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What’s In The Bible? is the latest DVD series from VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer. Volume 12 will be released on DVD August 27. I designed the character of Paul. It’s a really fun, well-made series for kids and grown-ups alike. You can watch sample clips at whatsinthebible.com.
(This excerpt is from the Pose Drawing Sparkbook, a super-charged sketchbook designed to help you put more life and personality into your drawings. Think of it as acting exercises for your sketchbook.Read other snippets here and here.)
Don’t limit your acting to just the face and hands. The head makes up less than ten percent of a person’s body. You’ve got another ninety percent of your character to work with. Don’t let it go to waste! Is your character crying? Don’t just add a tear; hunch the back, droop the shoulders and bend the knees. Is your character feeling joyful? Don’t just smile; arch the back, raise the arms, and get those toes a-dancin’.
As an example, let’s travel back in time to the year 1800. Two southern gentlemen are having an argument. Insults fly and tempers flare until finally one of them shouts in a furious rage, “I challenge you to a duel!” How might you draw that pose?
This first attempt is generic and boring. There’s nothing special about it. Other than the facial expression, it tells us almost nothing about what the character is feeling. To illustrate, look at what happens when I simply change the eyebrows:
Suddenly it turns from an active, angry pose to a passive, worried pose. One subtle difference has completely changed the pose’s meaning. Why? Because the pose was weak and generic to begin with.
Here’s the same emotion with poses that use the entire body. Notice how much more clearly the attitude reads:
Here’s another example of the power of body language. I’ve purposely left the faces blank to show how much you can say with just a pose.
Before you get caught up in a detailed drawing, start by simply roughing in the pose. Use stick figures if necessary. If the pose doesn’t read clearly at the beginning, no amount of detail will fix it later.
Read two more Sparkbook Snippets: “Action Reveals Character” and “Personality and Emotions”. The Pose Drawing Sparkbook is now available for pre-order. Also, don’t forget to download your free list of 100 Sketchbook Ideas as my gift to you.
Recently I was interviewed by Mike Milo over at Animation Insider about my work and about my upcoming Pose Drawing Sparkbook. Thanks Mike!
(This excerpt is from the Pose Drawing Sparkbook, a super-charged sketchbook designed to help you put more life and personality into your drawings. Think of it as acting exercises for your sketchbook. Read other snippets here and here.)
Once you decide who each character is, you need to find ways to introduce them to the audience. Here are three common shortcuts you can use to help people get to know your characters quickly:
1. Appearance (e.g. muscular or skinny; casual dress or formal; etc.)
2. Dialogue (Are they talkative or quiet? Do they use short sentences or big, fancy words? Is his voice strong and low or high and weak? etc.)
3. Behavior (how do they respond to a given situation.)
This book is about poses so I’m going to skip the first two and focus on behavior. There are two ways you can use behavior to show a character’s personality: by what they do and how they do it.
1. What They Do. When your character faces a problem, how do they respond? Suppose your character is a tiny grandmother. While walking down the street, a thug pulls a gun and demands that she give him her purse. Does she obey? Does she refuse? Does she go on the offensive and start swatting him with her purse? Does she panic? Does she try to outsmart him? (“Hey, what’s that over there?”) Does she scream for help? Her choice tells us something about her personality.
2. How They Do It. Suppose this tiny grandmother has some moxie and decides to simply refuse. The next question is, how does she refuse? Does she cross her arms and put her nose in the air? Does she wag a finger in his face and say, “You should be ashamed of yourself!” Does she brush him aside and keep walking? Does she put her hand on his arm and say, “What you need is some warm milk and cookies”? Each response will tell us something about her personality and her outlook on life. The more you can say with a character’s actions the better.
Something as simple as entering a room can tell us a great deal about a person. On Seinfeld Kramer would always explode into Jerry’s apartment. The door would fly open and he’d come skidding across the floor. That energetic burst, combined with his wild hair and crazy clothes, instantly told you what kind of person he was: Confident, free-spirited and eccentric. Before he even says a word you get a sense of who he is. That’s good visual storytelling.
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Read two more Sparkbook Snippets: “Acting With The Entire Body” and “Personality and Emotions”. The Pose Drawing Sparkbook is now available for pre-order. Also, don’t forget to download your free list of 100 Sketchbook Ideas as my gift to you.
A few people have asked for an ebook-only version of my Pose Drawing Sparkbook on Kickstarter. Good news! I’ve added an option to purchase the “Basic” ebook for $10. You can also purchase a new “ebook + webinar” combo or an “ebook + sketch club” combo. More info here.
If you’ve already placed an order for the physical book and want to downgrade, just log in and change your contribution. Piece of cake. Anyone can increase or decrease their order at any time.
Please help spread the word about this new option, especially if you live overseas. It’s way cheaper than paying for international shipping! Just paste this into Twitter or your favorite social media: The Pose Drawing Sparkbook on Kickstarter is now available as a standalone ebook! http://kck.st/12K2otL
Thanks to everyone for your support! The book is getting a lot of good buzz and I’m grateful.
I finally joined Dribble.com and uploaded my first few samples. There’s a limit of five uploads per day so I’ll have to wait to upload more. But if you dribble, give ‘em a looksee.
