Artist Q&A
DYNAMIC ANGLES
Tilt the pose to an
off-balance angle to
give it a sense of
motion and visual
punch. Rotating the
camera and horizon
line also adds to the
dynamism of the pose
and the composition.Answer
Michelle replies
Dynamic poses are fun for the
artist to create, exciting for the
viewer, and can strengthen the
story and composition of your
illustration. Such poses are best achieved
with loose gestural thumbnails or sketches,
in which you can visualise the pose, angle
and composition of the character.
During the initial sketch stage, a figure
can become f lat or stiff, taking away from
the dynamic energy and storytelling that
an artist wants to create. Some common
pitfalls that can cause this include lack
of depth, inaccurate perspective or
foreshortening, a non-dynamic camera
angle, and a pose that’s not based on the
beginning or the ending of an action –
these always have the most impact.
You can turn a non-dynamic pose
into a dynamic one by creating gestural
thumbnails. Work on top of a chosen
Question
How can I turn a flat figure pose into
a dynamic one?
Jenine Woodhouse, Australia
gestural thumbnail with cylinders, blocks,
volumes and perspective, before f leshing
out the final pose with lighting, rendering,
detail and special effects.Wonder Woman – or any heroic character – practically
demands to be placed in a dynamic pose.Step-by-step:
Bring your
characters to life
1
I create gestural pose thumbnails,
thinking about what I want the figure
to be doing, what angle I want them to be
viewed from, and how I want them in the
scene. I build upon the chosen sketch with
volumes and forms, fleshing it out with
cylinders and blocks to achieve the three-
dimensional angles of the body parts.2
On a new layer, I build on top of
the volumetric pose drawing with
more detail, fleshing out the hand poses,
clothing, dynamic hair groups and shapes,
and dynamic accessories such as Wonder
Woman’s Lasso of Truth. I then clean up
the detail drawing and prepare it for the
painting phase and final adjustments.3
I block in the basic lighting with an
airbrush, thinking about the volumes
and how I want the lighting to affect them.
Once I’m happy with this stage, I go in on
top with more rendering and detail. When
the rendering is finished, I add finishing
effects such as motion blur to add extra
motion and dynamism to the illustration.Artist’s secret