Fashion Sketches Figure Drawing Sketches Running

Understanding the figure

To depict a pose correctly, you don't demand to always carry an anatomy book with y'all. It's not as hard as it seems: observation and practice are your best tools. If at any point you get curious about trying something new (which I hope yous do), it never hurts to have a look at that anatomy book.
Even if your drawing style is far from realistic, the aspects that brand a pose interesting and credible remain the same: forcefulness, rhythm, action lines, construction and perspective.

Observation:

Your closest reference is yourself. If you await at yourself in forepart of a mirror and start moving, you will notice that your body works as a unmarried chemical element.

When y'all heighten an arm, the arm is not the just role of your torso that moves, dissimilar how the removable extremities of dolls work. The changes in your trunk don't resemble figure A, right? For example, your shoulder also lifts, and many other parts of your trunk adapt to the motility as in figure B.

This is what observation means: paying attention to the details and characteristics of the torso.

Strength and rhythm

Your characters motion thanks to their inner strength. They can walk, jump, dance… any comes to listen! But unless they are floating in infinite, it is non the only force that acts on them, as gravity makes their feet stay on land.

When two or more than forces interact with each other, a rhythm is set, which provides residual and sense to the movement.

If your character is pushed to the left, his body will fall in that direction (A), unless he puts up resistance to stand (B).

If the grapheme wants to pull something that refuses to move, his body will lean in the opposite management. Apparently, once the cat gives in to the force, your character will fall, as the true cat was what kept him standing.

Strength and rhythm provide a lot of visual information you lot can piece of work with: the weight of your character (ane), the balance of his pose (two) or the lack of it (3).

Activeness lines

The action line is the imaginary guide that indicates your character'southward motion. Information technology focuses on actions and helps to unify the whole figure.

Beneath y'all tin can see a couple of examples where forcefulness, rhythm and activity lines collaborate together.

Case 1:

The graphic symbol (ane) has a relaxed stance, resting on her right arm. In the effigy (2), nosotros can run across her action line, which covers her whole body up to the human foot. The shape is slightly similar to an Southward.

We tin can come across it is a relaxed pose because her weight rests on a single bespeak (three) and all she needs is to keep the residuum with her left human foot, which remains taut while the correct ane is resting.

Case 2:

The next pose is more than dynamic, so there are more things going on in this image.

This time you tin can see three action lines, but the most of import are (1) and (two), the ones that really tell the story. The first 1 covers the whole figure from head to toe, and the second one goes in the opposite management, keeping the balance and forming an X. The third one just provides greater stability to the pose.

In this drawing we can see that there is a force that pushes the character in the opposite management to her gaze. Elements such as the hair, the clothes and the dust on the floor suggest that the strength comes from the right side, and equally these elements are light, they are affected by the speed with which this force acts.

However, this daughter wants to overcome this force with her own forcefulness. She has no intention of losing the fight.

Instance 3:

This fourth dimension, our character is a baseball player. He's spinning his trunk to get enough momentum and counter the ball'due south strength to striking it far away. Don't yous go the impression that it volition be a dwelling house run even though you haven't seen how the scene ends yet? Information technology'due south the magic of anticipation. If yous know how to properly handle the strength, rhythm, and activity lines correctly, you will be able to guide the spectator along the path y'all have set. This is very important for any comic artist.

Information technology'due south of import that you don't overpopulate your drawing with also many action lines, because it could confuse the graphic symbol'south intention, make the force get in different directions, and have the accent away from the most important action.

Structure

The trunk is quite circuitous and it is difficult to draw right proportions and motility away from the 2D plane. I recommend yous shape a base of operations that helps you discern the volume of each element. To do this, nosotros volition use geometric figures such every bit spheres, cubes and cylinders to represent the construction of the torso.

These figures can be freely rotated, stretched, flexed, and twisted co-ordinate to the pose.

These figures represent the direction of the dissimilar elements of the torso. Y'all must pay special attention to the limits of the joints, since at a certain betoken you have to plough or twist the trunk to keep moving in that management, changing drastically the pose.

With exercise, this process gets simpler. The better you lot understand how the figure works, the fewer guides you will demand.

Perspective

Perspective turns the second plane into a 3D one and adds more depth and visual richness to the composition than simply looking at information technology from a frontal airplane.

The eye level or horizon line represents the actual height of the viewer's eyes (one), and the vanishing points are the lines projected from a point on the horizon (two). The following image has a perspective with two vanishing points with which nosotros can capeesh two faces of the figure.

The body is more than intricate, just the principle is the same. For example, this effigy'southward anxiety and hands are smaller due to the perspective, and even suggest usa how we should projection the vanishing indicate lines.

Activity poses always expect more than dramatic when the perspective is exaggerated. Even when the poses are not entirely realistic, the figures seem credible and the scenes look more interesting.

I recommend you to practise and read about perspective as much every bit possible, as it is non something yous can master in a day. Analyze as many references as yous can. Somewhen, you'll end up seeing vanishing points everywhere.

Essential lines

Y'all can speed upwards and improve your ascertainment skills by drawing poses using photos or actual people as a reference and setting a short time limit for it. The aim is to capture the essential information of the figure and, of course, to draw every bit many poses equally possible.

This do will also help you to increment your conviction when cartoon. Don't be afraid to draw the first line, and even if you brand a error, avert erasing the lines. Try to focus and describe clean, clear lines.

Beneath yous can encounter some examples of poses that I have drawn within 45 to lx seconds:

At commencement, focus on drawing the whole body with smoothen lines. And so, if you have more fourth dimension, detail and build the shape better.

Don't be afraid to draw what you don't see or what is hidden, as information technology will requite yous a better thought of the figure'south structure.