And it’s tempting to think that the only way to do it is through a rigorous art school training, drawing daily for years. Take nothing away from that, do that too if you want.
But there is a way to draw dynamic poses starting today!
And that is by using a simple frame. It’s basically a stickman with a bit more body.
I’ve seen it called a brickman. I’ve also seen it called an action figure. It looks like this, notice all the different components.
Here’s a short video of me talking through brickman’s attributes.
I did in fact go to art school and spend the required hours tediously drawing from life.
But brick-man unlocked new levels for me. Because I was able to practice so many different poses in a short time.
Just like the simple blocks we talked about yesterday, you can always build up from simple shapes. Poses is all about manipulating those simple shapes. And brick man lets you get a lot of practice done quickly.
Here’s the best part, you can pass it off as finished art!
In fact the first book I was ever commissioned to illustrate was because of my brickman practice. If you struggle drawing dynamic poses, spend some time practicing with brickman.
Go on pinterest and search for people doing things like, baking or dancing, or sports.
Then spend 2-3 hours drawing nothing but brickman in those poses. (Or 10 minutes a day for a month)
Some things to consider.
Try to create long lines of actions, combining the arms, legs and torso into a single fluid line.
Try different head directions and expressions to strengthen the emotions of the pose
Add some subtle details via a gesture of the hands or an accessory
If you want a guided workshop with some of these techniques I did a workshop with
PS: So far I’ve shared some of the most useful tips that helped me go from a love of drawing to illustrating 15 books in 4 years. Tomorrow I’ll give you a peek into how I uses some of these techniques to create final illustrations, see you there!
