Many times in class or in sketch books I see drawings that seem to be off balance or unstable. I started thinking about it. remembering that I'm constantly trying to place the feet on my sketch as quickly as possible before my subject moves or before I forget and I have a floating torso drawing.
The foot placement or contact with gravity has all the stability built in. if you find that placement and lock down those feet early, your sketch will usually feel pretty good. I've done drawings before that seem incomplete or off balance because I hadn't given enough thought to the feet{or even drew them in for that matter}. Even if the subject where to be sitting then gravity would pull from their rump and you'd want to feel that flat contact like the little sketch above. When a sketch is off balance, then it looks like the subject is falling.
So with that said..... I played around with some squiggles that showed blue stability and red gravity. It pulls!
No Problem
A little lean but still no problem
Problem! but we he can still catch himself if he tries.
He's probably not going to catch himself.
Too far gone.
6 comments:
These are fun loose drawings!
Awesome stuff Dave.
I learn something new every time I come to your blog.
Thanks for posting this, Dave. I often leave the feet/hands/head for last. Next time I'll try getting them down quickly.
Very wise advice, much appreciated, i was wondering if you had any advice for an aspiring story guy from Cal arts looking to really come strong for the second year, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Nice drawings and good advice on judging balance. Here is a simple way to analyze balance of a character in terms of physics: Imagine drawing the shape of the character's shoes on the floor, marking where the character is standing. Now imagine drawing a line on the floor from toe to toe and a second line from heel to heel. The area under the feet and between those two lines is the "base of support." As long as the character's center of gravity (usually located in the center of the torso, just inside the belly button) is above the base of support the character is in static balance. A character will be out of balance when leaning to far to one side, especially if the base of support is reduced by standing on only one foot. Hope that makes sense.
There are some free tutorials on physics for animators at this site: www.animationphysics.com. The tutorial on balance isn't finished but look for it later this year.
Awesome stuff dave, Apart from the lesson on balance; the expressions you have captured are perfect!
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