Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators
Force Dynamic Life Drawing for
Animators
Michael D. Mattesi
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AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • OXFORD
NEW YORK • PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO
SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO
Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier
Preface
This book will enlighten you on how to see and explore the power of force through drawing. You will
draw with thought and opinions that will strengthen your originality and decisiveness. This will also
develop your awareness of the stories our bodies communicate, through the actions we perform.
The theory of force allows you to see in more abstract terms. Because of this, you can apply it to an
unlimited amount of applications. It can be used for drawing, painting, sculpting, animation,
architecture, graphic design, and all other disciplines of art. It can create a new awareness in your
day-to-day life. How are forces operating when you stand, walk, or drive? This book is here for you
to understand how to communicate force through drawing, and that is very exciting!
"Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible.”
Paul Klee
Students who open themselves up to learning are the ones that move ahead quickly. Take what you
understand and agree with and use it to further yourself. Some students will actually argue their
habits or limitations.
"Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they’re yours.”
Richard Bach
These students move nowhere in their minds for sometimes a month, a semester, or even a whole
year. Don’t waste your time with bad habits! Seek to understand! If you keep doing what you know
now, you will keep getting the same results.
Before starting on the journey ahead, I want to give you some of my key concepts.
Key Concepts
HUMANITY
In my last few years of educating, I have had the epiphany of focusing on humanity in drawing.
I have taught and lectured in many schools around the world and the one element I see missing
is humanity. Almost all art instruction with a figure model is used to learn how to draw instead of
experiencing the richness of humanity. Once you have a bigger purpose to drawing than learning
how to draw, you will learn faster. You will be more eager to understand, force, perspective,
anatomy, and everything else that goes into becoming a great draftsman!
Where does all of this start? It starts with you and your humanity. Become hyper sensitive and
present, live in the moment. When you drive, feel the speed of the car, the weight of your body in the
seat, inertia and the tension in the steering wheel. What happens to your body’s weight when you go
into a curve at fifty miles an hour? Don’t talk on the phone, eat or listen to the radio while driving.
Drive your car. When you eat or drink, feel the food in your mouth, taste it, experience your body
swallowing the food and the sensations that occur while it travels down your throat into your
stomach.
When drawing the model, stay present and in utter awe! When he or she takes the stand, it is as if
they are a god or goddess presented to us. They represent you and the rest of humanity. Become
amazed and stay open to this fantastic occurrence. Your experience with the model is your drawing.
Therefore, the more rich, incredible, and dramatic your experience, the more rich, incredible, and
dramatic your drawing. You are the vehicle to this journey so if you are closed and fearful, so is your
work. Use the idea of having the richest and most stimulating experience drawing the model’s
humanity while using your very own as the purpose to drawing. All of the technique throughout the
rest of this book is to serve that higher purpose.
What is there to be in awe of? Look at the amount of effort the model gives you. A living,
breathing person is in front of you. Notice their lungs fill with oxygen and how they present you
with stress, tension and torque. Look at their muscles and bones perform these great moments. This
particular person chooses particular poses. Be sensitive to that. Are the poses poetic, athletic,
romantic, relaxed, masculine or feminine? What stories does your humanity find in their poses?
You must be sensitive to drama! There is the drama of the pose, the drama of force, the drama of
structure, the drama of depth, the drama of shape, and the drama of texture. As you can see,
there is plenty of drama and therefore plenty to be in awe of. All of the above is what I refer to as
humanity.
TRUTH
This illustration shows that the increase of opinion based on knowledge brings us closer to the truth
and further from dishonesty. You need to gain knowledge to comprehend what to have an opinion
about and to obtain the capacity to actualize the opinions you possess upon the page. In this way,
your opinion will bring you closer to the model’s reality. Every line should have an opinion.
Two ways of clarifying your opinions are through exaggeration and analogy. Making analogies helps
you form opinions. “His leg is like a column of strength; the forces are like a roller coaster.” I will
constantly use analogies throughout this book to make myself clearer to you. If you have something
to say, learn how to express it as best you can. Students tell me they are afraid to exaggerate
because it is not real. You have a much greater opportunity to capture reality through what you
conceive as an exaggeration of ideas than you do working on a dead representation of life via
copying. Copying leads to lying.
Push whatever it is the model gives you. Go after its essence. If a pose is about torque, then draw
and experience torque. If it is about relaxation, then make it clearly about relaxation. State clearly
what you have to say. I love loud drawings, not whispers.
“The work of art is the exaggeration of the idea.”
Andre’ Gide
Glen Keane is one of today’s leading artists when it comes to exaggerating the clarity of a moment.
He is extraordinary at giving drawings heart. If something is powerful, you feel its power; if sad, you
feel its sadness. His drawings are always loud and opinionated. If you don’t know who he is, go see
his performances of the main characters in films like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast,
Aladdin, Pocahontas, Tarzan, and recently Treasure Planet, to name a few.
ASSUMPTION
Lightheartedly, one of my first comments to my students is that they are all a bunch of liars. Initially
students draw what they think they see and not reality. Not to confuse this with opinion, they create
things in their minds that do not exist in the model or the pose the model is taking. Assuming is like
guessing. Use this book to help you gain a new awareness of reality. If I create a “force full” drawing,
it is because I am aware of the model’s forces. You must learn to see by stripping yourself of
assumption. I tell students constantly that all of the answers are right in front of them. Open yourself
up to the splendor of the life in front of you. There is no reason to lie.
PASSION
You must be passionate and driven to learn and to be great. Love it, hate it, have an emotional
experience. Always push yourself to new levels and enjoy the trip. No one strives for mediocrity. Give
the drawing everything you’ve got in the limited amount of time you have with the model. This is the
fundamental force behind a student’s progression. How can you or an instructor critique your work if
it is not your full effort? The critique is then based on only a percent of your ability. You have to
believe that you can obtain the goals you are after. In terms of myself, everything I have achieved has
been because I knew clearly what I wanted, I intensely wanted it, and some part of me knew I could
get it.
FEAR
You are probably wondering how fear would have anything to do with drawing, but it has everything
to do with it. Fear kills passion. Fear is the most detrimental attribute a student could have. The
greatest fear is the fear of failing which in this case is creating a “bad” drawing. Remember, if you
are drawing in order to capture the humanity of the model, you will become unconcerned about
your drawing. Be aware of your experience and just stay present with the model. There is no failing,
only results. Be courageous and push yourself to new heights. Besides, what is going to happen if
you make a “bad” decision? You will learn from it. The more results you make, the faster you will
reach your destination. It is not as if we are skydiving. You will always land safely, no matter how
great the risks you take. Consider yourself the ultimate stunt person.
Pay attention to your internal dialogue. It will reveal your fears.
“Were the diver to think on the jaws of the shark he would never lay hands on the precious pearl.”
Sa’di Gulistan
HIERARCHY
The shape of a pyramid gives us an icon of hierarchy or an order of importance. In the beginning,
draw and think with the most important or core idea first; details come last. The pyramid is the
human body and the story its posture implies. The top of this pyramid shows the number one. This
portrays your first representation of the model. This will be the main idea, or force, of what the model
is doing. For instance, standing straight, bending over, seated, etc. Think from large to small. You
always want to go after the main idea first. The bottom of the pyramid would be fingernails or
something equally insignificant. Many films and books suffer from the lack of this theory. They
contain tons of details or special effects, but no heart to the story. What is it about? Don’t get caught
up in the small things until you first know the main idea.
Animation is also a hierarchical process. Here the entire pyramid symbolizes the character’s actions
instead of one drawing’s forces. The animator’s drawings are represented by the pyramid’s peak. He
draws the key moments of a character’s actions. The team of inbetweeners, the rest of the pyramid
that works with him, then further develops these motions. Their drawings go in between the key
drawings the animator created.
THE ARTISTS AND MODELS
If someone other than myself has accomplished a drawing, I will refer to that artist. Their full names
are Mike Roth, Mary Ellen Mahar, Keith Wilson, Barrett Benica, and Mike Dougherty. Thank you for
all of your help. Every one of you has done a great job! I also want to thank the hard working
models that help my students and I recognize the beauty of humanity
SUPPLIES
I have students in my classes draw on 18”X24” smooth newsprint. Students draw with black china
marker or Caran D’Ache. I don’t want drawing class to be about fancy mediums. Everyone uses the
same supplies. These supplies have been chosen over years of instructing. Newsprint is cheap and
the smooth paper with wax is a slick and smooth sensation.
Contents
Chapter 1: Seeing Life – The book will begin with learning force and how it creates rhythm
and balance in the body. The roller coaster of force will be our bridge into mass.
The awareness of force ........................................ 1
The main idea in the figure .................................. 2
Directional force: a beginning, middle, and end ... 2
Applied force ............................................................ 12
The road of rhythm ................................................... 23
The roller coaster of rhythm ..................................... 44
Force pointers ............................................................. 53
Chapter 2: Forceful Form – This will talk about form and how to explain it through force. This chapter will touch upon perspective one, two, three, and four points and different spatial concepts. ......................... 55
Perspective: the drama of angles ................... 55
One, two, and three points .............................. 56
Four-point perspective .................................... 60
Structure .......................................................... 67
Surface lines ................................................... 67
Sculpting force ................................................ 72
Spatial concepts .............................................. 82
Overlap and tangents ...................................... 82
Size and foreshortening ................................... 88
Forceful form exercises .................................... 95
Chapter 3: Forceful Shape – Shape is what will evolve from the combination of force and form and will be the topic of this chapter. Here we will see how entire shapes move with
force and rhythm. ................................... 97
Silhouette .................................................... 98
Forceful shape ............................................ 103
The do’s and dont’s of forceful shape .......... 104
Anatomy as shape ........................................ 119
Reaction, the leap of faith ............................. 127
Forceful shape pointers ................................ 140
Chapter 4: Clothing – This chapter will start with the texture of line. Then I will talk about the clothed figure. We will see force’s affect on clothing. Also we will learn about how to use clothing to assist us in understanding the pose. ... 141
The texture of line revealed .................................. 141
The function and form of fabric ............................. 150
Fun with shapes .................................................... 164
Forceful texture pointers ........................................ 168
Chapter 5: On Location, Reportage – This chapter is about drawing on location. We go out into the world and “people watch.” Let’s enjoy the wide variety of characters and real situations that occur every day around us. ..... 169
Tell stories with life ............................................ 169
Inner thoughts, outer reaction ............................... 170
Staging, single person ........................................ 173
Multiple moments ................................................. 176
Relationships ........................................................ 182
Crowds .................................................................. 188
Reportage pointers ............................................... 192
Chapter 6: Animals – This chapter is about drawing animals. We start with comparing their anatomies to ours in order to liberate ourselves from anatomical problems. This will aid us in understanding their stories. We talk about the different types of animal anatomy that exist and finding character within our observations. ....................................... 193
Comparative anatomy ................................. 193
Going to the zoo ............................................. 202
Simplistic seals .................................................. 202
Plantigrade ........................................................ 205
Digigrade .......................................................... 207
Unguligrade ....................................................... 209
Primates ............................................................. 214
Birds ................................................................... 219
Animal pointers ................................................... 222
Closing ................................................................. 223
Recommended Reading ........................................ 223
Glossary ........................................................... 224
Index .......................................................................225
So, what is it that creates life? Force! Force, or energy with purpose, is what we want to recognize in
the world around us. I am going to lead you on a force full journey that will change the way you
perceive the world you live in. This new perception will clear your mind of the fog of assumption. You
will live in a new truth. This in turn will make you appreciate life to a new degree.
Drawing is the profound vehicle for our journey. Through it you will also learn about yourself. Always
remember what you put down on the page is a direct reflection of your thoughts and feelings.
There is so much to appreciate and enjoy, so let’s get started.
THE AWARENESS OF FORCE
Drawing the body’s forces is the least talked about subject in figure drawing classes today, and is yet
the most important. The majority of books and instructors teach about copying what you see and not
understanding it. I was extremely fortunate to have Jim McMullan as an instructor and close friend at
the School of Visual Arts. He taught me to be aware of life in the figure.
The human figure is always full of force – no matter how still it may seem. We are built to move and
therefore even when a model is standing straight, there are forces to comprehend and address. We
are always under the influence of gravity, which is an all-encompassing force to recognize. When
drawing, we need to think about the beauty of why and how the model works, not worry what angle
to hold a pencil at in order to shade appropriately.
“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.”
Henry Ford
You want to draw what you know and empathize with. Draw with the mind’s eye, not only your vision.
If you find you are having a hard time figuring out what is happening in a pose, then assume the
pose yourself. This will definitely help your awareness of force. We are all people. If a model takes a
pose that radiates joy and you copy that pose physically yourself (all the way down to the facial
expression), you will begin to feel what the model is feeling and know physically what the model is
doing. When you see someone who is sad, how is it that you know that person feels that way? As a
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fellow human being, you know that you take on the same physiology when you feel sad. You
experience empathy through humanity.
Never forget that mind and body are one!
The main idea in the figure
Let’s discuss the pyramid of ideas that represent the model’s pose. Remember we want to deal with
the top of the pyramid, the largest idea, first. You will be creating some general statements about the
figure. They will be the first step on your road to understanding force. With experience you will
become more specific.
An exercise I do in class is to have the model pose for five minutes. For the first minute, I have the
students write what their goals are going to be in drawing the model. I have them list the goals in a
hierarchal manner. Then, for the last four minutes, they draw the model and achieve the goals they
have written.
Directional force: a beginning, middle, and end
Using the comparison of a writer to an artist, to express our ideas we must understand our drawn
language via its own vocabulary. The more vast our vocabulary, the clearer, more intelligent, and
expressive our thoughts. There are no great writers without the knowledge to write.
Our language throughout this book is drawing and our understanding of line is our control of that
language. The strength of line is immeasurable. To harness its power, though, one must understand
how to see force. Draw the verbs of the figure. This is where we want to direct our concentration.
Draw what the body is doing, not just the body. While having an internal dialog, think “the stretching
arm or thrusting hip,” not “the arm is here and it’s this thick and look at the shadow on it.” Verbs
come first and then the noun it is affecting. I will have students bring in a thesaurus to increase their
vocabulary and thus their experience of the model.
As important as line is, remember that the drawings are not about line. They are about ideas. The
line is your idea. Don’t do a drawing for the sake of beautiful lines. Create a drawing that expresses
your experience.
Here is the type of line that most describes force in the body.
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One line per energy or idea
1. Here is our curved line with force and direction. The one line addresses one idea. The line starts
somewhere, does something, and goes somewhere. This is achieved with a confident stroking of
the paper with the pencil. The arrow example shows you the direction of the energy or its path.
This is directional force.
2. This is our first student habit. It is sketchy and created by backward and forward motion. No
direction. The line, or more importantly, its idea, does not start somewhere, have a purpose, and
go somewhere. There is no clear idea.
3. This is the infamous hairy line. Uncertainty takes us from one place to another through thousands
of minuscule thoughts instead of drawing one line per idea. Doing this never gives you the
opportunity to move onto bigger issues or feel force and direction in your hand and mind.
Forewarning: Don’t think that I am talking about being uptight with the line. You don’t have to get it
right the first time. Let your hand sweep over the paper’s surface in the directions the model is
moving until you have absorbed the pose’s idea. Then start making your marks by slowly applying
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