Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes Volume 1

100 For a Better Gesture, Adverbs

In an earlier handout I suggested the concept of drawing verbs instead of nouns. The idea was that a verb is active (run, bend, twist, gesticulate, etc.) while a noun is a motionless object (man, woman, arm, leg, clothes, etc.). Thinking of your drawing as a verb will add life and movement to even the subtlest action.

You can carry the thought a little further by adding an adverb. This will add character, personality, and acting style to your drawings or animation, because it tells how, where, when, or why. For instance, he runs gracefully, up a hill, in the morning, because he is in a race. And, he bent his body sharply at the waist, just before tossing the ball, to get snap into his attempt at a basket. I ...