Tag Archives: drawing skills

Draw action poses from simple stick figures – Here’s how for all artists

Every masterpiece begins with a stick figure drawing.

Real artists, yes even the really great ones, work out their art with thumbnail drawings and stick figure sketches – often on the backs of envelopes or paper napkins in restaurants.

To draw a stick figure is easy. To draw an action stick figure needs a little more work.

With a bit of practice you’ll learn how the body moves so you’ll be able to draw anything you like from any angle.

Luckily we can use photographs to help us work things out. In this video, Shoo goes through the process and shows you how to draw your own action stick figures. Why not draw along?

You’ll find the photo of Rod Laver here:

Subscribe to Shoo’s channel on YouTube for lots more drawing videos every week

Create Characters by looking at real life animals and insects

Be inspired by real life to create truly original characters.

A beetle crossed my path on a walk the other day. I filmed it and took photos. When I enlarged the photos, there were elements of its design that inspired me to sketch out some ideas.

A triangle theme emerged and I developed that further, each time trying to simplify the character to make it easier to draw again and again.

Consistency is the secret to drawing characters – you have to recognise them in each frame of animation or page of book. So, simplicity and definite character identifiers are really important.

It’s difficult dreaming up new ideas from your head. Go out and look at what nature has already designed and work with those shapes and ideas.

Have fun and good luck! If you have drawing or illustration questions you would like Shoo to answer – put them in the comments box below through the contact page.

Subscribe to this channel on YouTube for lots more drawing videos from award-winning illustrator, Shoo Rayner ?? http://bit.ly/Sub2Shoo

Sketch Live Action – Watch live drawing and watercolour sketching tennis coaching

See how easy it is to get out your pen and paints and begin sketching live action… as it happens! Live! In front of you! For real!

Mrs Rayner took up tennis a year ago and most Fridays she goes to the tennis club for a group coaching session.

Last week I joined her, but Instead of a racket, I took my pens and paints and sketched the action as it happened.

Tennis is a fast moving game. so you have to watch and see the poses that you like and then take a mental picture and then just get on with it. The player is still there to get the clothing and hair details from, but you have to remember the pose as best as possible – maybe watch other players to see if they adopt a similar pose in the meantime.

The secret is to just do it. Most people will be amazed that you are even having a go – they wouldn’t dare. And you will only improve by doing it.

In the meantime, you are building your muscle memory, building a memory portfolio for future projects and you are getting to know your materials intimately.

I sketched for about and hour and a half and was quite tired at the end. Brain work is the hardest work! Have a go yourself this weekend!

There maybe a court in your local park. Just ask the players if they mind you sketching them. They will be thrilled! Let them take a photo on their phones afterwards… they’ll have a story to dine out on!