I've understood that you don't hold your skills in as high of a regard as others do, Mr. Davis, but I can't resist the temptation to 'gush' here a little. I firmly believe that 'pound for pound' you sir are one of the finest comics artists ever to grace the form. Beautiful layout and storytelling, realistically drawn figures and faces with an amazing range of expression---and none of this stylization so typically seen these days. These are REAL people that are clearly drawn from observation from life.
Practicing my own pencils recently in the process of trying to go from being an inker to a penciler in my own right, I've studied your work quite a lot recently---especially the rough drawings. I have to ask you---how did you develop the wonderful sense of rhythm and movement you achieve in your figures? Is there a particular book or method of study you could point me to that would help me in this area?
Deepest admiration and respect
chuck gibson
Rhythm and movement in figure work?
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wonderdallas
- Posts: 32
- Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2005 6:12 am
- Location: Atlanta GA
I'm not sure how many people notice but Alan really does coreograph his characters. Seems most artist just show random punches and kicks that are just beauty shots. Alan's seem to be frames editted from a film. A well coreographed film.
Ya know, it's the subtle stuff! God is in the detail. That's why I think Alan is the best all around comic artist working today... he understands sequential art like few (these days) do.
'course, that's just my opinion.
-Dallas
Ya know, it's the subtle stuff! God is in the detail. That's why I think Alan is the best all around comic artist working today... he understands sequential art like few (these days) do.
'course, that's just my opinion.
-Dallas
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Alan Davis
- Creator
- Posts: 472
- Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2005 9:13 pm
Thanks for the very flattering comments Chuck, Dallas, it’s always nice to know my work is appreciated on more than a superficial level.
How to develop ‘rhythm and movement’?
This is a massive question, one that I am still wrestling with myself.
There are obvious things like keeping figures ‘off balance’, ‘off centre’ and moving (or distorting) in the direction of the action-- but there are just too many variables to consciously control (although deadlines, comfort and the limitations of the form make repetition inevitable) and I believe much of what I do is instinct. When I draw I’m usually focused on the story/characterisation and the mechanics of the drawing take care of themselves. I regard myself as a storyteller rather than an ‘artist’.
There is a lot more to storytelling than tenuously linking images in a sequence-- and there are artists I would describe as illustrators who work in comics rather than true comic artists. It is easy to be seduced into producing primary panels and money shots that have a superficial impact and are usually quicker to draw but Comic art should be about capturing emotion, expression and movement rather than slavishly imitating ‘photographic’ reality, filling the page with arbitrary stylistic design or populating panels with figures to point balloons at.
Cartooning helps to identify the essence of movement and expression but if you study artists like Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby and Gil Kane, you will see how they cleverly distorted figures and incorporated ‘movement lines’ into their forms (most obvious in Kirby’s later work).
Choreography is an important aspect of comic storytelling-- but I don’t like using cinematic analogies because, as with all analogy, they are usually only applicable to one facet of a principle and are grossly inaccurate when applied as a generality-- and the ‘comics are like film’ analogy has been used to diminish the unique strengths of comics. The most important visual difference between film and comics is that movies move (setting the action in real time and allowing the film maker to control the pace of revelation). Unless a comic reader has the ability to focus on panels sequentially, and ignore the rest of the page/spread, the comic pages/spreads are revealed as a ‘moment’. This may seem like splitting hairs but in my approach to comics a more suitable analogy for pacing might be music since the various images on a page form a ‘chord’. Each note (panel) works alone and also as a part of the page/spread. Or at least that is my goal.
There is a lot more to it than but this is the easiest insight I can offer.
All the best
Alan
How to develop ‘rhythm and movement’?
This is a massive question, one that I am still wrestling with myself.
There are obvious things like keeping figures ‘off balance’, ‘off centre’ and moving (or distorting) in the direction of the action-- but there are just too many variables to consciously control (although deadlines, comfort and the limitations of the form make repetition inevitable) and I believe much of what I do is instinct. When I draw I’m usually focused on the story/characterisation and the mechanics of the drawing take care of themselves. I regard myself as a storyteller rather than an ‘artist’.
There is a lot more to storytelling than tenuously linking images in a sequence-- and there are artists I would describe as illustrators who work in comics rather than true comic artists. It is easy to be seduced into producing primary panels and money shots that have a superficial impact and are usually quicker to draw but Comic art should be about capturing emotion, expression and movement rather than slavishly imitating ‘photographic’ reality, filling the page with arbitrary stylistic design or populating panels with figures to point balloons at.
Cartooning helps to identify the essence of movement and expression but if you study artists like Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby and Gil Kane, you will see how they cleverly distorted figures and incorporated ‘movement lines’ into their forms (most obvious in Kirby’s later work).
Choreography is an important aspect of comic storytelling-- but I don’t like using cinematic analogies because, as with all analogy, they are usually only applicable to one facet of a principle and are grossly inaccurate when applied as a generality-- and the ‘comics are like film’ analogy has been used to diminish the unique strengths of comics. The most important visual difference between film and comics is that movies move (setting the action in real time and allowing the film maker to control the pace of revelation). Unless a comic reader has the ability to focus on panels sequentially, and ignore the rest of the page/spread, the comic pages/spreads are revealed as a ‘moment’. This may seem like splitting hairs but in my approach to comics a more suitable analogy for pacing might be music since the various images on a page form a ‘chord’. Each note (panel) works alone and also as a part of the page/spread. Or at least that is my goal.
There is a lot more to it than but this is the easiest insight I can offer.
All the best
Alan