Customer Reviews

Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators, Second Edition

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been illustrating professionally for 15 years. I am self taught, meaning I rely on books and the advice of my peers.
I've always noticed there was some elusive thing that was usually missing from my figure drawings that made them less dynamic. Burne Hogarth's books were very helpful, as in Dynamic Figure Drawing (Practical Art Books). But they didn't teach me how to get into the flow. How to make them go POW!!
Remember those John Buscema roughs in How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way? I used to think that his talent was the ONLY thing that made his work so forceful. This book gives you the direction to feel out these forces and shapes. I used to think that these things couldn't be taught.
When Mr. Mattesi's lessons click in your brain, you are truly feeling this power.
For me it makes all the difference in the world.
Brian LeBlanc

My copy of the original edition of Force has seen plenty of wear and tear since I try to always keep it handy when I'm drawing. But that one's going into retirement for this new expanded version.

Rather than the complex anatomies of some books and the stick figure and cylinder creations of others, Mattesi follows the animator's axiom of drawing verbs rather than nouns. Capturing the dynamic motion of a pose that is the prime factor in an appealing drawing.

This isn't an animation book per se, but no one interested in animation or any other form of figure drawing should pass up the lessons Mattesi teaches. The benefits of conveying movement and sheer LIFE in a still drawing can't be ignored.

Also with this version coming from a bigger publisher in Focal Press, the overall image quality is far higher than the somewhat pixel-y look of the pictures in the original. Plus an extra 50 or so pages of instruction isn't too shabby.

This book definitely is an off-shoot of James McMullan's High Focus approach to drawing, although Mattesi discusses many of his own concepts as well. It is similar to High Focus in that it teaches its readers: to see the figure as being made up of three dimensional forms, to use the all important hierarchical approach, NOT to just copy the figure using measurements and negative space estimations, to feel the forms as they are being drawn, and view drawing as a very interactive experience. It is different from McMullan's approach in that Mattesi strongly emphasizes the importance of finding directional and applied "forces" (hence the name) throughout the figure. This becomes a very important concept for animators because of the nature of animating. In the figure drawings, the forces, the squashes, and the stretches are all exagerated, just as an animator has to exagerate his or her key drawings in this manner. Also, the drawings in the book tend to reflect Mattesi's background in animation, whereas McMullan's drawings are more realistic. I believe this book is written specifically for animators. However, the classically trained artist has much to learn from this book as well.

Length:: 0:25 Mins

Here's a very useful book not just for animators, but for anyone who do character drawings. It's called Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators, authored by Michael D. Mattesi.

First of all, this is a book for intermediate and advanced artists. Foundational knowledge of anatomy is required to fully appreciate and follow along with the lessons.

This book is about creating realistic poses for life drawing. Examples show how forces inside the body and outside (gravity or objects) act on the human figure, and how the body reacts to the force.

There are lots of tips and illustrated examples on strong and memorable poses, such as the using of structure and form, overlaps, foreshortening, silhouettes etc. The explanations are clear and simple, even very sketchy illustrated examples bring the point across with very few lines.

While many instructional drawing books teaches how to draw, this book teaches how to think before drawing. Whenever I draw, I always remind myself of the tips to help prevent my characters from being too static.

Additionally, there are also chapters on handling clothing, drawing on location and drawing animals.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

This is an essential book to have if you're drawing characters. The book is very well structured with a logic progression. The explanations given by the author are clear and make you understand what rule is employed to render vivid and dynamic motions. I must also aknowledge the style of M. Mattesi; it is the best in all the anatomy and drawing books (I personally hate the style of Burne Hogarth who is unfortunately still seen as a reference).
I'm using this book a lot and even offered it to my 10 years old nephew who doesn't read english. It didn't matter since the drawings are self-explanatory. He enjoyed it and uses it constantly.

The way the examples are drawn in the book is through beautiful sweeping gestures, all of them very full of motion. The book contains very little analysis of the body's physical presence, but this is not a downside at all. Mattesi emphasizes the balance and weight and volume of the form instead of going back to the dreary analysis of human biology (completely necessary to know)that is in so many of my other books.

I wouldn't recommend it for the FIRST life drawing or figure drawing book, but perhaps after a year or so of study of muscular structure.

For the price, this book is huge, and an amazing deal. A must-have for any figurative artist or animator.

Covers exactly as it says, to bring life and force to your figure drawings. Whether your an animtor, an illustrator, or comic artist, this book is essential to giving life to your figure drawings.

Mattesi covers shape, flow, form, and how to approach a figure by seeing the "forceful" forms of the figure, giving your figures weight. I just wish he covered a "step by step" in more detail, from the beginning force lines to the finished figure...but he gives thumbnails on how to approach a figure.

I'm currently using this book coupled with the Vilppu Drawing Manual, and they seem to go hand in hand.

Highly Recommended!

I was in search of a good figure drawing book with an emphasis on animation and comics and this one caught my eye. After reading through, practicing the techniques and understanding them, I'm convinced that this is the most invaluable book I have in my large collection of art books.

This book completely changed the way I draw. I've been drawing seriously for roughly 10 years and once the ideas in this book clicked, it made me feel as if I'd been drawing the wrong way for all those years. Well worth the 17 bucks or whatever it was I payed for it.

I wouldn't recommend this book to beginners however. It's not really a how to draw or a book that covers basic proportion and anatomy issues. For somebody to get the most out of this book, I think they'd need to have a solid grasp on anatomy and fundamental drawing techniques. On the other hand, a beginner may benefit from this book simply from a gesture standpoint.

Easily a 5 out of 5 for me.

I have hundreds of books on drawing and dozens about how to draw the human figure. By far this is the best book I have on my shelves. As a live model teacher, I always recommend Force to my students who want to pursue carreers as illustrators, animators or to those who simply want to study the figure. The book is easy to follow and the concepts taught really change your vision about the human figure. Please note: this is not a book about how to finish your drawings, it is about how you should begin them. And, as the title of the book says, how to imput Force on your figures. If you really study this book, really following it and making the exercises, I'm sure, no matter how skilled you are, your drawing skills will improve a lot. This book is a must, alongwith any Bridgeman's book and Henry Yan's Figure Drawing. I highly recommend it both to begginers and experienced artists. I'd give six stars if I could.

I purchased this book quite awhile ago and I've studied it more than a few times but I always end up frustrated and disgusted with it. The author attempts to teach a way to conceptualize the human form by inventing imagined forces. He evidently communicates this method successfully in a classroom setting but he hasn't written it for the uninitiated. He substitutes a plethora of gesture sketches for missing step-by-step examples, leaving the reader to guess how those sketches relate to his process. A few arrows superimposed over a handful of sketches is a poor substitute for an illustrated, in-depth treatment that could motivate a clear understanding of his working procedure. In the first half of the book, he downplays contours but then he emphasizes them later on. His examples illustrating the use of surface lines to indicate volume are few and weak. He praises the work of other artists but he doesn't show how it relates to his approach. His overuse of the term "moment" is particularly annoying. A moment is the tendency of a force to cause an object to rotate about an axis but the author's intended meaning of this word remains obscure by his confusing misuse of it.

The book frustrates this reviewer with its condescending tone, its obscure descriptions and its weak analogies. I hope the author reads my review, takes it seriously and exerts a more specific and thorough teaching effort in a future edition. The book has potential but, in its current form, it's just an opinion of the contorted, distorted sketches it contains. For learning to draw the living human form, investigate Glenn Vilppu's approach.