Art Student Spotlight: Clifford Chiu

If you're into drawing people, make sure you check out the terrific drawings of 4th year animation student Clifford Chiu, from Toronto.

His sketches of clothed figures show the type of strong, directional line and clarity that you'd expect of an animation artist - but that non-animators can profit from, too.

Looking for key changes of direction through the figure can help you to organize your drawing, and can add movement and interest to an otherwise static pose. The directional lines and folds created by clothing are an important tool, allowing you to give the viewer a lot of 'visual information' in just a few strokes.

Clifford tells me that the directional forces in clothing are still something of a weak point for him, and when I took another look, I could see what he meant in some sketches. I guess it's true that there is always something more to learn, no matter how good you get.

A strong sense of direction is also apparent in Clifford's figure drawings - note how beautifully clean and elegant his line is, too. I particularly like the simple and confident execution of the feet, grounding the figure even when the surface isn't shown.

The use of lineweight, and letting the contour naturally flow from exterior to interior as forms overlap, allow even a linear figure drawing to have a clear sense of three-dimensional form.

I just stumbled across Clifford's blog, but you're an art student with some seriously good figure drawings (and plenty of them) in your blog, you can email me to be considered for this occasional feature. You can also include your URL in the comments.

Images © Clifford Chiu, licensed to About.com