When painting or drawing we are creating a static artwork. Yet many artists
managed to create the illusion of movement when you look at their artworks.
In this tutorial we will look at ten ways that you can also fool the viewers eye
into thinking that they can see movement in your artworks. The first thing to
realize is that because we can't add actual movements to our artwork we need
to imply the movement. In other words we will show the moving object in such a
way that your brain only normally sees them like that when they are moving. If
you can create this effect in your painting it will look fabulously alive
and you are guaranteed to get lots of Wow's and compliments. The first of these
methods is to place the figure in a pose only normally seen when moving. In this
painting you know these horses are racing because
of the way their feet are positioned. Their angle tells you they are running around
a bend and the pose of the jockeys also tell you that their horses are at full
gallop. In other words the pose has told us a lot of things: we know where
these horses are running, in which direction they are running and at what
speed. In this artwork we know the boy is jumping because of his pose. The balloons
have been posed behind him which tells you that he's jumping forward. And in
this photograph the pose of the little girls is only possible when they are
jumping forward so we automatically know that they are jumping forward implying
that movement in the picture. Here's an interesting movement illusion. Take a
look at this photo there's clearly nothing moving in the scene yet you
still get the sense of moving into the scene. The trick here is to use
perspective repetition by repeating same or similar objects into the distance
while applying perspective to those objects.
As these similar objects get smaller due to perspective, it fools your brain into
thinking it's moving forward. In this artwork it is the repeating vertical
lines making you feel like you're walking up the street. And in this photo
it is the perspective repetition of the dashed center lines making you feel like
you're busy taking the corner. Due to gravity most things that are in the air
or in motion so when you see something in the air your brain automatically
assumes that it's in motion. Take a look at this graphic: all it is is a series of
teardrop shapes at various angles, yet when you look at them you get a distinct
sense of movement because your brain is telling you that they are balloons
floating in the air. In other words your brain has completed the illusion for you.
Here the artist has used the airborne effect to create a very effective surreal
artwork. Some things in nature never stop moving like the sea. If you paint them
you automatically convey a sense of movement in your artwork. Here the artist
has used the perpetual motion effect along with an airborne object to create
an artwork that has incredible movement. It isn't however just the sea that is
perpetually moving. Here you know that the person is moving because they are on
an escalator. By looking at the direction of their feet you even know that this
person is going up. The next way to create the illusion of movement is to
show the result of movement. An example of this would be the water ripples
around these ducks. You know that the water ripples are there because the
ducks are pedaling their feet like crazy under the water. Yet you can't see their
feet that are actually in motion. Another example is the dust that's been kicked
up as these horses run past. The dust tells you it's the horses that are
moving. And in this painting the drops on the window implying that there is
movement outside and due to the rain. These tracks in the road are a result of
movement so also convey a sense of motion even though the
motion has already happened. Then there are a lot of things that move that leave
a trail behind or show up as vapor. Here you can tell the plane is flying because
it's suspended in the air. You can however also tell what path the plane
flew due to the trial that it has left.
The same thing goes for the wake of this boat, and in this painting the smoke
trail left by the train indicates the movement in the scene. You can also use
this effect to show invisible movement like the movement of air. In this
painting, The Birth of Venus by Botticelli, he indicated that the god of
wind, Zephyr, is blowing her to shore using a vapour trail by his mouth. So here is a
really interesting one - motion blur. Motion blur is something that happens
when an object moves faster then your eye can see it. Although this technique was
used hundreds of years ago already as you can see from the 1655 painting of
the spinners by Diego Velazquez. It's only really become popular since the
advent of cameras because they show up motion blur more often then are eyes show it
to us, as you can see in this photo. You can create the illusion of movement in
your artworks by adding this motion blur to any moving object. In this painting
you will see that the white horses are not very defined and that creates a
motion blur effect around them. Because your brain blocks out motion blur when
you look around you to prevent you from getting motion sickness, you ideally only
use motion blur on secondary objects in your artworks. Here you can see how the
central brown horse doesn't have a motion blur effect and it's the most
defined horse of the lot as well and as a result it becomes the focal point in
this painting. In this painting the racing car is the focal point so it's
painted in full focus but to indicate the speed of the car the background and
the foreground have been painted with a motion blur. Many
object's shape will distort when they move so by painting this distortion you
create the illusion of movement. Here we can tell that the central sail is moving
because of its distorted shape. Other examples are hair blowing in the
wind and grass bending because of the wind. Now for some reason our eyes like
to follow a line and we can use this effect to create the illusion of
movement in our artworks. Here you can tell how the ribbon is moving because of
the flowing lines that it creates. In this artwork the artist has used lines
to create a sense of movement despite the fact that there's no actual objects
in the painting. In this landscape the winding road also makes your eye
meander into the scene creating a sense of movement. The last
illusion we will look at is called energy lines. This is when you use
imaginary lines to indicate direction of movement in your artwork. You can think
of these lines as imaginary motion blur lines and they can be very effective in
conveying the illusion of motion. These energy lines don't need to be in
your face either. Here you can see how subtle the energy lines are yet you can
still sense the movement. I find that using energy lines is most effective
when you use them creatively as part of the scene as you can see in this artwork.
In summary I want you to look back over the previous photos and artworks, this
time look carefully each of them and you will notice that often more than one of
the illusion techniques are at play. So bear this in mind when creating your
artworks. The stronger the sense of motion you can create in the artwork the
more dramatic it will appear. Now for this lesson's challenge: your challenge is
to use two of the illusion methods to create an artwork which makes the viewer
feel like the focal point of the artwork is moving. You will get bonus points if you
come up with creative and outside the box for the focal point. Instructions on
where to post your artwork are in the description below. Good luck I look
forward to seeing your artwork