Free dynamic figure drawing pdf

They show us the volume and how force sweeps down towards the hand. See the shadow on the leg, and how I adhered it to the body instead of creating a flat shape. I started this drawing with the sweep of the back. Notice the straight, hard moments of the shoulder, hand, and head. We see the direction of forces and how the forms are affected by them.

Look at the ribcage sweeping to the belly. You can see rhythm in the deltoid and the outer edge of the tricep. Look at the knees and the roundness of the ribcage for more structure. This is still in four-point perspective. See how I handled the hair to show solidity. Notice the repetition of grouping of two or three marks in strategic areas showing the direction in space of form. For example the oblique, the top of the leg and the forearms. The first visual rule is overlap.

See how it is that shape 1 is closest to us and 11 is furthest away. This is all done with overlap. Overlap occurs when one line stops as it touches another.

This makes it appear as though it has gone behind it. The circles in the bottom left corner also give us this depth effect.

As the drawing at the bottom right shows you, if you have a tangent or two lines meeting, neither takes dominance in space and we have flatness. Decide what is closest to you and see the journey back into space.

All three of the circles feel as though they are on the same plane. Overlap helps evoke foreshortening. With all of these concepts in mind, as you draw the model, ask yourself what is closest to you and what is furthest away. Enjoy the journey between the two moments.

The centreline of her back, her spine, helps set up all of the structures. The buttock and hip area shows plenty of overlaps describing depth. Look at where two lines meet and which one moves over the other. The form it describes is in front. When we crest the hip we quickly shoot back into space over the upper body. See the hip in front of the stomach, with the ribcage beyond it. Look at the lats, and the shoulder blade resting on the ribcage, and the head over the horizon.

Overlap helps divide the back into left and right halves. The rest of the model falls behind it. See the straight places that show us the angle of the head, the hardness of the shoulder and hand, and the strength of the lower back. A quick visual aside: I was taught that a heavier edge on an object with less interior information makes an object punch forward. Now when I draw this comes to me automatically. I see closer objects as having thicker edges to them.

In the end, you are trying to show your thoughts as clearly as possible, so this is another approach to consider. His right arm has extreme foreshortening at 2. We move from the deltoid to the bicep and elbow into the page. Then we make our way out from the forearm to the hand with the face lying just beyond it. The left arm at 3. Besides all of the overlapping moments, notice the surface lines on the deltoid that sweep us down into the rhythm of the arm.

The larger an object is, the closer it will appear. Therefore, the smaller an object the further away. This rule will help explode the boundaries of the paper, thus fooling the eye into seeing depth. We are so conditioned to this rule in our everyday lives that something as simple as the size of a circle fools us into seeing space. The more you force space into your drawings, the more conditioned you will become to seeing it in everyday life. To provoke the sight of space, try drawing the model from a closer position than you usually do and exaggerate size.

Make things ridiculously small or large. This will help you see the power of size. Imagine what would happen if while driving, all of the cars on the freeway around you were the same size, no matter how close or far from you they were.

Size tells our brain about the drama of depth. Look at how effective both examples of this are. We are forced into believing we see depth when it is only the size of the object that has changed. Try drawing as close to the model as possible. This shorter distance will help you experience more depth.

The further the model is from you, the flatter they will seem. This should begin to help you see direction into and out of the page. In this drawing we have a tube. Its distance from top to bottom is shortened in the drawing on the right. This immediately tells our brain that it is coming forward.

The combination of foreshortening along with size develops dramatic depth. When students ask me about foreshortening, the first suggestion I have for them is draw what you actually see.

Your mind wants to flatten out what you see. Accept the truth. When a leg for instance is foreshortened, look at the distance between the joints. Notice how close they are to each other. This is so important because if two of the same objects are different sizes, we immediately make a visual connection that helps us realize a change in perspective or distance between them. You can also see some moments of surface line here. Imagine her standing and how much longer they would become.

The reference of his other hand helps the spatial illusion. See how I structured his arm and hand in the depth it occupies. Now overlap helps describe form in a foreshortened space along with the shortened distances between the joints of the arm. Look at the distance in the feet. The back foot is tiny in comparison to the hands. Again, also notice the overlapping to force space. Look at how close her big toe is to her hip! All of the topics covered in this chapter are to assist you in describing forceful structure.

You need to be capable of describing forms moving with rhythm in a four-dimensional space. In animation, surface lines are not evident in the finished product.

Moving shapes are important. These shapes are created via a true understanding of force and form, or in simpler terms, curve to straight. That is the topic of Chapter 3, forceful shape.

Learn four-point perspective. See the model in space. Practice blind force. Sculpt the model. Think about actually touching them with the tip of the china marker. Draw your head many times to see two- and three-point perspective. Pay attention to anatomical centers. Learn anatomy. Walk around the model to become aware of roundness. Sit close to the model to see depth.

Get in front of your page while drawing, not behind it. Pay attention to size and overlap. This made me curious about their expressiveness and efficiency.

It is exciting to see the world in shapes. Everything has shape. In Chapter 1, the filter we peered through was force and its different aspects. Shape exists because of the first two filters.

Shape gives us immediate width. Shapes can wrap around form to describe a particular mass. In animation, shapes change from drawing to drawing, which also helps present form.

The biggest, most encompassing shape is the silhouette. The silhouette is the filled-in shape created by the outline of the entire object. It is a vital element to animated drawing. A silhouette helps us see the whole body clearly, without any interruption.

You can see if the story of a pose is clear in its silhouette. It allows you to see how all parts relate to each other on a flat plane. Here it is the size of shapes that gives us depth.

As I will show you, shape can give you force. A good silhouette can even imply form by its overlapping shapes. Silhouettes can tell you about character, emotion, and much more. There are two different kinds of shape: forceful and un-forceful, lively or lifeless. Notice the positive and negative space. There is so much said with just the silhouette of the figure.

We can still see how force pushes this flat shape from left to right down the page. That is why it is the third chapter! You must clear to see these flat shapes from structure.

You can tell he saw the connection between the upper and lower body. The orb the model is holding gets lost within the shape of the body. The left arm is a clear read. See the rhythms and how applied force pushes into the right shoulder and then shoots into the left.

None of these shapes evoke force or form. They have no forceful direction because of their equalization and symmetry in shape. They are without force. The shapes underneath are full of life and fluidity.

I filled the bottom shape with contour lines to show you how the shape still is filled with structure. Shape is great for seeing angles and thickness, and gaining a new awareness that you can have an opinion about. One shows us hard, pointy aggressiveness while the other is soft and placid.

Nature has already done a tremendous job of designing its world. To break both of these shapes down to their simplest components, they are both created by the relationship between a straight and a cur ved line.

The cur ve represents an upward force while the straight tells of the hard surface on the bottom of both forms. This straight to cur ve is the beginning of forceful shape. Look for this shape in the figure drawings that follow.

Working at Disney made me realize that there is such a thing as appealing and unappealing shapes. I prefer forceful and un-forceful shapes. To discuss un-forceful shapes, look at the old cartoons where the characters had rubber-hose arms and legs. The shapes of their appendages did not lend themselves to asymmetrical, forceful energy. Their parallel quality created dysfunctional shapes. Everything from characters to backgrounds was primarily created from cur ves.

The animation was excellent, but the designs were weak. Believe me, this is no critique of the stories either. Although the film was a financial failure, it changed the design principles of the studio. The dramatic modification took the studio to a contemporary style and thought process that has evolved to the efficient and graphically strong appearance that it has today.

It changed the face of American traditional animation. It has so much importance yet it is easily passed over in the book. It briefly talks about the theory that the studio stands on! I freelanced for Walt Disney Consumer Products before going into feature film and the guys there were great at appeal. That is where I learned what a great example of appealing design Mickey Mouse is.

I heard that tests were done wherein babies were shown an image of Mickey, and they would smile and laugh. That is appealing design! The artists kept telling me to design more. I did my damnedest to make the characters look right and I thought I was doing a good job.

I look back at those drawings today and just want to thank them for giving me any work at all. They were dreadful. They lacked the spark and clarity of design they should have had. Once you fully understand the theory, you realize just how applicable to reality it is.

Look at the Batman cartoon of today. Bruce Timm has done a great job of designing a character from a different medium, in this case comics, and converting Batman into an appealing cartoon design. This design principle has made it possible for the animation to be of higher quality than it usually is. Intelligent simplicity has lead to a greater product. Samurai Jack is also fantastic because of the amount of forceful shape applied to the design theory of the cartoon.

Characters and backgrounds are affected. Here you can enjoy it in a graphic, raw representation created by Genndy Tartakovsky. Appealing design, or what I like to call forceful shape, helps us see force and form in the construct of a shape. We do this by being aware of straight to cur ve. We touched upon this in Chapter 1 as it related to force. Now the relationship of the different forceful lines creates forceful shapes. Straight is hard structure and cur ved is flexible force. The trap in trying to draw with shape in mind that I find students fall into is forgetting about force and form.

The theory of forceful shape is not something you have to assert upon the figure. Learn to see it. Effective shape comes from force and form. Notice their similarity to the rules of force from Chapter 1. Force has no way of moving obliquely through the body. As we will discuss further, human anatomy is not built in a parallel manner. I call this mirroring. Here the forces crash after doing their function.

This is similar to number 2 in that the forces mirror each other. Here they collide at the peak of their function. Do draw oblique forces. This is what creates rhythm. Think of the skiing analogy I made earlier. Do see straight to cur ve simplicity in the figure. Here we have created a shape that has function or force to it. It is appealing because of its contrast in ideas, and it also has direction. There are no mirroring moments.

The cur ve is the energy that moves through the shape, and the straight helps direct its path and give it structure. Do see different kinds of shapes. Here we have straight to cur ve again, but represented in a different shape.

Do see the massive variety in which these rules can be applied. Here is a cur ve against a straight and a cur ve to give us a play of forces. In this example, I want you to see how shape can explain form. Where the white shape overlaps the black shape, it describes its surface. The spatial concepts come in handy now. Size, overlap, and tangent theories help shape gain structure. You should still help yourself feel form to see more convincing, clear shapes.

An artist that I utilize to show students the graphic yet functional effect of straight to cur ve is Mike Mignola. His brilliant designs show forceful figures in a simple and efficient way.

Check him out! Here is a forceful drawing with strong cur ves that move us through the model. Look at what happens to energy when the figure is drawn with only straight lines. There is no forceful power. The drawing seems to be more about angles. If a figure is drawn out of only straight lines it has no energy, and if it is all cur ves it lacks strength and structure.

The balance of the two within every shape gives us drawings with a sense of believability through contrasting forces. Look at the level of abstraction found here. Overlap becomes essential to fooling us into seeing depth on the page.

Going back to the hierarchical way of thinking, shape can be used on a large scale, first to address the greater issues and then the smaller ones. Again, we will start in a generic, graphic manner to pursue the issue of straight to cur ve design and then move onto specifics. Big straights to cur ves first. Notice the absence of mirroring and how there is a straight for every cur ve of force. See the silhouette. Shape 1 and shape 4 both represent the torso of the body. In this comparison, they are opposite in function.

Shapes 2 and 3 are basically the same idea for both legs. See how shape 5 seamlessly moves us into shape 6. Shape one is our first in the pyramid, explaining the majority of the body.

For depth, notice the size difference in her feet. Shape along with some overlap gives immediate form. The leg has straight to cur ve and the knee overlapping the shin give the leg structure.

See the straight of the chest relative to the cur ve of the back. The straight to cur ves move us from the deltoid to the triceps to the forearm and into the hand. Also notice the size difference in the feet for depth. See the thumbnail for clarification. This originates with the straight to cur ve of the upper body. We can see the plane of perspective she is standing on because of the location of her feet relative to one another. Look at the straight to cur ve shape of her left hand and the size difference between both hands.

This implies depth. Her facial profile gives us the direction that her head is pointing in. I also reveal the design of her right leg. See how it is structure that creates the shapes. Look at the back relative to the front of the ribcage.

The right arm and leg are other good examples of this theory. The fluid hair shape is fun, too. See also the size effect of the foot here. He weakly leans to the left side of the page. Through seeing silhouette and the concept of straight to cur ve, I strengthened the push of the back into the belly with the straights in the upper back and hips.

This helps the clarity of the rest of the pose as seen in the thumbnail. I like the strong cur ve of the left arm pulling on the belt.

The left side is the straight and the right is the cur ve. This drawing is full of stronger against weaker cur ves like the one in her right foot. This same shape appears again in legs, arms, and the fold of skin that wraps around her ribcage. Also, there is a subtle straight that runs from one knee, through her hips, across to the other knee with the bottom of her butt be the cur ve.

Remember to see the big straight to cur ve ideas of the body to create a more forceful silhouette. You can see the straight line I thought about going down the right side of the body.

That helps us push the cur ve out on the left. I want to discuss some powerful theories about the anatomy of the body that pertain to force and rhythm as seen by forceful shape. They are surprisingly cheap and come in a set of HD images like the ones below there are different models in each package :. Line Of Action is a free online website with a variety of pose references photography. Also, their figure drawing tools are made to resemble a live session — you get to pick:.

Also, the timer resembles the timer models usually have — once it beeps your figure changes a position and you can do NOTHING about it! Just need to turn to a new blank page and start on a different pose because the timer will beep again soon! And once you practiced that enough, you can go ahead and get the free sample pack from Proko I talked about above, and then work on it for a long period of time to really hone in into details, shading and forms!

Once you hover over one of the time options, it will give you an overview of what to expect during the class session. This tool and the two below have the options to pause and go to the next image. QuickPoses is a website similar to the one above, but it definitely has more options you can choose from. In the Library , you can select an image to draw from without any time limit.

Note: All images are copyrighted and are only allowed to be used for practice or inspiration. Do not use these images in your work unless it is so heavily modified that it is not recognizable anymore. Get Your QP Certificate — you can register on the site and it will track how much time you spend figure drawing. The certificate has a couple of stages: Beginner 10 hours , Improver 30 hours , Intermidiate 70 hours , Advanced hours , Expert hours and Master hours. This website also has the ability to pause during your session, however, unlike Line Of Action and Sketch Daily the image disappears from the screen!

Which I find to be an awesome restriction to have. Sketch Daily is a very similar website to the two above. So you pretty much decide for how long one image will be on the screen before it moves to the next. CroquisCafe is a YouTube Channel — an art model drawing resource in a tradition of a life drawing class.

Comparing to the previous one they have way less video sessions with pose references at the time of writing only However, these ones are featuring clothed models , and so there are no age restrictions.

CharacterDesigns is a growing collection of high-quality free images available for artists to use. You just need to link back to my site and mention that it was my work that you used.

I do NOT have the rights to the likeness of the model. I have the rights to just the image itself as it is on my site. Save it to your computer for personal use! Again, all I ask is a link back to the site if you are posting it elsewhere on the internet. You guys have been really great. They have many categories to choose from for your next inspired drawing or to practice figure drawing:.

All of these have many sub-categories as well! The downside of this site is that there is no timer, as it is not an app but a gallery of photographs. But what you get out of it — is a gallery of so many different events, people, costumes and even locations that you can practice from or use as an inspiration for your next piece.

SenshiStock Sketch is a web-based app, that is similar to the ones we covered in the beginning. Images provided in there primarily come from the SenshiStock DeviantArt Page and are donated by the community. In this book, Burne Hogarth, one of the founders of the Sch. Figure Drawing. With Figure Drawing, aspiring graphite and charcoal artists will learn everything they need to know about drawing the human figure and how to master gestures, p.

Dynamic Anatomy. These two wedges, however, are very different in structure. In the two examples which follow, the wedge forms of the hand and the foot have been supplemented by companion sketches to show the unique character of each. The shape-mass of the foot is a broad-based wedge, showing a remarkably high, triangulate elevation at the rear, from whence a steep diagonal descends to the front.

The front sole divides into two sections: 1 a platform support next to the arch; and 2 the five close-set toes in front. The toes differ from the platform support in their function; they act as traction and projection devices—gripping and pushing. The foot wedge is a compound form that consists of three main parts: 1 the thick heel block in back; 2 the larger ellipsoid sole base in front; and 3 the interconnecting span of the arch which bridges and holds together the heel and the sole.

The toes reveal a high, upthrust rise of the large toe tip, contrasting sharply with the downthrust, closed pressure of the small toes see arrows.

Note the relationship not unlike that in the great foot differences between the inner and the outer foot arch proper. This slope ends in the quick upcurve of the tip of the large toe. This rise, seen from the immediate front, shows the toe tip thrusting up from the base plane of the foot left. Note the rod forms relate to the narrow shank structure the inside arrow control line which holds inner of each digit; the ball forms represent the knuckle forms in check above.

Because they are quite small and close-set, the toes are frequently difficult to draw without distortion when done in this way. In the step arrangement, the toes emerge from the sweeping descent of the arch and close down in a three-stage formation which resembles a short flight of steps. It is the skeletal structure which is plainly responsible for the hard, bony surface throughout the upper palm and fingers above. They tend to The hand, like the foot, gives us a set of override the plane of the palm easily in active rod and ball constructions in the alternating contrapositions which are not possible in the bone shanks and knuckle capsules of the passive, closed toe system of the foot.

The visible rod and ball forms of the hand develop a rising and falling rhythm which gives a ZDYHOLNH motion to the entire finger system, all the way down to the fingertips. The finger units, too, are thickly protected with a fleshy mantle. After studying the general rod and ball I finger forms, we must call attention to the thumb.

The thumb is the key finger of the hand, and with its striking wedge shape, is built like a thick spade, or spatula. The initial form of the thumb is a narrow length of shank bone topped with a squarish head A.

The thumb narrows, then spreads wide with a heavy pad B. It tapers to the tip C , and swings from its base upward in a strong, curved rise D.

The thumb, unlike the other fingers, does QRW lie on a horizontal plane equal to the palm wedge. It assumes a contrary, tipped-over position which is obliquely opposed to the mutual, flat arrangement of the other four fingers. Also, the thumb tends to drop quite far below the level of the palm right.

Let us start by restating the simplified description of the compound torso shape- masses in two views: an erect torso, back view left ; and a seal torso front view right. In both sketches, the large chest barrel A and the pelvic wedge B are join together by the mid-axial muscles the waist C , a region of remarkable flexibility. When we work with the torso mass as separate entities, we can draw great variety of movements. The a vantage of putting in the essential body planes is that it permits us to see clear the correct angle of placement and ho to attach the secondary forms.

In the sketches, the masses are structure firmly, then tipped in greater or less degree, and shown in three quart front views. The rudimentary head, arms, and legs are indicated here to 1 the viewer grasp the over-all working of the total figure. He must give this up, firmly. Shape-mass, on the other form, is of primary importance. With this other hand, demands to be understood as premise, let us initiate the new order of form volume structure in three dimensions; and assert the opening rule.

Like a sculptor working with modeling immediately throw the secondary forms—the clay, the artist can structure and compose by legs, arms, and head—out of their previous building-up. He can alter the actions and positions and into a new relationship. He can revise and modify his Here are four structured torsos, showing the torso mass is instrumental.

The merest ease with which figure notation may be movement of the rib barrel produces an indicated in a sequence of movements from left immediate displacement of arms and head, to right, front to back.

It must be obvious now while a pelvic shift compels total deployment why the double of all the body forms. In this two-stage drawing, the primary torso masses are on the left, the completed figure on the right. Of crucial interest here is the insertion of the midline in both figures. Notice how this midline, or center line, gives unity and direction to the independent movements of the separate masses right. In movement, the separate torso masses need not face in the same direction.

Starting with a simple bend only figure on extreme left , this series of torsos shows an 5- line spiral insertion expressing a swivel, or twist, between the contrary views of the body masses: the rib barrel view on one side, the pelvic wedge pivoting to the opposite side below. Legs, arms, and head have been added here to show how the torso, as the primary figure form, governs the positioning of the secondary parts. Our initial assertion has been that the torso is first in importance.

It works against the pull of gravity, expressing weight, pressure, and tension; it needs leg support to sustain it. Without this support, the figure may not be able to project a convincing demonstration of exertion, effort, and dynamism. This fact also calls for a more emphatic use of the pelvic wedge than has previously been discussed. When the torso forms have been sketched in, the pelvic wedge must be clarified as to structure and direction, with the midline division well laid in so that the legs can be given their relevant attachment.

In this figure, the upper rib cage barrel has been lightly indicated. The lower torso the pelvic wedge on the other hand, has been explicitly defined, with the legs set into each side of it.

This series of figures shows the wedge block of the pelvis initiating the attachment of the legs. Notice how the cylindrical thigh form of the upper leg enters the pelvic mass well below its box-like front comer. When we attach the legs to the sides of the the base of the belly.