In my Figure Drawing class last week, we were assigned four hours of figurative drawing based on the subject of our choice. I choose to practice drawing my hands, as they are a body part I always find challenging. Realizing that four hours is a rather large amount of time, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to experiment with a process made popular by artist William Kentridge. Kentridge creates thought-provoking animations using still images, drawn with traditional media (Automatic Writing) .
To create his stop-motion animated films Kentridge starts by making a single charcoal drawing on a piece of paper, and then photographs it with a camera. After that he will alter part of the drawing by adding to, erasing, or redrawing. Then he will take another picture. He repeats this process over and over until he has hundreds or thousands of photographs. When the photographs are compiled (using some sort of movie-editing software such as iMovie or Final Cut Pro) it will create the illusion of movement.
Here is a great interview with Kentridge where he explains his unique process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_UphwAfjhk
This is a wonderful way to animate because anyone can try it. You do not need any expensive software, as it only requires a digital camera, and drawing utensils. I found it helpful to video myself performing my action and projecting it onto a wall to use as reference material.
While my first attempt is far from perfect it was a fun experiment, and allowed me to practice drawing hands in positions that I wouldn't typically study.
(To view the non-cropped version please double click on the video below to watch in full screen)
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