I have an opinion on Strong Characters Lifting Heavy Things to share.
Pictures tell stories. If the story you want to tell is “this character is strong, they can lift heavy things” then how do you do that? I often see people have characters sort of loft heavy weapons around like they’re feathers.
But I feel like all that conveys to me is that the material they are lifting is something light, especially when you want to draw characters that look slim, but maybe they have some supernatural strength that isn’t due to their musculature, like pippy longstocking.
I remember a post going around complaining about how wonder woman (and also various other female super hero type characters) don’t really struggle when they’re performing feats of strength or combat prowess. No unattractive grunting or straining, or clenching of teeth. I don’t know how far that gets taken, but I do know a lot of media tries to make lady heroes kind of effortlessly powerful. That’s fine, but it doesn’t necessarily SELL the idea of strength as much as a struggle.
It might sound kind of circular, but listen. Heavy things are Heavy. They have inertia. They are hard to stop. And characters, since they are usually humanoid sized, only have the MASS of humans. In order to treat a mass like a feather, you need a MUCH greater mass than that smaller mass. A human does not have much mass. If a superman like character wants to stop a train, he doesn’t just stand there and take it, he gets PUSHED back. His heals and feet dig a mile long trench in the dirt or whatever he’s standing on because the train still has much more MASS than he does.
So in order to make your character look strong, give their props the right treatment and make them Heavy. handles, even metal ones, especially wooden ones, should FLEX. They must require LEVERAGE to use. They should be hard as fuck to stop once they get going.
That isn’t to say you have to go through and scientifically calculate how masses should affect each other, or even be consistent with it. For example, in one punch man, Saitama punches things to pieces, when really what should happen is he punches and gets thrown back himself with equal force. But it doesn’t matter, because for whatever reason we’re so used to that kind of thing we believe it easily.
This one was a popular demand. Many people people asked me about anatomy tips.
I know how hard this topic is and how confusing at the beginning. It’s just so much to learn! Exactly! I remember how lost I was in the beginning and trying out things that actually didn’t help me understand anatomy better.
Actually what I want to convey here is that you can learn to draw human without learning all the muscles and bones. My personal opinion, based on experience is actually that you can do that as something extra. Learning muscles and bones won’t help you draw. True story.
If you grasps few essential concepts first you will be better off, plus you will be actually drawing characters. You will be more confident in your lines and gain knowledge that will be enough to create artwork you want.
Look at body as any other object you want to draw. Simplifying and remembering the simplest ideas is way to go.
Remember: these few ideas I am presenting are just a tip of an iceberg. As you will progress you will expand your knowledge beyond few essential points.
This is my personal approach so I can’t say it will work for you. I know that it works for me
sergeantbabyface asked: Hi! I was wondering, when you sketch out different facial expressions, the shape of the face changes around the face, so I was wondering if you draw the face first and then the jaw/shape, or do you go in already knowing the shape the face will take?
sorry it took me so long to answer this - sometimes with questions that I want to draw something to I put it off and then procrastinate
It really depends on how far you want to push it. Sometimes I start with an expression but want to push it further /OR/ I still need practice with a characters face so I start with something that im comfortable with before I adjust it . I do this for more subtle stuff
Sometimes its not about knowing what shape the face will take - but the FEEL of the amount of squash/stretch and how pushed you want the expression to be. It depends on the reality you’re going for - and by reality i mean..lets say ..bugs bunny vs a disney princess. Both have their own limits to their amount of squash/stretch/expression in order to ground them into the own reality and rules of the world they are set in. You may not want your characters to be super extreme , or you may want to push them very far with gestures which will help you tap into what shape the faces will take :)
Research Sketches by Andreas Deja for Lilo & Stitch
“Before animation began I had the chance to join the directors and a few other artists to visit Hawaii on a research trip. We tried to connect with a local school, but didn’t know if I would be allowed to join class and draw the kids. Our Hawaiian tour guide knocked at the school’s door and after a teacher appeared he explained that our purpose was to do some research for a new Disney animated feature set on Hawaii. By then a couple more adults and a few kids had appeared by the half open door to see what was going on. We knew that the locals are very proud and protective of their old language and culture. And they all gave us a skeptical look. Then a little girl asked quietly: “Did you work on the Little Mermaid?” I nodded…. and all of a sudden all the other kids yelled “YEEEESSSS!” That broke the ice and we were in. Below are a few pages from my sketchbook from that day. I was trying to capture as much child like behavior as possible, while observing them in class or watching them play. They were a lot of fun and so enthusiastic.”
