality, ty, yo u will never understand wher e th at bo undar y is.

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Pushing The F igur e (cont.) Sometimes, I like to ask my myself, ”Wh at per percentage of the dr awing is based on the model in fr ont of me versus wh at is based on my own cr eative imaginati on?” Start with a 90/10 r ati o, and as shown towar ds the end d of t this book, ok, yo u c an go as far as a 5/95 r ati o. This is when the fun r eally starts.

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F un Ho use Mirr or Ther e is also a fun exercise th at I like to c all the “fun ho use mirr or”. This is when yo u pr etend et th at t yo y u ar e looking ng thr o ug ugh a distorted mirr or of a warped ped form. This exercise c an n g gr eatly tly fuell yo y ur cr eative side over the ac ademic side of dr awing the figur e.

CORRE C T PROPORTION S OF MOD E L

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SAME POSE. . . JU ST EXAGGERATED PROPORTIONS

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Then ther e is this r eally y w weir d zone of dr awing ng the figur gur e th at I c all “inspir pir ati onal dr awings”. ing They y h ar dly ly r epr ep esent the figur igu e at all, and ar e mer ely inspir spi ed by the e pose p of the model; l; but after th at, it’s all abo ut letting g y yo ur cr eativity r un wild. While this c an be an incr edibly bly liber ating g way to dr aw, be c ar eful not to tackle this witho ut a r eally lly good go dr awing g fo f undati on - or r y yo ur dr awings will turn o ut overly unr eadable.

Episode 7

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EXAGGERATI NG THE STYLE is a r eally y impo important p ar art of h aving ng fun with yo u ur dr awing. ing This is the thir d way y I look at exagger gge ati on, and it is done when yo u stylistic don tyl ic ally take ta some liberty. rty To get started with this kind of exercise, it helps lps to h ave some r efer ence on h and. F or example, mpl tr y h aving some dr a awings gs of cla classic Warner arn Br others c artoon ch ar acters like Bugs gs Bunny, ny, Wiley ley Coyote, and Elmer F udd. Then, as yo u dr aw the Coy model, el, tr y to t incorpor rpor ate y yo ur dr awing into the old Warner Br os. style tyl as if they hey wer e a p art of the c arto artoon. rto Yo u c an tr y th this with just ab abo ut any artistic style. yle Yo u don’t always ays need r efer ence either; r; yo u c an exper xpe iment with obscur e and str ange personal styles as well.

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Gr aphic Sh apes Spend some time dr awing the figur e as gr aphic sh apes. pes This is a ver y f fun exercise th at may ay seem overly simple, but c an be quite ch allenging to cr eate good design.

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Well Educ ated Artists Ther e is value in dr awing g fr f om sight ght and ther e is value in dr awing g f fr om o ur minds. When we dr aw fr om o ur minds, we pull pu exper exp iences fr om o ur lives to sh ape wh a at we e dr aw aw. The r esult is a unique que and personal pe r eflecti on of o ur self. Be well-educ ated artists, not t just j ac ademic ally, y, but in life. Get to know people and an their r personalities, p ona , find f o ut their histor r y. Analyze aly the individu al ticks people h ave, or their pe personality ity qu quirks. Cr eating exper per iences with r eall peop people will enh ance yo ur pool of cr eative choices to dr aw fr om.

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Episod isode 8

The Idea I’d ju just finished working g o on stor ybo ar ds and an animatic for a big Hollywood lly studi o pr oducti on and wh at an awesome pr oject; so much fun to work on, so much fun to dr aw. But when it was over I was r eady to do something differ ent. I was on the plane pl coming g home h fr om L A, flying ying back t to Utah, tah, and I was as just d down - just r eally down bec dow ec a ause I felt r eally over worked. ed. I felt like was spending spe ng a lot of time in L.A. and a lot of time away fr om the family. fa y. We sometimes eti ha ave the tendency to let o ur jobs take over o ur lives.

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(cont.) And I felt so over whelmed, I r emember sitting g o on the pla plane and flying ying h home and I’m just listening jus ng to my iPod, and th at song g fr f om the Weepies epi c ame am on, n, the song ng c alled “The World ld Spi pins Madly ly On”. And I jjust r emember connecting to those lyr ics. Abo ut how the world is just madly jus adly spin spinning g and how tho o ught ug s,, certain c ain tho ugh ughts, help lp kind of r oot us in a world th at just spins. jus pin Like tho ught ghts of o ur loved ones, of people th at we miss s a and people peo th at we love. It br ings ngs us back to a solid base so we’r e not spinning in th at world.

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(cont.)) And at the time I jjust started thinking (co ng abo ut how much I missed, ed, not only nly my wife, fe, but also my y k kids, and jus just being g h home. And th at’s when I tho ught I’ve e got to do something ething eth with th th a at, I’ve e g got to make a short film th a at r elates to th at emoti on. And I want to do it with dance bec ause dan aus my y kids wer e so into dance and I myself yse love watching g contempor c emp ar r y dance, and my wife used to be a dancer, and so all these ideas as starting coming ing to me. It t a all r eally c a ame on th at plane r ide when I was exper iencing th at ch arge. rge And th at’s when, as an artist, yo u h ave to do something with it.

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Pr e-Pr oducti on I knew I co uld not animate a beautiful contempor ar y dance, bec ause I’m not a dance chor eogr apher, and th at’s wher e Kor i c ame in. Kor i Wakamatsu is a university y dance d instr uctor and chor eogr gr apher. aphe She arr anged ged dancers to tr yo y ut for this pr oject I was putting together. I spent a f few weeks with Kor i in the dance anc dep ep a artment filming potential r efer ence mater ial for the animati on. I didn’t want to influence the initial chor eogg r aphy at all. Kor i wo uld do the chor ogr aph aphy, but she wo uld also chor eogr gr aph with the dancers. So the dancers wo uld sometimes s ay y “hey want abo ut this or wh at abo ut th at,” so they wer e also cr eatively invested as well. As I watched the r ehears als and watched the dances I tr ied to envisi on in my mind ever ything th at I wanted to do as far as animati on go goes and all these ideas kept ept coming g to t me as they hey wer e dancing. ing And in fact a lot of the modifi ific ati ons th at we made wer e kind of “on the fly” bec ause of the ideas th at wer e coming.

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I N SPIRATION Cr eative inspir ati on is r eally h ar d to define and even h ar der to put a finger on the tr iggers th at sp awn cr eative tho ught. I h ave fo und th at “looking” for personal cr eative inspir ati on doesn’t work for me. I c an certainly be inspir ed when I look at other artists work, but personal cr eative inspir ati on comes at unsuspecting moments. It comes when we ar e sensitive to o ur emoti ons, o ur exper iences, o ur existence and other people. Th at sensitivity is ver y inconsistent and comes and goes unexpectedly. It seems we ar e most sensitive when we ar e going thr o ugh some sort of highly emoti onal exper ience. Th at’s when I feel like artistic cr eative inspir ati on is at it’s r ipest. It’s abo ut discover ing a personal connecti on with the fibers of o ur own life, and then using the knowledge and skills th at we’ve acquir ed over the years to cr eate a piece of art th at r eflects th at personal connecti on. Th at ch arge of emoti on will just fade away and die as a p ast emoti on if left unattended to. However, if yo u c an take th at emoti on, wr ite it down, document it, and plan to cr eate a work of art th at defines th at exper ience, then yo u’ve just r eceived and acted upon personal cr eative inspir ati on. And th at is wher e the magic h appens.

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I love tr aditi onal animati on, and I love h and dr awn animati on, ther e’s a life to it. It’s not a mathematic al algor ithm th at computed th at - It h as mistakes to it. I like th at.

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In or der to c aptur e the pr ofessi onal figur ative movement of human form accur ately, I used live dancers as r efer ence. However, just like when I dr aw the figur e with Conte, ther e is a tr emendo us amo unt of exagger ati on and cr eative explor ati on into ever y movement. Some ar e mor e liter al and honor the appr opr iate movement of the dancer, others completely dep art fr om the form and go into th at zone of explor ati on and styli zati on.

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The animati on is ver y silho uette dr iven, ver y much abo ut the figur e. But it’s fr om a distance, which is inter esting, bec ause often times in animati on or film when we want to show an emoti on we’ll go in tight, and go in close on th at expr essi on. But I didn’t want to do any of th at. I didn’t want to move the

c amer a ar o und, or intr oduce a close up and then a distance shot. I didn’t want to use cinematic techniques to tr igger emoti ons. I wanted it to be genuine in its simplistic natur e - two people, dancing, no facial expr essi ons, no dialog, h and dr awn and putting in a lot of symbolism.

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EF X animati on was my first c ar eer p ath into animati on. When I animate EF X elements like water, smoke, or fir e, I feel like a yo ung animator again, str uggling to be the best he c an be. It’s like r evisiting gr eat memor ies of wonderful p ast pr oducti ons.

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Ever y one of the beats in this film h as a personal tr igger for me. Ther e is a r eason and a meaning to it. However, I did not want to spoon feed th at meaning with overt acti ons. I wanted to allow each viewer to find their own personal meanings of, for example, the smokey figur e, the wings, the heav y cor ded arms, the var ying sh adows, etc.

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I knew I h ad a big task in fr ont of me, two and a h alf minutes worth of animati on, and 24 fr ames per second. Th at’s a lot of dr awings. But it’s not like work. When I look at the clock and I see I h ave co uple extr a of ho urs to come work on this, it’s r eally enjoyable.

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The animati on was dr awn in Adobe F lash. Ther e ar e 4,127 fr ames wher e the ch ar acters ar e moving. And ther e ar e quite a few layers; we’r e looking at 20,000+ differ ent dr awings . . . its kind of like animating the old fashi on way, wher e yo u h ad yo ur p apers in between yo ur fingers. So yo u co uld flip yo ur p apers and watch the movement while yo u wer e flipping it. As I flip thr o ugh the fr ames, altho ugh I am working digitally, it feels like the s ame pr ocess.

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began his c ar eer in 1995 as an animator for Warner Br other’s Featur e Animati on. Over the ye years, he h as worked as an animator, EF X animator, Concept Designer, Stor or y ybo ar d Artist and Animatic Artist. He h as worked d f for Sony y P Pictur es, s, Car Cartoon Network, Walt Disney ey Studi os, Marvel Entertainment and Dr eamWorks Pictur es on films such as Sp ace Jam, The Quest F or Camelot, The Ir on Gi Giant, Osmosis Jones, Spider-man pid 2, Spider-man p 3, Wher e The Wild Things ngs Ar e, Ir onman 2 and Cowboys oys & Aliens (2011) (2011). Ryan yan h as s pr p oduced and dir ected 4 short films th at h ave played in over 30 film festivals worldwide. Since 2003, Rya Ryan h as been a faculty lty member of the Animati on pr ogr am at Br igh gh a am Yo ung g U University ity wher e he teaches stor yb ybo ar ding, g, fig figur e dr awing, ng, and animati on. Ry Ryan h as a BF A fr om Br igh gh am a Yo ung g University U ity and an MF A fr om The Ac ademy my of Art University ty in San Fr ancisco. Ryan Rya is marr ied to Tiffany ny Easterbr ook Woodwar d and together they h ave thr ee daughters .

ry yanwoodwar dart.com conteanimated.com

Pr evi o us volumes of Gestur e Dr awing books by Ryan Woodwar d:

Gestur e Dr awings And Sketchbook Fr om Life (2004) A book collecting g Ryan’s Ry gestur ges e dr awings wing organi gani zed fr om ten second gest gestur es to 15 m minute e gestur ge es - in additi on ar e some exagger ative, cr eative, and r efined dr awings; and a small sketchbook secti on.

Gestur ur e Dr aw awings gs Vol.. 2 (2006)

A small collecti on of a var iety of gestur e dr awings assembled fr om Ryan’s gestur e dr awing class in 2006.

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This is a fun styli tyl zed ch ar ic atur e done by my good go fr iend Jar ed Gr eenleaf who’s not only y a p artner in cr ime with me but a gr eat fr iend. Yo u c an check o ut his work at: jsgr eenleaf.com