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Topic: Q for JB: Finding Your Poses Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Mark Haslett
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Joined: 19 April 2004
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Posted: 02 February 2025 at 2:22pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

When did you experience the biggest breakthroughs in character posing
during your early career?
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John Byrne
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Posted: 02 February 2025 at 3:53pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

Before my career!

In drawing class, at art college, there was a segment known as “gesture drawing”. There the model would strike an “action” pose for ten seconds or so, and our job was to capture the “gesture”, not worrying about the details.

That and drawing circles in perspective were the two most important lessons I brought out of ACA.

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Mark Haslett
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Posted: 02 February 2025 at 10:27pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

Thanks! I think you are really good at heroic poses and making distinctive
heroic poses for each hero.

In particular, I can’t think of any character who moves and stands like your
Wolverine.

I kind of expected you to say that drawing Wolverine brought on a kind of
breakthrough!
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Vinny Valenti
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Posted: 04 February 2025 at 1:41pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

I remember when I'd try my hand at drawing, I'd come up with a neat pose with a hand and arm gesture.....and not be able to figure out what to do with the rest of the body to make it look natural. It's like my figures had a partial stroke.
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Peter Hicks
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Posted: 04 February 2025 at 6:10pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

Man, I hated doing those 10 second gesture drawings.  My prof said “If a man falls off a roof, you should be able to draw him before he hits the ground.”
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Mark Haslett
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Posted: 04 February 2025 at 6:23pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

I did gesture drawings in school too and I loved them. But getting from a
good gesture to a good finished drawing is a very long roller coaster for me!

And I struggle coming up with a room full of appropriate gestures when
drawing a room full of superheroes. It’s easiest to make everyone stiff and
upright. I marvel at how JB will find business for everyone and make the do
the business in character— all the way down to fundamental/“gesture” level.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 04 February 2025 at 7:06pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

Jim Salicrup, when he was my editor, paid me a great compliment by saying the people I drew even SAT in character. :-)
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Mark Haslett
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Posted: 04 February 2025 at 7:13pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

I would ask, but I know the answer is “practice, dear boy!”
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Chris Caniano
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Posted: 05 February 2025 at 10:54pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

I studied figure drawing for my Illustration major. Gesture drawing was so important for creating figures with movement. Andy copying JB panels from my comics when I was younger also helped! lol! 
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Peter Hicks
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Posted: 06 February 2025 at 2:05am | IP Logged | 10 post reply

 Jim Salicrup, when he was my editor, paid me a great compliment by saying the people I drew even SAT in character. :-)”
************
I would say that is defined as acting.  When an artist can get into a character’s personality so clearly that things that aren’t even in the script start showing up, that’s the same process an actor goes through.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 06 February 2025 at 11:44am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

“Acting” is a term often used to describe body language and facial expressions. It’s something sadly lost with artists who seem able to produce lunging figures with constipated faces.
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