How to draw movement in cartoons, particularly the arms – aargh! It’s the torment of us all: learning to create dynamism so that our characters look effortlessly entertaining.
We’ve examined ways of doing this with legs, and also with expressions.
Huzzah!
The same principle can be applied for arms, too!
How to Draw Movement in Cartoon Arms: using Asymmetry
Today’s lesson revolves around three tips:
- practice when it doesn’t matter
- use a reference
- small differences are BIG
Practice When It Doesn’t Matter
Most of us really dislike making mistakes, so yes, do pages and pages of rough, sketchy stick men, just testing out what you can do with arms.
If you only draw arms when you need them for useable cartoons you are unlikely to end up with lively-looking arm poses.
Use a Reference
Much as we would love to be different, as humans web have a default towards drawing things symmetrically. That’s the principle reason to use a reference of some sort, because a reference image brings home the fact that the (symmetrical) way you think things look i.e. the way they look in your memory or imagination, is not at all the way they look in real life.
Small Differences Are Big
Just as we find with drawing expressions, tiny differences have big effects when it comes to how to draw movement in cartoons. That shift of an eyebrow, the tweak of a finger angle can take things from dull to dynamic in a moment.
Try drawing a line of five stick figures all in the same pose: you’ll see exactly what I mean!