THE MOVEMENT OF SHAPES

Once you have learned to see and know shapes, the next most im-
portant thing is learning to see and know the movements of shapes.
Each thing, each person moves in a way all his own. We all walk,
but we all walk in our own way. You can recognize a friend by the
way he walks, even though he may be in disguise. Animals walk, run,
and move each in its own way. Even trees move in their own way as
they grow or when the wind tosses them.

Before you start to draw a shape, study the way it moves. Watch
the way one shape moves into the shape next to it, the way shapes flow
together, the contrasting movements of shapes. Try to feel that move-
ment in your own body. You will draw much better if you feel like the
prancing horse or the crouching cat you are trying to get down on
paper.

Since the best way to learn how to draw is to draw, why not turn
- back now and copy some or all of the drawings that you have looked
at here? Draw big!