I'm new to art and obviously lots of good advice has been said about studying anatomy. I'm at a point now where as a copy artist I can get really good comments but I am not creating any of my own ideas. I have also noticed that a lot of artist technically are competent they draw all the right bits in the right places but how come it seems that when it comes to giving life to the character they draw a zombie?

 

How do I go about as I develop my characters avoid drawing mannequin faced characters?  

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it takes a seed of an idea and a lot of sweat to create a fields of dreams

Well spooted on the zombie squad issue. 

 

The Truth about ZOMBIES and fallacy of anatomy 

The fact is, people drawing anatomy. draw dead people. Anatomy, helps to imply and suggest which part goes in front/behind of another eg. forelimb infront of elbow in front of arm). Unfortunately, when starting out to draw characters one inevitably thinks, to get better I must learn anatomy. Wrong! ( and Right).

For it is like learning how to draw a leaf. 

One can draw the most detailed leaf, but if asked to stick that said leaf on a branch onto a tree or a vine or a root. Can any of us say, hand on heart we know how to do so? I know I cant without further study. It is because, I suspect we do not yet understand form.

Form 

A simple form and outline of a solid object (car, lampost) or soft organic object (people, animals, amoeba) must be readable. As an enviromentalist, I need merely imply that a blacked out shape is doing something. With minimal detail, and these two things can bring an image to life. 

Our brain is hardwired to recognise shapes and patterns. Then focal detail.

So when you look at an image. You dont immediately go. Ooooh, that bicep inserts into tricep wrongly,  Your brain first swiftly compares organic vs non organic shapes. Then into pleasing and unpleasing shapes. Then broken and unbroken recognizable shapes.

Then the area of highest contrast and detail gets your attention (although it feels like that is the first thing you see....the subconcious would have already analyzed, categorized and dissected what it wants to look at. And that will subsequently inform the viewer to look at areas of detail and contrast)

Animating a dead puppet: From Golem to Pinnochio 

If you want to draw life, it will help to draw from life. To look at people through the eyes of an animator. This can be studied by observing people all around you. HOw they walk, talk, animate, grimace, smile, bend, postulate. In short. Gestures

Credit: Images by Patri Balanovsky

 

This can be achieved by darwing multiple multiple images of gestures, shapes, exercises, forms and activities a simple char may do. A page may contain 20-40 of these simple shaped exercises. With this innate understanding, your illustration of a character on paper will now come alive.

Credit: image studies from Bjorn Hurri 

Otherwise, its the zombie crew for the rest :) 

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koshime.com

geldslaw:

 I have also noticed that a lot of artist technically are competent they draw all the right bits in the right places but how come it seems that when it comes to giving life to the character they draw a zombie?

That's often (but not always) because those people are copying photographic reference but not understanding what they are actually painting.

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Hey that dogs tail is moving!!!!!!!!

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"Sleep... those little slices of death, oh how i loathe them!"

http://www.amazon.com/Force-Dynamic-Drawing-Animators-Second/dp/0240808452

Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animations by michael D. Mettesi it's a more lively aproache to life drawing since it's aimed at animators, and might adress the first step of your problem, that is creating figures with life and purpous. I'd check out other books on animation to, I meen, animation is all about giving life to your character, but I think it would indeed make for an interresting workshop for imagineFX to tackle.

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-Let us take over the world with largely exagerated facial expressions!-

Good reasearch are the VIdeos/Books by Villpu and Force is good as well 

 

Essentially.

They  both say similar things, and if you analyze it. Everything is made of

1. Hard and Soft (where there is a hard line eg bone, this is followed by a softer curvature eg. bend at elbow)
2. Hard and Soft (Focal contrast - people read shapes, patterns positive/negative)
3. Hard and Soft (water is soft but if you hit it at speed it is hard as concrete (on your poor body)
4. Hard and Soft (Body is made of lines, Squares and spheres) 

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koshime.com

freiheit:

http://www.amazon.com/Force-Dynamic-Drawing-Animators-Second/dp/0240808452

Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animations by michael D. Mettesi it's a more lively aproache to life drawing since it's aimed at animators, and might adress the first step of your problem, that is creating figures with life and purpous. I'd check out other books on animation to, I meen, animation is all about giving life to your character, but I think it would indeed make for an interresting workshop for imagineFX to tackle.

That's a great book. I'd recommend it too.

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Animation books are very good I agree. After all I used to be an animator.  But a little trick is to loosen up, dont make the drawing too tight and not worry about going over a line lots of times.  If you do some sketches, loosen your arm and let the pencil do the work. Sounds odd I know, but in time you will find that less lines make a very energetic image. (If you look at the reply at the top, the figures are full of energy with very few lines) Life drawing is great, this will help you understand anatomy and, balance and weight, but also go out in the street with a sketch book and draw people you see.  (You will feel a bit of a plonka at first but it'll get better. In time you won't notice people looking at you wondering what it is your doing.) You wont have much time in drawing in detail so you will have to learn to use limited lines to capture what you see.  (Draw people walking and talking, interacting with objects. Bus stops, train stations, parks, cafes- these are great places to go.) This in turn will help you loosen up and in time you will learn to draw a line in such a way that your drawing will look like it is about to walk of the page.  Soon you will find that when you draw from your imagination, what your subconscious has picked up in drawing quickly and loosely, will come out in your drawings. As with anything though, don't expect it to happen over night.  But the time and effort you put in will pay off big time.

Practical tips from personal experience:

 

- I'm not sure what level you are at, but first thing to do is as was mentioned above, draw figures correctly. This comes with practice of drawing people from life, photos, magazines (I like sports or fitness mags). 

- Next tip is detail.  But this is not as important because your figure can become alive with just a few strokes.

- Most important: color. Live body is colored differently depending on the area. Even the face has different hues and tones, compare the area around the eyes and the nose for example, or the top and bottom of the face. Dolls or mannequins are colored evenly throughout their entire bodies. Add live color, but that comes with lots of practice.

- Finally, the eyes. If your eyes lack life, there is nothing you can do to bring your figure to life. Again, practice different expressions. Add as much detail to the eyes as possible, that helps making them stand out.

 

 

As for drawing something as your own original art, you need inspiration somewhere. Nature? Science Fiction? Fantasy? Portraiture? Anything goes, you just have to find yourself. Draw something that no one has done yet but would like to see/have very much. Music inspires me, as well as other artists whose art I appreciate.

 

Good luck to you!