Line Of Action - Animation's Best Principle Part 2

 

I was originally going to make something different this time but I wanted to focus more on Line Of Action, and that's my own influences of it. The previous post I was talking through the whole technique.

Here's a character that has alot of personality and great posing, Pecos Bill from Melody Time.

There's alot of vividly wacky stuff going on in the film, and this is one of the best segments, I especially really enjoy the action involved but this few seconds of astounding drawings really drew into me the most.

As he's ready to punch, he has a set of these scrawny arms and fists and to me I really love it.

Pecos has to be one of the most badass Disney characters I've ever seen in my life, this is him lighting a cigarette using a lightning bolt, uh that's just absoutely goshdarn cool.

Pecos Bill alongside other casts of expressive animated characters really fit Line Of Action extremely well, if they were stiff, they would be soulless.

Here's another stunning shot from an MGM cartoon you may all have heard of, Red Hot Riding Hood (1943). This has alot of anticipation and exaggeration, definitely lots of drawings of the same pose to make it stand out as something really cartoony. 

Dancing is a key to using Line Of Action, it's so terrifying to see it badly-traced and floaty. It must be magic to animate a dance scene in a similar vain to old musicals and swing music videos.

I'm unsure if there was any sense of Line Of Action in some aspects of this scene in Donald's Crime (1945) but it's flawless nonetheless.

I'm striving to make something like this someday.

Great backgrounds and style choices!

This dance is re-used from Mr. Duck Steps Out by the way, it still works decently  though. 

Besides using Line Of Action in my drawings, it's still useful when it comes to other influences besides animation. 

I have a love for dancers like Fred Astaire, Michael Jackson, The Nicholas Brothers, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Vera Ellen, and of course Gene Kelly. 

I admire Gene's usual jump kick. 

These are 2 of his genius poses to explore or practice drawing on your own!

I always would like to draw simpler shapes first to observe the overall static detail of the pose in order to make it look alive.

Here's another one of my favorite art influences that has a great sense of static but alive ability and Line of Action, the legendary Norman Rockwell. 

I can thank Preston Blair for introducing me to this principle, I wasn't fully aware or interested in it until recently so it was very cool for me to be talking about it.