85 A Drawing Style Appropriate for Animation

Have you ever said, “Oh, if I could just draw well”? Ah, yes, you could express yourself to the nth degree. You could animate or clean up scenes that would evoke oohs and aahs. Work wouldn’t be so much like work. You could get it all down on paper and leave at 5 o’clock feeling good.

Most of you draw well. A lot of you draw better than I do. And in all the years I’ve been in the business, I’ve never seen a more industrious and devoted staff of artists. It makes my job of trying to help you better yourselves a pleasure.

I got a late start in life. The first five or six years in the business were a “walk through.” I was a dilettante, toying with poetry, painting, singing, and socializing. Then 10 years as John Lounsbery’s assistant, and 10 years as Ollie Johnston’s assistant helped me to “center” myself. Those guys worked hard and were completely devoted to their jobs, which taught me to work hard (and study hard to catch up). The next 20 years were not easy but were very satisfying.

Sometimes I wish I had a magic wand that I could wave over you and say, “You are now learned artists — go and draw to your heart’s content.” But maybe it’s better that you do it yourself and become your own self-starter. The learning process should be fun. One thing that it does is it tears down a lot of false pride. To seek help is a kind of humbling experience, a very necessary one in as much as animation should be thought of and practiced as a group effort. I consider a person who is not ashamed to seek help to be a wise person.

In the Illusion Of Life Ollie or Frank had written a paragraph on cleanup people which lists some of the functions of a cleanup person that coincide with some of the things I keep stressing in the drawing class — a crisp line against a soft shape (using angles), designing shapes that work with the action rather than copying, emphasizing squash and stretch, and drawing detail only as it furthers the action and the drawing and especially, “telling the story” whether it’s a scene of animation or a still drawing.

The quote, reprinted here in full, refers to cleanup people but it could as well refer to animators and inbetweeners. All of the above classifications make drawings that go into a scene and so the same training is necessary for all.

“They studied line drawing, training on Holbein, Degas, Daumier, da Vinci; they watched drapery in movement, noting the difference between filmy scarves, woolen skirts, flowing capes, and even baggy pants; they learned the value of a sharp, crisp line against a large, soft shape; they knew how to keep a design in the free-flowing changing shapes of animation rather than make a rigid copy. They always extended the arcs of the movement, squashed the characters more, stretched him more — refining while emphasizing both the action and the drawings. They understood the business of the scene, what it was supposed to achieve, worked closely with the animator in deciding which parts were developing well and which parts needed a little help, and they could see the characters start to live as they “rolled” the drawings on the pegs. This required a special kind of talent as well as study — not every artist could master it.”

So you see, there is something special about the thinking that goes into animation drawing. Don’t ease up on your search — success is just around the proverbial corner. I am reprinting some ruff animation drawings to remind you of the style of drawing that seems to serve the purposes of the animators best. I am constantly apologizing for maybe interfering with your style of drawing, but if you are serious about making animation your life’s work, it behooves you to take as many tips from the pros as you can. Try to use this kind of an approach when drawing from the model, then you won’t have to make an unnatural switch in styles when working on animation.

Draw ideas, not things; action, not poses; gestures, not anatomical structures.