Exercises from the Dynamic Book

I would like to develop the previous post Composition Driven by Perspective further.

I noted how we often feel a need to improve drawing skill in orthogonal directions simultaneously. In one sense this is good - as you can more easily improve your weakest areas fastest. However it next to impossible to do so at once. The best way to improve many skill at once is drawing from life particularly figure drawing. However even there the artist is constrained by the limitations of the subject and the environment and more subtly his own comfort zones and limits in perception.

On the other hand I’d like to draw on different sources and outline some exercises that can help improve drawing skills in a more structured way….

I think one place to get a good start is Peter Han’s book “The Dynamic Book”. Dynamic is likely to be a key theme in this post as I see more and more great drawing books by animators that emphasize perception and depiction of mass

Perspective

1. drawing touching boxes
2. drawing connected key frames of a surface - like adding volume/mass to a gesture sketch.

Peter Han’s book

From “The Dynamic Book”

• the five core forms are : [sphere, cube, cone, pyramid, cylinder]

To improve line control

1. Line stacks: draw stacks of parallel horizontal lines. The wider the lines the harder the drill. [short, medium, long] and spacing [tight, open]
2. Line variations: as in 1 but using different shapes [the arc, the wave, the zigzag, etc.] repeat 10 times
3. Line weight: Practice varying the thickness of your lines while maintaining control and consistency. Draw boxes as well as curved and bent lines. - Fixed width, Varying width from thin to thick and thick to thin, Transition from wet to dry brush

The ellipse captures the essential transformation for perspective and foreshortening. But at a more fundamental level, sketching requires good control of the elliptical form, including the ability to draw smooth, consistent curves and accurately represent the orientation of the ellipse in space.

4. Circle and ellipse: Create worksheet (Grids) Practice drawing circles and ellipses of various sizes and orientations. Focus on maintaining smooth, consistent curves and accurate proportions.

5. Eclipses in perspective:

6. Shape manipulation: Using core primitive forms to construct whatever subject you want to sketch. This is in many schools the most essential skill of illustration and design ¹ The exercise is about adding cross contours to give volume to simpler flat organic shapes.

   1. start with a simple center line that may curve or spiral. this is the spine
   2. add a shape for the torso or main body mass around the spine ². start with a circular or oval body and push it out and in to create the more abstract organic form.
   3. now add a few cross contours to suggest the volume and curvature of the form.
   4. now you can add light or shadow.
   5. now draw spines that branch into limbs, hands with tentacle or into a plant like branches and leaves.

7. Geo Forms: Shapes with edges and places that together give us three dimensions, but we can still cross contour. Rounded shapes can also be used to blend with them to emphasize volume. {looking at his work I see big architectural elements of the background or even large organic protagonist vs mineral protagonist space ships}

8. Shape relationship - [sphere, cube, cone, pyramid, cylinder] - [overlap, cut away, interlock]

9. Boxes in space

10. Hatching

¹ and one of the more elusive skills to master.

² I think ameba

From “Lessons from the Masters”

Composition & Perspective

1. the eye level and the horizon line are crucial for establishing perspective and the viewer’s point of view in a composition.

1.Birds eye and worms eye perspectives are powerful tools to inject interest and visual variation into a sequence. - Birds eye perspective gives a broad view from above, far beyond what the protagonist would normally see. Long shadows fewwer details or unfalilier views (stairs from above, trees buildings etc long cast shadows) - Worms eye perspective gives a dramatic view from below, focusing on an unseen entity creeping in on the protagonist. - Thus they can create a sense of suspense and build a feeling of paranoia and tension even before the real action starts in earnest.

Dynamism and Story Telling

Comic artists, storyboard artists, and good illustrators incorporate any number of techniques to suggest motion. This is not a big skill to learn overnight,but many cheat codes you need to pick up and then practice diligently so they become second nature. - the essential skill here is gesture drawing. - the next skill is thumbnail sketches to plan out motion and composition before committing to detailed drawings. - the next skill is how context shifts between panels (panning, zooming, and changing perspectives) to suggest motion while building a narrative flow.

1. What the Story: some pictures are able to tell a story or at least to suggest a scene and narrative through a single composition. Serial story tellers should train themselves to do as much of this as possible in every panel they sketch.

   • look at pictures by Norman Rockwell and list how he does it in terms of composition, storytelling, and guiding the viewer’s eye. ³

2. Gesture drawing: when we use blocks to construct the basic forms and poses they tend to look stiff and architectural. Gesture drawing helps to inject fluidity and life into the figures by capturing the overall movement and flow of the pose rather than focusing on rigid construction. Imagine your characters are made of rope (c.f. rope man from mighty comics ) or rubber (Mr. Fantastic from the fantastic four). These two examples push the idea to the extreme.

   • This is essentially a more advanced Shape manipulation exercise that starts with loose spine adds more spines for the limbs then adds a shape and mass that follows the flow of the spine. We aim can keep the figure long lean and wiry but we can also add mass to make a hulk.

3. What just happened:

   • now come smaller tricks and techniques
     • changing emotions on characters
     • using background to indicate resistance or motion of the wind or rain.
     • wind and dust can move hair and clothing.
     • waves in the water round the feet of the characters
   • study how motion lines, blurs, and dynamic poses are used to convey movement.
   • analyze sequential panels to see how the flow of action is maintained.
   • practice drawing quick gesture sketches to capture the essence of motion.

³ Rockwell collected references and drew many detailed studies with thumbnails and rough sketches before finalizing just a single compositions to reach the stunning storytelling we often see in his finished works.

So we now have good reasons for placing our characters into messy environments where wind, rain, dust, and other elements can interact with them, enhancing the sense of motion and dynamism in our compositions. There is more of these in the more intense scenes, where the environment itself becomes a character and contributes significantly to the storytelling.