Week 7: Improving as an artist

A lot of focus on anatomy is what this current week of 3D computer graphics is all about. Anatomy is still highly applicable to 3D graphics just like for 2D graphics, or maybe even more. In 3D we use our anatomic knowledge for when creating believable human/animal- like models and most importantly, for animation. When creating your organic model you should be mindful of what the anatomy will convey to the viewer as far as muscles , proportions and bone structures go and of how exactly the movement of its anatomy will behave. I will speak a bit about where I’m currently at regarding my anatomy knowledge, what I need to improve and how I intend to go about doing so.

During this week’s class we student got divided into groups in order to comment and give feedback on each other’s 2D drawings regarding anatomy that were brought to class that same day. Below are my 2D drawings I got a chance to get feedback on.

Some quick model sketches

Some drawings done during last year’s 2D course

The feedback I got on my drawings were that a lot of focus has been on making sure the torso is well drawn of the characters, leaving the arms and the legs looking fairly under-done. This is especially prominent in my quick sketches drawing where if you look at the torsos of the models and compare that to the legs and the arms. The legs and the arms tend to look off in its proportion, position and angle. I have to say that this is something that I’m well aware of since I usually struggle with drawing those parts and most of the time I don’t even have a plan on how to draw them. I do also tend to purposely omit feet and hands, or at least simplify them, because I’m not that well aware of the anatomy of them. This is kind of a big problem because the arms, hands, legs and feet are actually the parts that tell the most story in a gesture. Walt Stanchfield wrote in his book “Drawn to Life” about this subject;

Pantomime plays an important part in animation, especially in scenes that contain no dialogue. Even those scenes with dialogue are greatly enhanced and, of even more importance, caricatured by pantomime. If the animator were to study the mime, he would find that the hands and feet are one of the most important parts of the body in the representation of an action, or of a character, a mood, or a gesture.

As you can see in the picture above taken from the book Drawn to Life most of the gesture’s information lays within the positioning and angling of the arms, hands, legs and feet. All of which stated I have problems with. In order for me to become a better artist these are the things that I need to work on. If I were to do a 6 month plan on how to improve myself as an artist I would without a doubt dedicate 2 months to first get to know the basics of gesture drawing, with focus on the arms and legs.

Attending croquis classes either by signing up to some course or doing it online by yourself are great ways for practicing positioning, angling, movement and gesturing of the body. By first getting the gesture down right during the quick sketches and later going into detail of the anatomy during the longer session counts for great practice. Doing gesture drawing and reading books or watching videos about full body anatomy is a wonderful combination as I allows for good understanding of the foundation of bodies and movement.

For another 2 months a focus should be laid on continuously drawing arms, hands, legs, feet from different angles and in different poses. A further study in movement in animation via gnomon workshop, youtube or digital tutors would act as a good complementary training.

The last 2 months should be focused on putting it all together. I would now by this time know a fair amount about proportions and gesture as well as anatomy of the body. A good exercise would be to draw characters with proportion and anatomy from memory. Keeping in mind what all of this conveys to the viewer and how the characters will read. Maybe later even sculpt some characters either physically or digitally using a 3D software. A focus on character animation and movement would be perfect to tie everything learned within these 6 months together.