Don't Draw Any Poses Until You Watch This — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Don't draw any poses, at least not
2. 0:02before you watch this. If you've been
3. 0:03trying to learn to draw poses, but
4. 0:05you're tired of hearing the same cliche
5. 0:07advice like just draw boxes in different
6. 0:09angles, this might be the video you've
7. 0:11been looking for. As a beginner artist,
8. 0:12you may be making four simple mistakes
9. 0:14that are stopping you from drawing
10. 0:15amazing dynamic poses. And I personally
11. 0:18spent years making these mistakes. If I
12. 0:20fixed them back then, then my poses
13. 0:22would be 10 times better today. So,
14. 0:23let's just go through the four mistakes
15. 0:25that you should avoid when making and
16. 0:26drawing poses so that I can save you
17. 0:28time and improve your art. The first
18. 0:30mistake is trying to master everything
19. 0:31at once. Now, the problem with many
20. 0:33artists in the beginning is they try
21. 0:35drawing hard complex poses right away
22. 0:38instead of starting with the simpler
23. 0:39ones. Art has levels, so do poses. So,
24. 0:42you need to start easy and then work
25. 0:43your way up. Now, I made a quick guide
26. 0:45or chart just categorizing all the types
27. 0:47of poses I've come across to just
28. 0:49simplify this for you. At level one, I'd
29. 0:51start with static poses. So, that's when
30. 0:54the character isn't moving at all. The
31. 0:56good example is like when they're
32. 0:57standing still, uh sitting on a chair,
33. 1:00maybe lying down on a couch, you know,
34. 1:02on a gargoyle watching the city. Just
35. 1:04something where they're not really doing
36. 1:06much. Now, these sound boring, I know,
37. 1:08but you can make these look way more
38. 1:10interesting by learning a simple term
39. 1:12called contrapposto. At least I think
40. 1:14that's how you pronounce it. This is an
41. 1:15Italian word for standing with most of
42. 1:17your weight on one foot. It was pretty
43. 1:19common as a technique with old Greek
44. 1:21statues, and it looks natural like just
45. 1:24how you would naturally stand. I'd say
46. 1:26contrapposto gives your poses a bit more
47. 1:29character and life. Another thing that
48. 1:30would also help you with more fun ways
49. 1:33of dealing with static poses is you need
50. 1:35to learn how to draw them in
51. 1:36turnarounds. So, if you master them
52. 1:39standing from the front, you have to
53. 1:40draw them from the back, the side, and
54. 1:42three-quarter. And then you just keep
55. 1:43going like that, you know. This is a
56. 1:45actually something I would recommend for
57. 1:47all the poses, but you don't have to,
58. 1:48but it's a really good step. Level two
59. 1:50would be expressive poses. This is when
60. 1:53the character still isn't moving much,
61. 1:55but their body shows their feelings and
62. 1:57their personality in that moment. So,
63. 1:58you could draw them slouching and like
64. 2:00just show they're grumpy or sad. You
65. 2:02could show them a bouncy and happy. You
66. 2:04could show them with their hands on
67. 2:05their hips like a brave superhero, you
68. 2:07know. You can show them scratching their
69. 2:08head like they're confused. Those are
70. 2:10simple poses at the second level, and
71. 2:12they still don't have to be moving much.
72. 2:13Now, level three, which is a bit harder,
73. 2:16is now the action poses. This is when
74. 2:19you're drawing a character right in the
75. 2:20middle of an action or like a frozen
76. 2:23video frame almost. So, running,
77. 2:25jumping, dancing, doing backflips,
78. 2:27Spider-Man web swinging. All these are
79. 2:29dynamic action poses. Fighting, fight
80. 2:32scenes are full of these action scenes.
81. 2:34By the time you've done level one and
82. 2:36two, you can start practicing level
83. 2:37three. And then, level four, which is a
84. 2:40bit it's definitely the hardest one, and
85. 2:42that's foreshortened poses. Now, the
86. 2:44reason why I say this is the hardest is
87. 2:47because one body part is usually pushed
88. 2:49right up close to the camera, so it
89. 2:51looks really huge while the rest of the
90. 2:53body looks smaller and further away. Not
91. 2:55all artists can pull this off. I am also
92. 2:57still trying to learn this one. I'll be
93. 2:58honest with you. But, when you get it
94. 3:00right, it can look so cool. It looks
95. 3:02almost like a 3D effect. A huge fist
96. 3:05reaching out at you or like a big boot
97. 3:07stomping towards the camera. It also
98. 3:08makes comic book pages look really
99. 3:11dramatic. Like this Spider-Man image
100. 3:12right here. You can almost feel him
101. 3:14moving and like jumping out of the page
102. 3:16in this first panel. Before you get to
103. 3:18the foreshortened poses, master those
104. 3:20other levels first, and then you can
105. 3:22start messing around with this. Mistake
106. 3:24number two, which I used to do all the
107. 3:25time, was drawing from imagination. Now,
108. 3:28many beginners, I don't know why, think
109. 3:30that using reference while drawing is
110. 3:32cheating. I also used to believe this.
111. 3:34And this makes you feel guilty and
112. 3:35forces you to draw from memory or want
113. 3:37to learn how to draw from memory so you
114. 3:38can be a real artist. But, this
115. 3:41obsession with drawing from imagination
116. 3:42is holding you back from drawing amazing
117. 3:44poses. This is why a lot of creators on
118. 3:47YouTube usually recommend the box
119. 3:48method. You know, where you draw boxes
120. 3:50in different angles so you can draw
121. 3:51anything from any angle, any way, any
122. 3:53time, all from your mind, you know. And
123. 3:55I'm not saying this is wrong, okay? You
124. 3:56can 100% do that, but what you will
125. 3:58notice is after practicing drawing boxes
126. 4:01for a while, you're going to realize
127. 4:02that you just know how to draw boxes. I
128. 4:04I never had to learn how to draw boxes
129. 4:06when I learned that you could just use
130. 4:08reference and practice those poses. It's
131. 4:10really that simple. Just use reference
132. 4:12of people jumping, and then you keep
133. 4:14practicing using that pose. Just keep
134. 4:16practicing using those different poses,
135. 4:18and after a while, the more times you
136. 4:20drawn different poses, after a while
137. 4:22it'll come natural to you because you've
138. 4:23been practicing drawing those poses.
139. 4:25Then you can start drawing from
140. 4:26imagination. Stop feeling bad about
141. 4:28looking at real photos or art from like
142. 4:30comics and stuff. Just using reference
143. 4:32is a tool that helps you learn faster.
144. 4:34Professional comic and manga artists use
145. 4:36reference all the time. They they
146. 4:38usually have image folders where they
147. 4:40save up pictures of cool poses,
148. 4:42clothing, lighting, even backgrounds.
149. 4:44They use movie screenshots. They pause
150. 4:46movies to see how people move in fights.
151. 4:47Some of them even take photos
152. 4:49themselves. I've heard of mangakas who
153. 4:51just go around taking photos of their
154. 4:53neighborhood. You could create a
155. 4:54Pinterest board of different poses, or
156. 4:56my favorite method, which is just using
157. 4:573D models to pose. You can use any kind
158. 5:00of 3D model, or those puppet, you know,
159. 5:02toys that like are kind of like figures
160. 5:04that you pose. Those look really cool. I
161. 5:05want to get one of those. The way you're
162. 5:07going to use this is get those pictures.
163. 5:09Find two or good photos before you start
164. 5:11drawing a hard pose. Look at the shapes.
165. 5:13Just break down the reference image into
166. 5:15different simple shapes, and then fill
167. 5:17in the details from that and create a
168. 5:19new image using your imagination. Study,
169. 5:22don't copy. You're not there to trace
170. 5:23every single detail. You're just there
171. 5:25to get the shape and the gesture. That's
172. 5:27it. Mistake number three, drawing
173. 5:28realistic poses. Now, as much as I
174. 5:31support like using reference, copying
175. 5:33real photos word for word can make your
176. 5:36drawing look stiff and boring. Realistic
177. 5:38poses look really flat on paper or in
178. 5:41images. So, you have to stretch and bend
179. 5:44the poses just to make it look fun to
180. 5:46look at. The simple fix for this is
181. 5:47something called the line of action. The
182. 5:50line of action is an imaginary sweeping
183. 5:52line that's used in art and animation to
184. 5:54just capture like the primary direction,
185. 5:56energy, and flow of the character's
186. 5:58pose. It's used like in a simple curve,
187. 6:01C curve, or S curve, rather than a stiff
188. 6:03straight line. So, when you draw a big S
189. 6:05and C shape a line of action through the
190. 6:07body, it makes your character's poses
191. 6:09look more dynamic and alive. What you
192. 6:11need to do is exaggerate the bend of the
193. 6:13arms, legs, and spine more in those
194. 6:16shapes so that it looks less realistic
195. 6:19and more expressive. Here's a personal
196. 6:21example from my own comics. When I was
197. 6:2314, I made this comic called Nukie,
198. 6:25which is about a bee superhero from my
199. 6:27country, Kenya. Now, here are some
200. 6:29scenes of him punching and fighting in
201. 6:31action poses. Can you see the problem?
202. 6:33As you can see, the poses look a bit
203. 6:35stiff, almost like the characters are
204. 6:37frozen in time. And the reason for this
205. 6:39is the line of action is pretty much
206. 6:41straight. There is no curve. Now, years
207. 6:43later, I rebooted the same comic and I
208. 6:46managed to fix this issue with my poses.
209. 6:48This is page 27 of the rebooted comic,
210. 6:51and as you can see here in this second
211. 6:53panel, he's punching a bad guy like a
212. 6:56villain, but there's a lot more action
213. 6:58in this. There's a lot more energy. Why
214. 7:00is that? Well, if you look closer,
215. 7:02you'll notice that it actually follows
216. 7:03the principle of the line of action with
217. 7:05the S and the C curves. As you can see,
218. 7:08there's kind of like a an elongated
219. 7:10S-like shape on him. There's a C for the
220. 7:12character who's being hit, and it
221. 7:14repeats with these other moments here.
222. 7:16Look at this third panel over here.
223. 7:17There's a lot more action and bending of
224. 7:20his spine, and it's not very realistic.
225. 7:22Nobody Nobody actually punches and
226. 7:24fights like this. These are These are
227. 7:26very horrible poses if you're actually
228. 7:28training in martial arts or fighting in
229. 7:29any kind of sense. But, in a comic book,
230. 7:32it's supposed to be expressive. It's
231. 7:34supposed to show action, and dynamic
232. 7:36poses are necessary for this, and for
233. 7:38that, you need S and C curves. I did the
234. 7:40same thing here on page 82 and this big
235. 7:43giant robot looking thing is actually an
236. 7:45exosuit called the Wrangler armor and it
237. 7:47was created to kill insectoids and even
238. 7:50it has a little bit of dynamic action in
239. 7:52the scene. If you can look at the
240. 7:54curves, you can see them. This character
241. 7:55over here is called White Locust and
242. 7:57he's flying back in a C shape and you
243. 7:59can tell he's been hit really hard
244. 8:01without needing to actually see the hit
245. 8:03in the comic. Now, there's still one
246. 8:05final mistake that's holding your poses
247. 8:07back for sure. But before we get there,
248. 8:09I have to be honest about something.
249. 8:10Poses aren't the only mistakes I've made
250. 8:13with my comics art. That's just one of
251. 8:15the many that I've made. I have a new
252. 8:16video on Patreon where I go into depth
253. 8:18into all the art mistakes I've made in
254. 8:20my current comic that I regret. If you
255. 8:22want to save yourself time from making
256. 8:23those mistakes and at the same time
257. 8:25support the channel so we can keep
258. 8:26making more free videos and releasing
259. 8:28free comics, make sure to click the link
260. 8:30in the pinned comment and support
261. 8:31Drawlex on Patreon. Mistake number four
262. 8:33is drawing poses immediately. Starting a
263. 8:36big clean drawing right away without
264. 8:38planning usually ruins the pose. All the
265. 8:41mistakes we've mentioned in this video
266. 8:42so far can be avoided before you even
267. 8:44start drawing your poses. The solution
268. 8:46is really simple. Just start small. Draw
269. 8:48a tiny version of your pose in just a
270. 8:50few seconds. That's what a thumbnail is.
271. 8:52Thumbnails are used by movie makers,
272. 8:54animators, and comic creators. They're a
273. 8:56safe way to just test your big ideas
274. 8:59fast before investing time into actually
275. 9:02making the real thing. So, this is where
276. 9:03you can use the reference to mix it with
277. 9:06the S and C curve, see what you like,
278. 9:08see what you don't like, you know, while
279. 9:09it's still small. Mess around with the
280. 9:11proportions, mess around with the
281. 9:12angles, decide what type of pose you
282. 9:14want it to be. You can make more
283. 9:15mistakes here since it's not really the
284. 9:17final thing. There's no pressure. This
285. 9:19will just save you hours of time with
286. 9:21your poses cuz fixing a small messy
287. 9:23sketch just takes 10 seconds, but fixing
288. 9:25a huge clean drawing takes hours.
289. 9:27Anyway, if you're new to the channel,
290. 9:28you should probably watch this next.