Drawn to Life - Volume 2

10 Forces (Energy, Animation, Power, Vim, Vigor, and Vitality)

Webster defines dynamic as “relating to energy or physical force in motion.” Stanchfield defines drawing as depicting a motion graphically, using the proper forces that affect the particular move or gesture being drawn.

For instance, if you’re going to draw a character reaching forward with his hands, the forces that make that move possible are going to affect more than just the outstretched hands. Actually it is not the muscles in the hands that extend the hands forward — it is the cooperation of many muscles throughout the body that are mustered by the forces behind that move. Those forces are actuated by the intellectual desire to do something. They inform the sensory nerve endings ...