Hi ppl…m just a bit curious abt this topic…
i’ve been hearin from a lot of people here that life drawing is very important for animation students…
why is that??
why can’t one pick up a good anatomy reference book and practise a lot n try 2 make every gesture which one could think of?
would like 2 get my doubt clear…
thnx
RD
Hi rdsarna,
Saw your question and would like to comment,
To draw characters well from your imagination you need a library of reference in your memory.
Studying anatomy only gives you a piece of that library. It’s an excellent discipline to learning how a muscle is shaped and where it attaches. But, characters in animation are often exaggerated with squash and stretch and understanding how far a limb can stretch, how much can it rotate and where that line of correct rotation exists is only theory unless you see it in action on a real person. To know how to animate believably, you should know what the boundaries are.
Someone can explain to you how weight mass is distributed on a human form, but seeing with your own eyes how real forms rest on an axis on top of each other such as a torso over hips over a leg holding a person’s or even an animal’s weight says more than a thousand words could.
Or drawing a body bending over using only theory may come out wooden if you haven’t observed how the torso bends and how much the belly collapses into itself without seeing it on a model first. All this helps to sell your character, especially if it ranges in the more realistic representation. Sometimes what you don’t do well shows more clearly than what you do correctly. Multiplied if it’s on a big screen.
The traditional animators of old definitely knew this and their work was fluid and beautiful even if the characters leaned towards the cartoony. 3D characters are built differently, but the principles of shapes in structure and fluidity in movement are the same.
Hope some of this makes sense.
yup…alot of this makes sense…n m a lot clear abt this topic…but just 1 more query…
i wanna do both 2d and 3d animation…but…
since i am not in a position to study from live model…what alternative is there?
A suggestion would be to try playing around with Poser ( a 3d people software). Check the net, I think you can get an older version for free legally, some 3d magazines sometimes provide it as a freebie. At the least test out their demo.
Unless you are a purist, I think Poser is quite good to see how the model moves and articulates itself. Just the skeleton model it self would help alot.
Finally, take your sketchbook, go to starbucks, buy a cup of coffee and draw the people there, free models aplenty… as they are always moving, you will soon develop a sense of drawing quick gestures.
Ditto.
Also photos of action poses-sports magazines-can be useful to supplement your studies.
thnx…aztec n vincent…
that helps alot…now m gonna pick up my sketchbook n start sketching…
one of the best thing you can do, is to just go out and sketch people. try to see if you can catch the emotion from the people you are watching. maybe a guy is checking a girl out, a little boy gets scared of pitchens or what ever, if you can catch the emotions of people you see on the street. It will be alot easier to put that emotion into the character you¨re animating.
thnx iceblaster…there aren’t many ppl replyin 2 this thread but the few who do really help alot…thnx again…
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