COMMUNICATION OVER ILLUSTRATION PART 02 – EFFECTIVE DRAWING HACKS FOR STORYBOARDS
LINE OF ACTION, POSITIVE & NEGATIVE SPACE SHAPES, SPACE & DEPTH, TANGENT LINES
Having effective drawing hacks for storyboards is a sweet feel for your creative toolkit. In the first post of COMMUNICATION OVER ILLUSTRATION we covered SCALE, COMPOSITION & STAGING, SILHOUETTE & SIMPLIFHING TO BASIC SHAPES. See the content of that useful post right here.
This next post of effective drawing hacks for storyboards will delve into further dynamics of the principles of effective drawing for successful and well read 2d animated visual stories.
Being able to understand the visual dynamic play that is available to you for your creative purposes is where the rubber meets the road in terms of your investment into your creative end goals.
Whether you are a cog in someone’s machine or an independent creative, the arsenal you carry will determine your trajectory of success when it comes to storytelling throw downs and positive reception of them,
Line of Action
EFFECTIVE DRAWING HACKS FOR STORYBOARDS
In a previous screen direction post the line of action referred to the 180 degree rule of maintaining clarity of screen direction while conveying your story to your viewers.
The line of action we delve into here refers to an imaginary line extending through the main action of the figure . You will plan your figure poses and its details to accentuate this line.
In doing so, you prove to make more visually impactful your denoted expressions. The first throw down of your lines in terms of character exposition and motion is the LINE OF ACTION.
The line of action is a curved line or a series of interconnected curved lines.
Making the line of action curved, as opposed to drawing it as a straight line, gives your character’s pose more force and attitude which, in turn, aids in making your character’s poses more visually interesting to the viewer.
Postive & Negative Space Shapes
EFFECTIVE DRAWING HACKS FOR STORYBOARDS
Positive and Negative shapes can be used to your great advantage in visual storytelling.
Space shapes in themselves are a key piece of setting the mood for a scene through proper staging and psychological and emotional impact.
All stories are packed with the opportunity to display different moods from happiness to sadness, fear to faith, joy to misery, defeat and conquering.
You can enhance the threading of a character by imposing him with a good amount of negative space around him, just as you can make a character more intense, prominent, intimidating and/or engaging by reducing the space around him. 
Ensuring too that you maintain a visual dynamic interest in your positive and negative shape choices. When you make things too even or balanced without purposeful intention then the power of your visual frames can lose interest and moementum.
Being able to see a broad view of all the tools you need to remember to make your frames as visually aligned and dynamic in order to convey what you are purposefully aiming to convey.
You are the storyteller and your arsenal of tools are the method in which you deliver your ideas.
Space And Depth
EFFECTIVE DRAWING HACKS FOR STORYBOARDS
Spatial relationships and depth are the entrance into creating 3dimensional space on your 2d surface. The deep space of environment and the depth of field of which you create your stories to come to life within is a powerful aptitude to encompass.
Understanding some simple hacks for accomplishing space and depth is a visual storytelling empowerment tool.
Size
Objects of the same size on the same visual plane can create a flat result. Creating size variances in similar shapes and objects will denote a spatial relationship of depth and give off the appearance
Overlap
Overlapping and layering: Overlapping and layering the objects in your illustrations can help to create a sense of depth. With this technique, smaller, farther objects in the background are placed behind larger objects in the foreground, making them feel like they are a greater distance away from the viewer.
Foreshortening or Twisting
Foreshortening is a way to render an object or figure that shows its depth. When we draw something that’s foreshortened, it’s basically an optical illusion that’s created because something looks compressed.
Shape Variation
Keeping lines and shapes monotonous can kill depth in an image. Working your flat lines against curved lines create dynamic interest and create a sense of depth and space. In environments and character designs using dynamic and varying shapes can create really imaginative and explosive visual imagery.
The Tangent Line
What Are Tangents?
Tangents are where two lines meet each other in a way that causes special ambiguity and an uncomfortable and subtle jarring impact on they human eye and its perceptual delineation.
It is subtle, meaning NOT OBVIOUS so understanding your tools and applying your KNOWLEDGE is a sweet feel for visual storytelling success!
To RECAP this useful post, your STORYTELLING TOOLS OF EMPOWERMENT:
LINE OF ACTION: A tool to create dynamic motion and movement in your characters and animated objects.
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SPACE: How you delineate the space of your frame and the psychological impact of that.
SPACE VARIATION & DEPTH: Using objects in placement in space and size to create depth perceptions
TANGENT LINE AWARENESS: Keeping the communication of your linework clear and
CLICK HERE FOR PART ONE OF THIS TWO PART VISUAL STORYTELLING THRIVE.
Creativity is a Natural Axiom To Successful Living.
Have Fun!
