It’s been about a month since I’ve made time for life drawing, but here are three quick drawings I did today.

The unique thing about these three drawings is that I drew them into the computer on my Cintiq tablet.  I enjoyed it more than I expected.

In my latest study of Rabbit Seasoning, I’m taking both previous lessons to the next level and applying both of them to this lesson.  Lesson three is the attitude walk.  In Rabbit Seasoning, every action is driven by the emotions of the characters.  As Ollie Johnston, the legendary Disney animator, always was over heard saying, “What is the character thinking?”  The character’s thoughts drive everything they do.  So, in the following sketches, notice how the characters attitude and emotion drives how they walk.  Daffy is always sneaking around making plans to destroy Bugs Bunny.  Elmer Fudd is tip-toeing through the woods with his rifle in a focused, determined stalk.

Here’s where we take lesson 2 to the next level.  Notice in the drawings above, I’ve also made a study of where the shoulder and hip joints are located during Elmer Fudd’s and Daffy Duck’s walks.  When the leg is out front it will pull that hip joint forward.  When the leg is back, it will pull the joint back.  The same for the arms.  It’s ultimately a study of body mechanics and perspective.  In animation, including all the twisting of the torso, the alternating placement of hip and shoulder joints adds more fluid, believable movement.  It adds depth and perspective.  And, all of this is presented with all three characters in Rabbit Seasoning.

Below, I’ve utilized an attitude walk exercise from Eric Goldberg’s book.  I used his directions and drawings as a guide and animated an attitude walk.  Can you guess the character’s attitude?  It may be difficult since the character has no face.  I’ve worked to apply the lessons discussed above in this animation exercise.

Developing a character’s body in perspective is something I really need to study.  I spent most of my teenage years learning how to draw portraits well.  All that study and practice have paid off.  I feel lucky that I chose to focus on the human head considering it’s complexity.

Now, I’m playing a bit of catch up with the human body.  I can’t blame myself for not focusing on the whole body sooner.  Drawing the whole body bored me to tears as a kid, so I avoided it altogether.  However, an animator cannot avoid the body unless he wants to animate floating heads forever.  Plus, I doubt there’s much work in it, either.

Drawing the body isn’t difficult for a good draftsman, but the key is understanding body mechanics.  Animators are concerned more about a series of drawings and how the body moves than any one drawing can express.

The human figure is complex and it occupies space.  It’s range of mobility make it that more difficult to master.  This is why the animator should practice life drawing.  Learn to draw the figure from every angle and in a variety of poses.  What does it look like when an arm is coming toward you or moving away?

So, lesson two from Rabbit Seasoning: understand how Warners animators drew their characters with depth, with perspective.  I’ve included one of my life drawing exercises as well to compare the similarities between the human figure and a cartoon character.

Everything you need to learn in animation can be found in a classic Looney Tunes short film.  October is Rabbit Season and for my sketchbook, I’ll be breaking this cartoon down to individual animation principles.

You can watch the whole short from my other blog, Drawings in Motion.

Lesson 1 from Chuck Jones’ masterpiece, Rabbit Seasoning: Attitude in expression and posture

A. Every facial expression is crystal clear.  Daffy is not sort of angry, he is clearly angry.

B. The entire body expresses how Daffy feels.

C. His attitude effects how he moves.  Here’s a simplified breakdown of an angry Daffy walking over toward Elmer Fudd to give him a piece of his mind.

Milt Kahl, legendary Disney animator on such films as Cinderella, Peter Pan, 101 Dalmatians, and The Jungle Book once said, “I don’t think it’s possible to be a top notch animator without being an excellent draftsman.  You have to try for the whole thing, you know, got to know the figure.  You need that figure-drawing background in order to sharpen.  Every animator should have this background.”  When giving advice to a young animator hopeful, legendary Disney story artist, Richard Kelsey said, “First of all, kid, learn to draw.  You can always do the animation stuff later.”

This is a simple explanation for why I’ll be posting so many “life drawings.”  These two men were speaking from their own animation backgrounds of traditional hand-drawn animation, but I believe it is still an essential skill for any type of animator to learn.

Plus, I see the animation landscape shifting and believe hand-drawn animation will be “re-discovered” again.  There is so much beauty and appeal (charisma) to hand-drawn animation that computer generated animation (CG) and Flash animation cannot recreate.  I’ll save that discussion for my other site, Drawings in Motion, which you can link to from this blog.  Drawings in Motion will focus on hand-drawn animation past and present.

For now, please enjoy a few 15 minute life drawings from my sketchbook.