Fantasy Art School

Drawing Action in your fantasy figures

Drawing and conveying action is a difficult thing to do. It takes time and practice but you will get very good at it if you do put in the practice. This lesson on action is rather extended because there is a lot to learn but first I will go over some of the more important points.

Using the body to convey action - We all know what the human body looks like and we all know how it moves and the shapes it takes when engaged in different types of activities and motions so in order for you to make your action poses look good you have to carefully observe the rules of the body.

This also applies to Fantasy Creatures - Maybe you are drawing creatures that don't exist so there is a certain amount of freedom you have in how they move but they still have to follow the rules of body mechanics in order to convey natural looking action. Your figures still have muscles, a skeletal understructure and joints and in order for you to draw believable characters and figures you have to be aware of these things and adhere to the rules of what makes sense.

Fantasy Creatures Still Follow the Rules of the Human Body - No Matter how distorted they are. (Usually - but of course we don't want to stifle creativity; If your drawings are way out there then that's ok too)

About drawing the Musculature: One of the most important things about action is conveying this action or stress in the musculature. When a muscle is strained it shows. You can see the muscle as more defined and bulging inside the skin. This means you would accentuate the dark and light spots more. We will cover more of this on the next few pages of the lesson but for now just remember that muscles look different when they are stressed into action poses.

For This lesson: One of the best ways to improve your ability to see and to draw action is to draw a lot of small figures. When I am doing a large and finished composition I will do a lot of smaller sketches to try to get an understanding of what the bodies are doing and what they should look like. I call this "Thumbnailing" It is simply the process of doing lots of quick sketches in an attempt to see what looks natural and right.

Do some thumbnailing: I recommend today you do at least an hour of mini sketches of figures in different poses. Don't worry about how good they look just try to convey action in a natural way. Notice how the body bends and moves. Try doing exotic creatures too. Think of these thumbnails in the same way I do - they are just studies to help you understand the poses and action of the figures.

This thumbnailing of action is a critical skill that you should master and it is something you should do on a regular basis. It will quickly develop your skill as a fantasy artist. Make it a part of your regular routine and before you attempt any serious piece of art you should do lots of thumbnailing so you can get a feeling for how you will compose the picture.

We are going to do more work with action in your fantasy drawings but for now we take a short break and look at the shapes of swords Continue on with the lessons

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Fantasy Art School HOME PAGE

Fantasy Art Lessons

1. lesson 1 - Holding the pencil and getting a feel for it and warming up with lines
2. lesson1c how to draw a straight line
3. lesson 2 - Drawing some simple geometric shapes
4. lesson 3 - Understanding and using Perspective
5. lesson 4- foreshortening in perspective
6. lesson 5- Drawing depth and distance
7. lesson 6-Using lines of varying thickness
8. lesson 7- drawing form and shape with a medieval mace
9. lesson 8- Drawing metal - We draw a medieval helmet
10. lesson 9- drawing our first human form
11. lesson 10- Distorting the human form to create fantasy creatures
12. lesson 11 - doodling and creativity break
13. lesson 12 - a Morning star mace - drawing textures
14. lesson 13 - how to draw chainmail
15. lesson 14 - How to convey action in your fantasy drawings
16. lesson 15 - How to draw sword shapes
17. lesson16 -draw an armored knight
18. lesson 17 - Draw a fantasy dagger using the Five-S method
19. lesson 18 - Creating space in your drawings - A Dragons Lair
20. lesson 19 - Practice by drawing dragons
21. Lesson 20 - Drawing from Memory
22. Lesson 21 -Draw a Catapult

Fantasy Art Lessons from Guest Artists

1. How to draw a magical genie using Corel and Photoshop

Art Books & Supplies

1. Art Kits
2. Art Books
3. Fantasy Art Books

Stormthecastle.com
Castlefiction.com
The Telescope Nerd
Epic Fantasy.com
The Medieval Armory
THe Fantasy Guide
The Heroic Dreams Blog Knight-Medieval.com willkalif.com
make-video-games.com

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