Gesture Drawing for Animation ix
Introduction (In the Words of Walt Stanchfield)
Have you ever said, “Oh, if I could just draw well”? Ah, yes, you could express yourself
to the nth degree. You could animate or cleanup scenes that would evoke oohs and aahs.
Work wouldn’t be so much like work.
You could get it all down on paper and leave at 5:00 o’clock feeling good.
Sometimes I wish I had a magic wand that I could wave over you and say, “You are now
learned artists—go and draw to your hearts content.” But maybe it’s better that you do it
yourself—become your own self-starter. The learning process should be fun. One thing
that it does is it tears down a lot of false pride. To seek help is a humbling experience, a
very necessary one, in as much as animation should be thought of and practiced as a
group effort. I consider a person who is not ashamed to seek help a wise person.
I got a late start in life. The first five or six years in the business were a “walk through.”
(I started at Mintz’s Cartoon Studio on Sept. 13, 1937.) I was a dilettante, toying with
poetry, painting, singing and socializing. Then 10 years as Lounsbery’s assistant, and 10
years as Johnston’s assistant helped me to “center” myself. Those guys worked hard and
were completely devoted to their jobs. That taught me to work hard (and study hard to
catch up). The next 20 years were not easy but were very satisfying.
Having been brought out of retirement for the fourth time, I have been trying to impart
some of the drawing know how I have gathered in these past years. I have incorporated
the weekly “handout” which I think works better than lectures. They allow me to more
thoroughly express the salient points that come to mind. What’s more, they are
“collectables” that, in the future may be reviewed when the need arises.
These handouts allow me to delve deep into my experiences and observations and come
up with something that may be of help to you. I have concentrated on gesture drawing
because that is one of the foundations of good animation. Necessary to good gesture
drawing are acting, caricature, anatomy, body language, perspective, etc., so from time to
time these topics are isolated and discussed.
At times I even play the “guru” and deliver a sermon of a positive thinking nature.
I have struggled to avoid referring to myself as a "teacher" and have used words like
"suggestion" rather than "correction" when offering another version of a pose. I'm really
here just to share my experience and it's your prerogative to treat it however you see fit.
As for the suggestions, they are only to encourage you to see in new ways, to help you
break any stultifying habits of "penny-pinching" seeing. I feel that the classes I conduct
and the handouts, if nothing else, create a surge of group energy that you might tap for
your own personal betterment.
I once told the class, "These things I present are not esoteric concepts." But I was
wrong—they are. They are things that only the chosen few absorb. It is the "chosen" few