by Matthew Russell - Posted 3 years ago
Welcome, my CryptoComic Compatriots! A while ago I talked about drawing from photo references and talked about the various ways to warmup with online photo references.
Well, now it's time to move on and find another way to improve our art; video reference. This was mentioned before in the previously mentioned Pros and Cons post when we mentioned Greg Land’s persistence to draw from porn.
I’m going to prove to you today that drawing from video reference is actually a good thing. Just please, stay away from the porn.
For this, we will be looking at a sidekick. Not the Robin type, but a martial arts sidekick. I want to show you the differences between the 2.
As you can see from the photo reference above, the kick is a very posed shot. This is primarily what you will see in stock photos. The problem is that you will not see much reaction. If you do, it will be an actor holding a pose for quite a long time. The hands will not be in a realistic pose. The face will look foolish, and there will not be any impact within your shot.
Once again, in the image above, we look at everything from the hands, to the impact zone. This is a photo, in a sense. It is actually a screenshot from a UFC fight b between Geoff Neal and Frank Camacho. Frank is the one getting his head caved in.
Although this is brutal, look at how realistic this is. Even though the hands are not shown due to gloves, they still show a realistic positioning. Look at Frank’s face. Can you see how the impact zone is clear? The cheeks react, the blood flies in the correct direction.
It feels like I just said it, but a photo can be good if you are looking at a single subject, but to get better and see how people interact, you need video. For the remainder of this I will be drawing on my iPad using procreate. I will be taking a screenshot of various videos and drawing directly on top of the images.
The reason for this, is that I want to show you the dynamic poses and how they interact. I always suggest that you draw from a reference and not directly on top of the image. That’s cheating, but I am trying to illustrate the differences so, not cheating.
As you can see, I just paused a youtube video. I will post the video at the end. These 2 go ham on eachother. I paused the video at exactly 7:50 for those that want to follow along.
As you can see, the shoulders match up in a realistic fighting stance. One is on the offense, the other is on defense. The center of gravity is highlighted in bold red. In a streetfighter comic like say Punisher, this would be perfect as a reference.
As you can see from the second image, I paused it at 8:21 and this is during a punch. I can just see wolverine slashing with his claws. I even added in the sound effects and the claws (more as a joke).
Can you see how the opponent getting hit is completely off balance, yet our main subject’s center of gravity is perfect. Years of training right there.
Now, let’s look at the punch from this Dragon Ball Z comic. Although it looks dynamic, let’s analyze the motion here. It is just a still image drawn from imagination only.
Unlike the punch in our video reference, the center of gravity is way off. This means that the punch will not land with the proper amount of force. There is an exaggerated impact sone, but if you look at the one getting punched, there is no real reaction from it. Everything about those subjects pose says that they did not get hit at all, yet there is a clear impact zone.
We are going for realism and truth. Think of a pose where someone is pulling back a bow. In a snapshot, you won’t see the power needed to do this.
This snapshot was taken from a video series that artist Marcin Roszkowski did for a series called the Tomb Raider collection. Can you see the strain in ht subject’s arms? Can you see the realism while pulling back the bow? Can you see the power in the fingers or the bow?
If you look at most comic images of someone pulling back a bow, it feels like there is no power there. If you judge by the strain of the arm, it would be a 10 lbs bow.
As I have said in the previous post, get your own. I have used youtube to get references for today, but that was because of time restraints and I don’t want to set up my studio and pay actors (or get friends involved) just for the blog post.
Set up the scenes, set up a camera in a strange place for dynamic shots. Use your camera (or phone) as an extension of your imagination. It is a tool for you.
I will set up a scene where 2 people are standing over a grave. This will be a dynamic shot; so I will have both subjects looking down at the hole they have dug.
They will be arguing and it will be at night. So, what will I need? Camera, check. Night...nope. Hole...nope. 2 actors...once again no. How about a shovel...not even close. Check this out. Watch the video below.
As you can see in the video, I just used a broom to mimic the shovel. For the hole, I used an image reference. The night sky was also an image reference. Combine it all and boom, dynamic shot.
Let your imagination go wild. Take your own videos, and lets make some great comics together. I’ll see you soon.
