See the reasons the line of action can make figure drawing more difficult and misleading, especially in terms of anatomical structure and getting a true understanding of what a gesture drawing entails.
- Watch the 2 min. version
- Watch the 7 min. version
- Watch the 47 min. version
Discussion with Art Prof Clara Lieu.
Video Walkthrough
- This video talks about the line of action within the context of figure drawing, not for characters or animation.
- The Line of Action is meant to show movement in the simplest way
- The goal of the the Line of Action is to achieve a sense of movement in your figure drawing.
- The Line of Action doesn’t have any anatomical basis.
- It is possible to get the sense of movement and establish simple anatomy.
- People often think anatomy is too difficult for a quick drawing.
- Anatomy doesn’t have to be super complicated with full of details.
- Very basic shapes like the rib cage and pelvis are much more important and create a foundation compared to the Line of Action.
- What you need more instead of individual muscles is an anatomical mindset.
- The Line of Action has nothing to do with anatomy, so if you add it first, it’s inevitable that it will have to fixed later.
- Why bother with a the Line of Action which is misleading, and inherently anatomically incorrect?
- The centerline is a much better investment of your time, it doesn’t take any longer than drawing the Line of Action, and doesn’t need to be fixed later.
- Where you place the Line of Action is not reliable, depending on who is drawing it, it can be in a totally different place and show a different movement.
- The Line of Action makes the figure flat, you are not thinking about form and mass which are critical to establishing the figure.
- The Line of Action bypasses both arms and 1 leg, you aren’t creating cohesion by leaving out those body parts.
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