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You don't try to draw something perfect right off the bat. You really just start scribbling
and start having fun and thinking in terms of motion. And so let's imagine I'm drawing
a character running. The first thing I'm always going to do is just get the idea across. Hit
it really fast. And I do my best to ,sort of, make it all one drawing and it can be
as messy as it needs to be.
I try to think of the body as one single, flowing shape, rather than as a bunch of different
mechanical parts. Even it can be a relatively quieter motion, like walking. I still try
to really, kind of, bring it to life.
A character can even be sitting and not doing much of anything. But still, just different
cues of how they're sitting and how they're holding their body can sort of show what that
person is feeling and give you a sense of life. The best way to do it is really keep,
just practice doing these, kind of, loose, gestural drawings.
The important thing is not to get self conscious or to try let go of that idea. Try to let
go of the idea that what you're doing needs to look right. Or, you know, try to forget
about whatever mean art teacher who made you feel bad about your drawing in third grade.
And try to just, you know, capture an idea of what a character is doing and then move
on to the next thing.
One thing that helps me in this is that I've done a lot of figure drawing so I instinctively
understand the proportions of the body. And when I'm drawing these quick lines I instinctively
understand where all the bones are and all the muscles are. But at the same time, don't
get caught up in trying to make things look right. Don't get caught up in trying to make
that elbow look right. Just build this capacity to capture a quick sense of motion with a
few quick lines and them moving on to the next thing.