Tuesday Tutorial: Drawing basics #4 "Shots"

We've seen how to build a simple character (tuorial #1 "human body"). We've seen how to give him some basic features (tutorial #2 "shapes"). We've seen how to play with colors (tutorial #3 "colors"). Now it's time to put all this things together and build an image!

YESS! C'MON! LET'S DO IT! YAHOOO! COCOOO! But wait.... where do I start from?

Composition is our toolbox

This is how I usually feel when I start to build an image. There's a lot of factors involved! The main thing we have to remember anyway is what we want to express and the feeling we want to comunicate! We also have to consider which of the observer questions should be satisfied: -Where?- When? - Who? - What? - Why?

We can say that everything should be done to express a feeling and be functional.

Keeping in mind this will help us a lot clarify what we want to express and how we can do it!

At this point we can pull out our composition toolbox and pick up a tool. Composition is a word that encloses all the image features: point of view, shot, image structure, white spaces, visual weight, eye path, focal points and so on.

For the moment we'll focus on some basic types of shots.

Choose your shot

Playing with different types of shots is something that allows us to understand the meaning and the utility of composition in an easy way. It allows us to have a good base we could use to better build our images!

Basically what we have to do is to pick a shot that gives us the information we need in that particular moment. We need to focus on a reaction in a conversation? We'll choose a face shot! We need to show where our story is located? We'll choose a shot that describe the land or the building surrounding! What if we need to show an action or a movement? Choose a shot in between!

Just remember that we have to give the observer the informations he needs!

That's why, looking to a movie, we usually see the same shots sequence in a scene. Often we'll see a description of the place, and then a closing to the characters.

Here's a table showing some basic types of shots