Meet Tom So - James Bond actor - and our life model on Monday morning

Tom So - more than just a model

Tom So is an actor, model, Qi Gong practitioner and Tai Chi expert. You may recognise him from the poker scene in Casino Royale, in which he played Fukutu, one of the world's top poker players. Tom is an expert in martial arts and has made a lifetime study of how energy moves through the body and what energies a person can feel, both internally and externally. He applies his practice of Qi Gong to his modeling work, especially life modeling. We are indeed exceptionally fortunate to have Tom as our life model for our next two life drawing sessions at Bucks.

Tom So in Casino Royale

But why get an actor and martial arts expert for life drawing classes? Because the study of life drawing for animators is all about finding strong, dynamic poses, poses which help our animators tell a story. We are not looking for long static poses and careful drawing - what we want to do is to breathe life into our characters. On Monday we will be doing a series of fast poses, quick sketches that sequentially tell a story in words, the kind of poses that can be used to create great animation.

Fukutu

You don't need to be a brilliant draftsman to do life drawing, just a willingness to learn and a desire to do bad drawings. Why bad drawings? Because you have to get the bad ones out of you before you can get to the good ones. Our goal is to get as many of the bad ones out of the way as fast as possible so you can get to the good ones quicker.

Fast sketches with a strong line of action

To see more on gesture drawing, quick sketches, and to learn more about the all-important line of action, watch this short video below.



For more details on our monday morning life drawing class in the Graphics Dept at Bucks, what to bring with you, and how to get there, see this blog post.

---Alex

(Editor's Note: For more on life drawing at Bucks, see our post on why animators should learn to draw. Also check out the free life drawing classes hosted by the Bucks Students' Union.)