Tennis Player, mixed media, (21.5x29.7cm)

Damian Callan shows how to draw and paint moving figures full of life and energy.

The French call still life nature morte (dead life), for life is rarely still. If you want to bring your subject to life, the paint itself must have some life of its own – and for this it needs to be applied in a lively, dynamic way.

First attempts

My first attempts to portray moving figures were of swimmers at a pool. I prepared surfaces with strips of collaged paper and built up layers of oil paint with a printmaker’s roller. The textured surface and the crude implement helped to make the first layer animated, loose and the figures undefined. Each layer was left to dry and the subject gradually refined with each subsequent layer, so that eventually it became possible to capture moving figures without fixing them down.

This led me to observe gymnasts in training. I prepared simple abstracted backgrounds with large sweeping brushstrokes of acrylic greys without reference to the figures. On to these I drew, in ink, the outlines of figures and then applied an oil layer with rapid, loose brushstrokes. Curiously, although the backgrounds were prepared in an arbitrary way they almost always seemed to pick up on and emphasise some movement within the gymnasts’ poses.

Children

Handstand, charcoal, (20x15cm)

It was then that I saw the potential in using my children as subject matter. For some time now I have been studying their actions and adventures, particularly outdoors. I look for natural movements and posture and I take plenty of photographs as they go about their business. Quite suddenly their random play will gel and their movements begin to appear almost choreographed. I find the drama of these scenes is enhanced by strong, contrasting light and I like to observe the children contre-jour.

Working process

I start by making small charcoal drawings from the photographs, simplifying the figures and their settings, see Handstand (above). Charcoal is a wonderfully fluid and versatile medium that can range from fine grey lines to dense black masses and edges can be smudged and then redefined. I start my paintings with a brown oil underlayer on a grey ground using the roller and diluted paint. I gradually introduce colour, strengthen the contrast and develop warm and cool neutrals in the background. I work mainly with the roller because it helps to apply more paint in a looser way and encourages a more intuitive approach to finding the characteristic lines and shapes needed for the figure. I often work from the darkest colours up to the lightest, and only in the final layers do I add emphasis with flowing brushstrokes.

Mixed media

Kite Study, mixed media, (22x30cm)

Occasionally I have experimented with mixed-media colour studies using collaged shapes as a way of simplifying backgrounds.

In Kite Study (above) sheets of paper were brushed with green and purple-grey acrylic to indicate grass and sky (or light through trees) respectively. Over this I built up layers of ink line, wash for tone and oil pastel colour, as described in the demonstration below.

Figure arrangements

The interplay between several moving figures is also interesting to explore. Using only a few photographs of my two older children ice skating, I tried several combinations of three or more figures arranged in different groupings with spaces in between – rhythm can be as important in painting as in music. In Skaters (above) one child is featured twice; again, the paint was applied with a roller and the edges of each figure broken with stray marks left behind.

For me, the most important element when generating a sense of movement in figures is the quality of the mark that describes the figure: precise and yet spontaneous and instinctive. This goes to the heart of what I consider to be the best of representational painting from Titian onwards – the struggle to depict the living subject by investing every mark, every brushstroke with energy and life.

Demonstration: Tennis Player

Stage one

I teach workshops based on the moving figure, using models who are happy to hold short, dynamic poses. I give the students willow sticks, ink, wash and pastels and guide them in a series of steps, building up at least three layers of line, tone and then colour. The poses are often only for five minutes and the students work quickly and spontaneously so that loose layers can be built up creating depth and a movement from layer to layer. It helps to have good spotlights to light the model dramatically.

Stage two

As the model strikes a pose the students make a line-only drawing of the figure. Ink is a fluid medium and ideal for movement.

I prefer sticks to nibs because they don’t snag or easily damage and, more importantly, because they are less fine and less predictable. Sticks seem to sharpen the instincts and require the artist to be more creative, more inventive in finding the right lines to capture the figure. The result is often a surprising and instinctive simplification.

It is helpful to keep these line drawings fairly small (about A4 size) so that it is easy to work with the whole figure quickly, keeping it in proportion. The line drawing is then left to dry so that the line and tone can be two separate elements working together to create form and action.

Stage three

When the line is dry the model resumes the pose and the students take up a piece of sponge in order to apply some tonal wash of the Indian ink.

I suggest that they look at the model with eyes half closed to help simplify the pattern of light and shade and capture this through blocking in the single-strength wash.

Often the more loosely and approximately this is done the better the movement generated – a neatly filled in outline will stop the subject in its tracks, whereas stray marks breaking away from the outline or gaps in the tone make for more movement.

The wash layer can create mass and form and it can go with the flow of the pose. But also it can add drama, an underlying feeling that something exciting is happening in the drawing. The wash can be strengthened or the effect built up with a few layers to increase the contrast within the picture.

Finished painting

Tennis Player, mixed media, (21.5x29.7cm)

Degas, of course, built up his pastels in layers, losing and finding edges at each stage and this combination of definition and blur is perfect for moving figures.

Sometimes in dance or sport it is a specific hand gesture or turn of the head that characterises a particular activity and might be defined while other parts of the figure need to be suggested or unclear.

The ink line can even be restated at this stage and with the oily pastel on the surface the line tends to be broken and give a selective emphasis rather than a flat outline.

About Damian Callan

Damian trained as a scientist before moving to Edinburgh to work with people with learning disabilities. He later studied drawing and painting at Edinburgh College of Art. Damian still lives in Edinburgh and divides his time between painting and teaching.

www.damiancallan.co.uk