Big-Dave
August 30th, 2004, 06:13 PM
OK, I don't know how accurate this theory is, but I want to ask people here what they think of it. Also, by lines of motion I mean the main compositional lines on a figure (for example, if someone was making a punch, along the arm would be one such line) I'm not sure if there's a proper term for this, but if there is could someone let me know so I can correct it?
Basically I've been doing a few studies of interacting figures. Really it was to try and learn things for my martial arts class grading, but I noticed a few things which could apply to drawing, mainly in composition. As far as I know, this would apply to any interacting objects, but figures I'm pretty sure it works with, so I'm going to stick with them for the duration of this.
OK, here it goes. If two figures are interacting, from what I've seen the lines of motion of both must merge in some way, ie. you could travel along at least one line of movement for each figure and end up on a line of movement of the other. The only exception to this would be static poses, but a static pose is not so much interaction as contact (a fine line between the two, but it is there).
Also, for the two figures to interact convincingly, one must influence the balance/pose of the other, even if only in a minor way. The best example I could give of this would be a high five. Although it doesn't seem to have much of an effect, there *will* be a force at the point of contact pushing the shoulder back.
In summary, when two figures interact, (in a drawing) they should be depicted as one entity as opposed to two, with their balance and movement lines showing this until such point as they cease interacting, at which point they become two seperate entities again.
This would mean that, for dynamic figure interaction, the balance/pose and/or the lines of motion on each character *must* interact, otherwise the pose becomes static.
I've checked this with a couple of poses using interacting skeleton figures, and it seems to fit pretty well, so I'm curious what other people would make of is. I'll try to have some setches done to illustrate what I mean soon too
Oh, and as one more quick theory, when a person is running, their speed depends on the horizontal distance between their hip and their center of gravity. The fastest possible position for a runner, however, is with their center of gravity directly above the furthest forward point their knee can reach. Any further and they would be incapable of keeping their balance. The reason for this is that a runner is not so much pushing themselves forward, ratehr they are in a suspended freefall in which their legs keep them by acting as a counter force to gravity and keeping them in the air. This would only be possible in bipeds, though, as any animal which is a quadroped would be incapable of leaning it's weight forward enough, therefore their muscle structure is adapted so they *do* push themselves forward.
Anyway, that's me done. I'm kinda on a theory kick just now, tends to be annoying but can sometimes throw up some interesting ideas. The first one is one I've had before and I was wondering what people thought
Basically I've been doing a few studies of interacting figures. Really it was to try and learn things for my martial arts class grading, but I noticed a few things which could apply to drawing, mainly in composition. As far as I know, this would apply to any interacting objects, but figures I'm pretty sure it works with, so I'm going to stick with them for the duration of this.
OK, here it goes. If two figures are interacting, from what I've seen the lines of motion of both must merge in some way, ie. you could travel along at least one line of movement for each figure and end up on a line of movement of the other. The only exception to this would be static poses, but a static pose is not so much interaction as contact (a fine line between the two, but it is there).
Also, for the two figures to interact convincingly, one must influence the balance/pose of the other, even if only in a minor way. The best example I could give of this would be a high five. Although it doesn't seem to have much of an effect, there *will* be a force at the point of contact pushing the shoulder back.
In summary, when two figures interact, (in a drawing) they should be depicted as one entity as opposed to two, with their balance and movement lines showing this until such point as they cease interacting, at which point they become two seperate entities again.
This would mean that, for dynamic figure interaction, the balance/pose and/or the lines of motion on each character *must* interact, otherwise the pose becomes static.
I've checked this with a couple of poses using interacting skeleton figures, and it seems to fit pretty well, so I'm curious what other people would make of is. I'll try to have some setches done to illustrate what I mean soon too
Oh, and as one more quick theory, when a person is running, their speed depends on the horizontal distance between their hip and their center of gravity. The fastest possible position for a runner, however, is with their center of gravity directly above the furthest forward point their knee can reach. Any further and they would be incapable of keeping their balance. The reason for this is that a runner is not so much pushing themselves forward, ratehr they are in a suspended freefall in which their legs keep them by acting as a counter force to gravity and keeping them in the air. This would only be possible in bipeds, though, as any animal which is a quadroped would be incapable of leaning it's weight forward enough, therefore their muscle structure is adapted so they *do* push themselves forward.
Anyway, that's me done. I'm kinda on a theory kick just now, tends to be annoying but can sometimes throw up some interesting ideas. The first one is one I've had before and I was wondering what people thought