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Cont Cr ayon
While other artists use ch arco al pencils, vine
ch arco al, and p astel, I h ave fo und Cont cr ayon
to be my favor ite tool for gestur e dr awing.
Cont comes in var i o us gr ades of h ar dness with
a 2B gr ade being wh at I like to use most. If yo u
ar e a mor e heav y-h anded artist, think of investing in a h ar der gr ade of Cont.
Episode 1
Sh arpening Yo ur Cont
Things yo u need: X-Acto knife, Cont, and Sandp aper block.
The Pr ocess: Step 1 - Using an X-Acto knife,
sh ave yo ur Cont away so th at the point on the
stick is r o ughly h alf an inch long. Yo u want the
Cont point to be fairly sh arp. This enables yo u
to h ave differ ent edges to choose fr om when yo u
start working on yo ur dr awings. Aim for h aving a
str ong flat edge, a r eal sh arp edge, and a medi um edge. The sh aving pr ocess may be messy so
yo u might want to do it over a tr ashc an.
Step 2 - Once yo u h ave the Cont sh aved down,
yo u ar e now r eady for the s andp aper block. The
s andp aper block r efines the sh arpening in or der
to achieve a nice edge. While r otating the Cont,
r ub it up and down the s andp aper until yo u h ave
cr eated a r o und needle-like point.
THE TI P
ME DI UM E DGE
BROAD E DGE
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Let
go
when
warming
up
the sho ulder. Instead of being
overly concerned with cr eating
a beautiful work of art, tr y to
focus mor e on loosening up and
fr eeing yo ur cr eativity. Tr y not
to over analyze ever y line dur ing
warm up; it will only impede yo ur
cr eativity. Make an effort to
allow yo ur br ain to make mistakes.
I h ave fo und fr equently th at
many mistakes I h ave made end
up becoming Einstein moments.
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Er aser-less
Cont is a bit waxier th an ch arco al or nup astel;
ther efor e it works pr etty well for quicker
dr awings. Once yo u put down a line, it does
not er ase easily, ther efor e, yo u h ave to learn
to accept the line and work with it anyway. The
absence of subtr active dr awing builds confidence and allows for h appy mistakes, which we
r ar ely exper ience when er asing all the time.
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Look F or Feedback
As with all artistic pr ojects, be certain to h ave
others (artists and non-artists) cr itique on
yo ur work. Sometimes we ar e blinded by o ur own
achievements to the point wher e we no longer
explor e any further avenues for impr ovement. Another tr ick I like to use is to look at my work in a
mirr or. Yo u may be surpr ised at the err ors th at
pop o ut when seeing yo ur work in r everse.
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Episode 2
Br o ad Edge Dr awing
Tr y dr awing with the br o ad edge only for a while.
Do not give up after the first few dr awings.
They may not initially be pr etty. This technique
limits yo ur ability to dr aw detail and forces the
h and and eye to see the big sh apes and curves of
the form. This will help tr ain yo ur eye to see the
over all gestur e and how it r elates to the form
as a whole.
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ME DI UM E DGE
BROAD E DGE
F I N E TI P E DGE
BROAD E DGE
ME DI UM E DGE
F I N E TI P E DGE
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Episode 3
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Step By Step
Her e ar e some step-by-step demonstr ati ons. It
is h ar d for me to explain exactly how I pr ocedur ally dr aw the form.
In all honesty, it
is differ ent ever y time. Sometimes, I dr aw the
sh adow sh apes first. Other times, I will start
with a gr aphic sh ape. Commonly I will start with
the head and occ asi onally, I will start with the
hips. F or the s ake of demonstr ating a pr ocedur e
th at c an help the r eader, her e is a pr etty s afe
one:
Step
Step
Step
Step
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Episode 4
C AST SHADOW
F ORM SHADOW
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C AST SHADOW
F ORM SHADOW
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F ORM SHADOW
C AST SHADOW
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Episode 5
In quick gestur e dr awings, it is r eally important to simplify clothing and costumes as much
as possible. Bec ause ther e is not eno ugh time in
the poses to c aptur e ever y single fold, yo u h ave
to quickly assess the fold p attern gener ated by
the tensi on point. After yo uve determined th at,
then yo u make up the fold design. Th ats r ight,
yo u make them up and design them the way yo u
think looks best. If yo u tr y to r eplic ate the
folds exactly, yo u will over noodle yo ur dr awing
and waste all yo ur time on one p ant leg, AN D, it
will not look as good as if yo u made it up.
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Episode 6
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F un Ho use Mirr or
Ther e is also a fun exercise th at I like to c all
the fun ho use mirr or. This is when yo u pr etend
th at yo u ar e looking thr o ugh a distorted mirr or of a warped form. This exercise c an gr eatly
fuel yo ur cr eative side over the ac ademic side of
dr awing the figur e.
CORRE C T PROPORTION S
OF MOD E L
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Episode 7
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Gr aphic Sh apes
Spend some time dr awing the figur e as gr aphic
sh apes. This is a ver y fun exercise th at may seem
overly simple, but c an be quite ch allenging to
cr eate good design.
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Episode 8
The Idea
Id just finished working on stor ybo ar ds and an
animatic for a big Hollywood studi o pr oducti on and wh at an awesome pr oject; so much fun to
work on, so much fun to dr aw. But when it was
over I was r eady to do something differ ent.
I was on the plane coming home fr om L A, flying
back to Utah, and I was just down - just r eally
down bec ause I felt r eally over worked. I felt
like was spending a lot of time in L.A. and a lot
of time away fr om the family. We sometimes h ave
the tendency to let o ur jobs take over o ur lives.
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Pr e-Pr oducti on
I knew I co uld not animate a beautiful contempor ar y dance, bec ause Im not a dance chor eogr apher, and th ats wher e Kor i c ame in. Kor i
Wakamatsu is a university dance instr uctor and
chor eogr apher. She arr anged dancers to tr yo ut
for this pr oject I was putting together. I spent
a few weeks with Kor i in the dance dep artment filming potential r efer ence mater ial for
the animati on.
I didnt want to influence the initial chor eogr aphy at all. Kor i wo uld do the chor ogr aphy, but
she wo uld also chor eogr aph with the dancers.
So the dancers wo uld sometimes s ay hey want
abo ut this or wh at abo ut th at, so they wer e
also cr eatively invested as well.
As I watched the r ehears als and watched the
dances I tr ied to envisi on in my mind ever ything
th at I wanted to do as far as animati on goes
and all these ideas kept coming to me as they
wer e dancing. And in fact a lot of the modific ati ons th at we made wer e kind of on the fly
bec ause of the ideas th at wer e coming.
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I N SPIRATION
Cr eative inspir ati on is r eally h ar d to define and even
h ar der to put a finger on the tr iggers th at sp awn
cr eative tho ught. I h ave fo und th at looking for
personal cr eative inspir ati on doesnt work for me. I
c an certainly be inspir ed when I look at other artists work, but personal cr eative inspir ati on comes at
unsuspecting moments. It comes when we ar e sensitive to o ur emoti ons, o ur exper iences, o ur existence
and other people.
Th at sensitivity is ver y inconsistent and comes and
goes unexpectedly.
It seems we ar e most sensitive when we ar e going thr o ugh some sort of highly
emoti onal exper ience. Th ats when I feel like artistic
cr eative inspir ati on is at its r ipest.
Its abo ut
discover ing a personal connecti on with the fibers
of o ur own life, and then using the knowledge and
skills th at weve acquir ed over the years to cr eate a
piece of art th at r eflects th at personal connecti on.
Th at ch arge of emoti on will just fade away and die
as a p ast emoti on if left unattended to. However,
if yo u c an take th at emoti on, wr ite it down, document it, and plan to cr eate a work of art th at defines th at exper ience, then yo uve just r eceived and
acted upon personal cr eative inspir ati on. And th at
is wher e the magic h appens.
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In or der to c aptur e the pr ofessi onal figur ative movement of human form accur ately, I used live dancers
as r efer ence. However, just like when I dr aw the
figur e with Conte, ther e is a tr emendo us amo unt
of exagger ati on and cr eative explor ati on into ever y
movement. Some ar e mor e liter al and honor the appr opr iate movement of the dancer, others completely
dep art fr om the form and go into th at zone of explor ati on and styli zati on.
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EF X animati on was my first c ar eer p ath into animati on. When I animate EF X elements like water, smoke,
or fir e, I feel like a yo ung animator again, str uggling
to be the best he c an be. Its like r evisiting gr eat
memor ies of wonderful p ast pr oducti ons.
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began his c ar eer in
1995 as an animator for Warner Br others Featur e Animati on. Over the years, he h as worked
as an animator, EF X animator, Concept Designer, Stor ybo ar d Artist and Animatic Artist. He
h as worked for Sony Pictur es, Cartoon Network, Walt Disney Studi os, Marvel Entertainment and Dr eamWorks Pictur es on films such as
Sp ace Jam, The Quest F or Camelot, The Ir on Giant, Osmosis Jones, Spider-man 2, Spider-man 3,
Wher e The Wild Things Ar e, Ir onman 2 and Cowboys
& Aliens (2011). Ryan h as pr oduced and dir ected
4 short films th at h ave played in over 30 film
festivals worldwide. Since 2003, Ryan h as been
a faculty member of the Animati on pr ogr am at
Br igh am Yo ung University wher e he teaches stor ybo ar ding, figur e dr awing, and animati on. Ryan
h as a BF A fr om Br igh am Yo ung University and
an MF A fr om The Ac ademy of Art University in
San Fr ancisco. Ryan is marr ied to Tiffany Easterbr ook Woodwar d and together they h ave thr ee
daughters .
r yanwoodwar dart.com
conteanimated.com
A book collecting Ryans gestur e dr awings organi zed fr om ten second gestur es to 15 minute gestur es - in
additi on ar e some exagger ative, cr eative, and r efined dr awings; and a small sketchbook secti on.
A small collecti on of a var iety of gestur e dr awings assembled fr om Ryans gestur e dr awing
class in 2006.
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This is a fun styli zed ch ar ic atur e done by my good fr iend Jar ed Gr eenleaf whos not only a
p artner in cr ime with me but a gr eat fr iend. Yo u c an check o ut his work at: jsgr eenleaf.com