Cleanliness is NOT the best policy

When we were in Kindergarten, teacher asked to write cleanly. Same continued in our primary school, when we got bonus marks for cleanliness. Writing clean, putting each mark cleanly on paper got into our veins.

All was fine, until the subject in question came to be drawing. We started approaching the subject of drawing in similar fashion. Whenever we try, we try to draw as neat as possible. We assume that to be the criteria of our drawing skills. We get impressed by Artists who draw neatly in front of us.

Incidentally that psychology happens to be the biggest hindrance in learning to draw as well as to create most expressive drawings.

Kimon Nicolaides, worlds most renowned art teacher, explored what is the most natural way to draw. Or what is the way the most successful artists have been drawing. Then he devised world popular drawing exercises for students to get hold of this way.

Gestural Study by Michaelangelo

The exploration of drawing process is real amazing and eye opening. Any drawing involves multiple components that should be there in it. The prime among these is gesture. This defines the meaning, the expression, the soul, the communication of the drawing. It is this component upon which whole of the finished drawing can be built.

And incidentally this component can be defined only in a very quick and rough manner. Why is it so is an altogether different subject handled by Betty very well in her theories of Right brain.

To create the most expressive drawing you are capable of, put all your faculties onto getting the gesture/expression/meaning down on paper and that is possible only in a quick, rough right brain approach. Onto that, define the contours and form. Later finish and clean it.

Following are the example drawings of the exercises by Nicolaides devised for responding to gestures/expression/meaning.

All Walt Stanchfield (renowned Teacher at Disney Studios) lectures focus developing the capability of capturing gestures and in unison with other masters he always advised to work rough and loose at this stage. Can be read very clearly in chapter discussing "Drawing style for animation" and most of other chapters of "Drawn to Life". He has specifically indicated how stiff drawings become if we try to make them clean at the very outset.

Stage 1

Stage 2

Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in their historic book - Illusion of Life mentions following about Walt Disney - 

"Walt was quick to recognize that there was more vitality and imagination and strength in scenes animated in a rough fashion and he asked all animators to work more loosely" - Illusion of life.

Another quote - 

"In some cases, the drawings were so rough it was difficult to find any cartoon figure inside the tangles swirl of lines.." - Illusion of life.

The all popular quick sketching rough approach of classical animation discovered and advocated by Shamus Culhane fully rely on working in this gestural fluid creative mode.

6 seconds rough by Shamus (from his wonderful book "Script to Screen") -

Storyboard roughs by Shamus - 

Nicolades gives excellent exercises for students to make them capable of working in this free flowing gestural mode which is so expressive. I strongly recommend doing complete Nicolaides Art Course for getting full hold on this magical mode of drawing.

DESIGN - Designer or Dancing Salesman?

Bell rings. You open the door. There is a salesman standing. Very good looking, in a good dress. He makes a very impressive pose in front of you, then goes to another pose, then does lot of dance moves, very athletic, agile, macho and impressive moves and body language.

Will you buy the product/s he has come to sell?

Doesn't make sense? This is what we designers do many a times - in advertisement design, in poster design, in a tvc, in a multimedia presentation and so on. We try to show what all colors and layout skills we know, we try to show how arty and beautiful we can create, what all multimedia effects we have mastered.

Its no less than a salesman dancing.

The salesman could have moved you to buy the product if the salesman could have communicated rightly coined message in a most efficient and effective way. if Dress up, looks, most relevant body language and gesticulation, voice modulation all were being used to make the intended communication more effective.

Only that design, color, art, multimedia effect deserves existence in the commercial world that adds up to the intended communication and makes the message so effective not possible otherwise.

ANIMATION - Draw from emotions

In the article "Uncommon Gestures", Walt Stanchfield throws an amazing light.

He talks of limited animation and the stock gestures. How a stock set of gestures is enough for limited animation and even for the animations like road runner. Then he unveils that for full animation, this stock is not at all enough and you have to draw from your emotions.

This sounded much like the revolutionary statements by Stanislavsky in the Acting world. His method of acting was very similarly different from the conventional systems like delsarte system. Delsarte system listed sets of gestures for different emotions. Actor would assume a particular pose from his "stock" to express the needed emotion. It appeared as if actor is telling how he would look if he had felt that emotion.

System of Stanislavsky tells to go through that emotion in reality while acting, the appropriate gesticulations would automatically be assumed.

As Shamus Kulhaine indicates about the wonderful exercises he has taught, that after doing that, animator is not thinking about the pose itself but thinks about the cause (emotion) of the pose and the pose is automatically on the paper.

Actor experiences the emotion and the suitable gesture, and expression is assumed automatically.

By taking right approach to animation, a moment comes when you experience that emotion and the drawing/gesture expressing that emotions is on the paper.

ANIMATION - Invisible Pleasure

I remember around 12 years back when I was passionate about learning audio recording on pc. I had fortune of getting tips from regions most well read professional audio recordist - Mr. Cheema.

One tip I can never forget from him - "whatever audio effects you put in your recording, remember, they should be felt not heard!!". Amazing. Now I realize how this tip is applicable to so many art forms and yes you guessed it right I am coming to my favourite art form - Animation.

There are so many effects evolved within animation art form which brings about lot of beauty and delight to the show. The same thing applies. They should be felt, but should never be seen.

Lets say you are using overlap, follow through, settle or extreme stretch. It should be designed such that it brings about full pleasure in the movement, but they should not be "seen". It should not be appearing as if animator is saying "here is overlap, here is follow through, here is stretch and squash" or worst still animator is saying "look at my follow through, look at my overlap..."

These should be felt not seen.

Mentor's Delight!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn6vrGl84Gk

Mangat, one of my favorite animation student, called up from Mumbai today evening, stating he got immediately selected for job at MAYA DIGITAL STUDIOS after the hands on test. He was given a test of Body Mechanics to be done in 8 hours. Animation HOD was impressed at his work!!

He made first call to me!! It nearly brought tears to my eyes. That flashed all 5 months when I taught him 3D character animation from scratch.

Don't have words to tell what a mentor feels at such moments!!