6
TENSION AND RELAXATION
Any form will generally have a combination of tension
and relaxation. It’s one of the things that brings life into the
form. Keep observing the switch between the two states.
Student artists often ask me why their drawings look stiff.
One of the most glaring issues I see is that people
overlook which areas of their character’s body are tense
and which ones are relaxed. They draw hands, legs, the
torso and so on well, but everything is almost rigid. If the
entire body is tensed then the artwork will look stiff, too.7
ACTING
Acting isn’t just about the face.
It’s also body language. At any given
point, the human form is involved in
‘acting out’ or communicating
emotion. If you think it’s enough to
observe just the facial expressions,
try acting in front of a mirror. Let’s
try anger. Do you feel your neck
edging forward, or some neck
muscles stretching? Some tension
in your flexor group of muscles in
the lower arm? Is your whole body
moving forward? Now you see it,
don’t you? This is gesture drawing.5
NATURE OF LIGHT
To understand light, ask yourself: is the light warm,
cool or neutral? Is it direct or is there ambient light? How
intense is the ambient light compared to the main light
source? Is there a secondary light source? What’s the nature
of these sources: direct, rim or diffused? And note how
intense the light from one source is with respect to the other.
You’ll need a rich visual library
to trigger ideas, so be on the lookout
for the stranger things in life
Workshops