—As you will see by looking at A and B in [Fig. 42], the sketches of the man and horse consist of merely straight lines but you will also observe that A looks like a boxer because the action is there.
Fig. 42. a simple line drawing of a man and a horse
This is because when I sketched it I was careful to note the exact position of the boxer’s head, arms, legs and body as they appeared at that given moment. The keynote in sketching a figure in action is always to draw it, not as you wish or believe it to look but as it actually is.
The line sketches [A and B] only look as like a man landing a right, and a horse coming down the home stretch as they do because (a) all the lines are properly proportioned, that is, of the right length when compared with each other, and (b) they are set in the correct positions. The way to become a good judge of proportion is always to notice the relative sizes of the things you draw.
Sketching Simple Outline Figures.
—When you can sketch straight line figures to show men and animals in action you can then draw outlines around them and so make them much more realistic as shown at A and B in [Fig. 43].
Fig. 43. simple outline drawing of a boxer and a race horse
To do this draw a straight line sketch first and then draw the outline around it, when you can rub out the straight lines if you want to. In these outline sketches you will see that only the lines that are actually needed to give the picture the contour, that is, the shape of the figure, or body, are used.