Comic Artist - Volume 3 2016

Expert advice | Your questions answered

Question

My reference-based drawings look stiff and boring. What’s the solution?

Paul Limpar, Sweden

Step-by-step: Start small and loose

strive for is half the battle. For this example

I want to really emphasise energy and

motion, so I’m drawing the singer, dancer,

actress, military spy and Legion of Honour

recipient Josephine Baker.

The first sketch I’ve made – the left-hand

one of the two drawings below left – is a

direct copy of the reference photo. Though

I’m still making a lot of design choices in

regards to line weight and what I leave out

(that’s just sort of drawing in general),

shape-wise I’ve made no attempt to stray

from the source image. With this as a

starting point, I’ll show you how I push

the pose to convey an idea. My goal is to

use gesture, structure and technique to tell

a bit of story with the drawing.

Answer

Tony replies

Well, the short answer is to not

actually copy your reference,

but use it as a guide. I know this

can be daunting when you’re

just starting out, but the key to creating a

dynamic pose from a model or photo is

being comfortable pushing, stretching and

moving bits around to make the drawing

say what you want.

Part of this is just something that will

come with time as you build up figure

drawing mileage, but knowing what to

1

Decide how cartoony you

want to get, what aspect

of the model you want to

communicate (personality trait,

physical feature, particular

motion and so on), then try to

tell that story with the pose. In

my case, there is an excitement

to Josephine Baker’s live

performances (or videos of

them, at least) that I don’t

see in most posed photos.

Conveying that will be my goal.

2

Technique and varying

line weight go a long way,

but the foundation of a vibrant

figure drawing is a descriptive

gesture. Stay loose, experiment

and have a clear centre line

before adding in the limbs. Use

fast, simple strokes to try out

different ways of bending and

stretching the body. Don’t fuss

with any single gesture, try out

options until you find a pose

that works for your theme.

3

Partly because it’s better

for a tutorial and mostly

because it’s my favourite, I’m

going with the pose that strays

furthest from the source

material. I’ve used a lot of fluid,

curved lines to get that bubbly

mood, so it’s important to now

sketch in anatomy and make

sure everything is still working

proportionally. When you bend

and twist the body, it’s vital to

double-check your structure.

4

As with the gesture and

structure, you can push

the character of the drawing by

using thematically appropriate

line work. An angry bouncer,

say, might be drawn with short,

straight, hard strokes. A drunk

man stooped over a bar could

be drawn with wavy, slightly

disconnected lines. For this

piece I’m focusing on smooth,

jazzy curves that reinforce the

happy mood I’m going for.

The finished

sketch has some

value added in

to separate the

figure from the

background. Even

your brushwork

becomes part of

the design.

SHOOT MORE REFERENCE

If a gesture drawing really captures the mood

you’re going for but strays too much from the

original reference, just shoot or find some

more. You don’t need to redraw the gesture,

just use the new reference to fill in any spots

where you don’t feel comfortable improvising.

Hopefully the second drawing has a bit more gusto

in it than the first, which copies the source directly.

Artist’s secret

VIDEO
AVAILABLE