Muzzle Velocity

            I'm playing with some new techniques on my Cintiq at work, and I'm having fun. I messed around with some brush settings in Photoshop, and I'm getting some interesting results. I'm basically ripping off some stuff I saw done for some concept art for Ubisoft's 2008 Prince of Persia:

            I subconsciously ripped it off so bad, even the pose is almost identical.  But whatever.  The subject is Agrias Oaks, one of my favorite characters from Final Fantasy Tactics.  I always had a huge crush (Punch!!) on her - she's a powerful, steadfast, yet ultimately tragic character.

            To elaborate further on the idea of holding on to the initial gesture from a previous post, I'm putting up the process images.  I like to term the concept of an idea's first moments in physical existence as having "muzzle velocity".  On a gun, the bullet's muzzle velocity is its trajectory the instant it leaves the barrel.  It is at this point when it is at its most powerful and when its aim is truest.  As the bullet travels, it drops due to gravity, loses speed due to air resistance, and deviates laterally due to wind and turbulence.  These can all be compensated for to hit the target, though.  So why not always shoot at point blank range to hit the target?  Because there is always a distance to cover towards our audience, and the point-blank shot can be messy due to muzzle flare.  Too much distance, though, and you'll be out of the gun's "danger space", or the space in which the bullet travels at a target's height.

            So to complete the analogy, the initial gesture has high muzzle velocity, so in a sense it's the truest expression of the figure, but it lacks precision and accuracy.  Working a drawing adds precision and accuracy to our original thought.  Overworking it and bringing it too far from the original gesture brings it out of the danger space, and leaves a result that lacks energy and substance.  This analogy serves me in all things, not just drawing - in writing, designing, animating, etc..  I find I get better results if I keep this metaphor in mind.