Category: Tutorials
Action Sketching: Handling a fully-jointed mannequin
using a towel as a tablecloth.
Links Worth Repeating
- General reference on Amazon to body figures by COLOR-LILIJ.
- General reference on Amazon to body figures by Body-Kun models for Artists.
- Really Worth It? Drawing With BODY-KUN & BODY-CHAN, a video by “mikeymegamega.” This 18 minute video is very complete and demonstrates how the manikin is used.
- While the Japanese art of cartooning focuses most on the upper body and stylized features, Video Drawing Tutorials for Anime Manga, it will stimulate your imagination with respect to drawing action characters and story telling.
Action Sketching: Learn action movement with photos and mannequins
The best “stop action” photos are taken with cameras with shooting magazines that can take dozens of photos at a time. This is similar to video, but with slower and larger frames. These photos, like the one below from Active.com, make a wonderful sketch reference, but leave many unknowns.
Based on this picture, do you understand the position of the player from his sides or back when in this pose? How about the position of his shoes or the relationship of one leg to the other?
While a COLOR-LILIJ Body Figure mannequin cannot duplicate every pose, when used correctly, you can position it into similar poses, which, in turn, reveal unseen mysteries as you rotate it in front of you.
The mannequin is small, which is a perfect size for taking photos of it with your cell phone. Even though it is small, its body is fully jointed, and its toes move, something of interest for every soccer player.
Its joints all rotate on ball and sockets, as seen below. Everything is extremely stiff when you first use it, however, so if you are not careful (or yank at a joint), it can fall apart. Because it is so delicate, do not let children play with it!
Below is an example of the mannequin’s flexibility! Pay particular attention to its legs and feet and imagine positioning it similar to the photo of the running soccer player.
The mannequin kit comes with extras, such as arms, lower legs, hands, and accessories that fit in the hands. It also has a mannequin holder used for positioning it upright as though it was running or jumping.
My next blog will discuss how to position the mannequin in reference to a soccer player photo and what you can learn from it. I’ll also discuss how to handle the mannequin and what to do when things get loose or worse, drop off.
Links
- General reference on Amazon to sets of COLOR-LILIJ Body Figures.
- Really Worth It? Drawing With BODY-KUN & BODY-CHAN, a video by “mikeymegamega.” This 18 minute video is very complete and demonstrates how the mannequin is used.
- While the Japanese art of cartooning focuses most on the upper body and stylized features, Video Drawing Tutorials for Anime Manga, it will stimulate your imagination with respect to drawing action characters and story telling.
- The photo of a soccer player meeting a ball is from the article 6 Weight-Gain Tips for Soccer Players by Nancy Clark, RD. Ms. Clark’s website is NancyClarkRD.com.
Action Sketching: Get more out of the game by creating action stories
Japanese of all ages create manga, which are graphic stories (novels) involving highly active characters.
In America, potential artists might claim they don’t have the skills to create graphic stories, but that is only because they haven’t learned the drawing tricks related to action positioning.
To accomplish their craft, Japanese manga artists rely on photography and sets of miniature manikins, popularly sold as COLOR-LILIJ Body Figures.
Everything about their manikin sets are described in Japanese, so don’t rely on the directions that come with these sets (unless you read Japanese).
The manikins are very small, as shown here relative to a standard sewing scissors. Each manikin comes with extra hands, feet, arms, and other implements that could be used to illustrate a story.
Below is a picture of one of my older manikins next to a new one being unpacked. If you think they look delicate, you’re right! They are easy to break, and, in fact, my old manikin is missing an arm because of that.
In order to keep the manikin stands and other items tight, you’ll need a tiny screwdriver as one does not come with the kit. Equally important, you’ll need a camera (a cell-phone camera will do), and perhaps additional reference photos. My next soccer sketching blog articles will discuss how to work with these things.
Links
- COLOR-LILIJ Artist Drawing Figure
- Google search on “how to draw Japanese action poses” or “how to draw mangas.”
- How To Draw Action Poses: Foreshortening, by Whyt Manga, published on December 2016. YouTube. This training reference is very sophisticated, but it shows what you can do when inspired. Check his YouTube Channel for more tips and training.
- How to draw an ACTION POSE!【Kicking】. This is all in Japanese, but you can sense the enthusiasm and fun. Imagine what you see here as being part of a soccer game!
- Professional manga artist shows how to improve drawing skills in series of two-minute video clips. This very in depth demonstration is all in Japanese. Well, words don’t matter. Seeing how people draw is what counts.
- How to Draw The Figure in Perspective – Foreshortening: This video is in English! The “Virtual Instructor” is Matt (no last name). In addition to this free video, he offers a number of fee-based courses, all of which look quite good.
Americans are probably not aware of just how seriously the Japanese are about action art and because of that, skipped seeing tutorials on the subject. Spend time getting acquainted with them (even if you can’t understand a word they say) so you can start imagining your own soccer mangas.
Action Sketching: Use a fully jointed mannequin to help you draw your game
Many players and fans are enchanted by the motion of soccer players. While watching a game, a good time to put that interest to work is to sketch the plays!
Of course, games move too fast to observe any single action, but acquainting one’s self with soccer movements while at home will demystify action when watching the field.
Among the many ways to improve observation and resulting sketches is to draw from photos, slow-action video, and even learn from many YouTube videos on How to Draw Human Action.
An even better way is to pose a highly detailed mannequin in a similar position to what you see in a photo. In this way, you get a 3D view that stimulates your imagination in ways flat pictures do not.
Unlike wooden models, these flexible (and very reasonably priced) plastic mannequins are sold with numerous parts, such as extra arms, hands, shoes, and even swords and shields for more posing options.
Mannequins like these are used as reference for drawing comic book heroes and ninja figures, but they can also be used to enhance your understanding of how the human body is contorted while kicking.
In the future, I’ll demonstrate how mannequins can be used to learn more about soccer moves. In the meantime, you might want to buy one for yourself and start experimenting.