Rhythm can mean three different things in drawing:
1) the physical movements of your own body as you draw,
2) The visual movement of the actual lines on the paper as they form the picture, and
3) The timing of the movement in the animation of the drawings as the flash on the screen.
Here, we’ll focus on #2.
Just as the lines are made up of “S” and “C” curves in your drawing they create a visual flow that draws your eye from one part of the drawing to another. If the drawing is done quite nicely, meaning that it has all the elements that we’ve been talking about over the past three assignments and the principles back on page 23, it will have a “good feeling” to it. My wife is a left brain thinker and just doesn’t get this aspect of drawing. Don’t get me wrong here, she knows a good drawing from a bad one just as well as any other person, but as an artist, we can “feel” the drawing as well as “seeing” the drawing. I think you know what I’m talking about here.
A person who has mastered the rhythm of line is Herschfeld. If you look at any of his drawings you can immediately sense the rhythm of the line. Although he uses it as a trademark style, the elements of rhythm can and have been used in all styles of animation drawing... good animation drawing that is!
The example below is my adaptation of a drawing of Baryshnikov by Herschfeld. I’ve modified it slightly but the intent is clear. While not every drawing can ‘look’ like this the idea is to make your drawings flow using ‘s’ and ‘c’ curves.
