Posing the Interdimensional Traveler - ZBrush Creature Design: Creating Dynamic Concept Imagery for Film and Games - page 182

Lines of Action
As we create the pose, we need to remain aware of the lines of action, or gesture lines, in the pose. As you
will recall from previous chapters, this is a fundamental consideration you want to keep in mind throughout
the process of sculpting, posing, and establishing the final composition. It is important that the action lines
of the pose flow in a pleasing way throughout the figure because they guide the eye into and around the im-
age itself. Once you decide on a final pose and angle of view, you want to be sure those lines flow naturally
and appealingly through the picture plane. Figure 4-2 shows a few examples of poses with the lines drawn
in.
Figure 4-2: Here we see some pose options with the gesture lines overlaid.
Figure 4-3 shows a good example of something to avoid. While posing the arm I found I had created a
right angle at the elbow. This introduced a hard edge in the pose and broke the rhythms I had established.
You can see how I correct the right angle to give a more fluid gesture to the arm. Little subtleties like this
can make a big difference in how the image reads to the viewer. An appealing design posed and presented
in an unappealing way will undermine all your hard work and give it far less impact. A director or other
creative decision maker will often only give your work a few seconds of attention. In these few moments,
you need to make an impression.
Figure 4-3: Always try to avoid right angles as seen in the arm of the figure on the left. These tend to be
static and uninteresting.