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

84 Driving Force Behind the Action

In the evening drawing sessions I try to direct your thoughts to the gesture rather than to the physical presence of the models and their sartorial trappings. It seems the less the model wears, the more the thinking is directed to anatomy, while the more the model wears, the more the thinking goes into drawing the costume. It’s a deadlock that you can only break by shifting mental gears (there’s that phrase again) from the “secondary” (details) to the “primary” (motive or driving force behind the pose). Remember, the drawing you are doing in class should be thought of as a refining process for your animation drawing skills.

I found something in Eric Larson’s lecture notes on entertainment that may be of help ...