Body Flow #2
In the last article, I touched on viewing liquid flow not only as connections from hands interacting but as implied shapes as well. I provided an example of handflow with this approach in mind. In today’s article, we will expand this idea into other areas of the body.
In the picture above, we have a poorly photoshopped image of Boogaloo Sam. The yellow, blue, and teal areas in the picture show potential interpretations of implied shape. Notably, Sam’s hunched posture creates a useful curved shape in front of his torso, but this picture is limited to two dimensions and doesn’t accurately represent how we might see shapes in three dimensions.
Start the clip at 4:00 and watch GoGoBro demonstrate rolls, while keeping in mind to look for implied shapes created by his rolls. Unlike in the picture, these shapes will be three dimensional and in motion. If you are focusing on the space immediately surrounding GoGoBro, you might see an illusion that a shape is moving around him and forcing his body to roll, as opposed to his body rolls originating from within. At times, this shape even spirals around the whole length of his body.
Because GoGoBro is not actually doing liquid, his rolls aren’t always continuous, and the implied shapes might too subtle for liquid. The shape illusion is also more prominent in person, where the movement is unmistakably 3-D. However, these rolls are very useful, because it is easy to create moving shapes with them while maintaining a continuity. All that needs to be done in a liquid context is to exaggerate the shapes, give them a little more definition with the arms, and combine them with more traditional liquid elements (ie, connectedness and splits).
In tomorrow’s Foundation Fridays article, we will cover the mechanics of the rolls, and next week, we will put them into a liquid context.
