: You won't just draw blocks. The course covers animal skeletons, marine life, insects, landscapes, and even vehicles like cars. Intro to Color
You only want to draw portraits, or you hate drawing boxes and straight lines.
| Mistake | Correction | |---------|-------------| | Sketching too small | Fill the page – draw from shoulder, not wrist | | Erasing / redrawing | Accept “ugly” lines – move to next sketch | | Focusing on detail early | Cover the reference, wait 10 sec, then draw from memory of big shapes | | Flat shading | Shade only to separate overlapping forms, not for texture | | Symmetrical drawing | Draw boxes in 3/4 view – one side shorter than the other |
Student testimonials provide powerful evidence of the course's impact. One student shared their experience on ArtStation, saying the dynamic sketching course was and that they "improved my sketching skills a lot during those 12 weeks" .
+-------------------------------------------------------------+ | CHARLES HU PROFILE | +-------------------------------------------------------------+ | • Education: ArtCenter College of Design (2002) | | • Co-Founder: 3Kicks Art Studio (Pasadena, CA) | | • Faculty: ArtCenter, Gnomon, Laguna College of Art | | • Specialties: Figure Painting, Character Design, Anatomy | +-------------------------------------------------------------+ dynamic sketching charles hu
To follow Hu's traditional approach, students typically use: Visual Development: Dynamic Sketching
💡 Hu often pushes the "pinch" and "vanish" of objects to make them feel more three-dimensional and "dynamic" on the page. If you'd like to dive deeper, I can help you with: Finding online courses featuring Charles Hu A list of recommended drawing supplies for this style
The process of building an object from its core gesture, shape, and structure into a fully-realized drawing is a key focus throughout Hu's curriculum, ensuring that the final drawing is built on a solid, logical foundation rather than guesswork.
Through his structured programs on platforms like the New Masters Academy (NMA) , instructor Charles Hu teaches students how to move away from mindless photographic copying and transition toward analytical, imaginative design. What is Dynamic Sketching? : You won't just draw blocks
Hu argues that life is not made of static outlines; life is made of forces. When you look at a model, you shouldn't see an arm; you should see a line of tension pulling from the shoulder to the fingertip.
(Excellent for intermediate artists, challenging for absolute beginners) Charles Hu’s Dynamic Sketching course is not about "cute" or "loose" sketching. It is a structured, construction-based approach to drawing anything from imagination with volume, perspective, and weight. Think of it as a modern, more streamlined version of Peter Han's dynamic sketching or Scott Robertson's fundamentals.
The principles of dynamic sketching apply equally to character design, environment art, industrial design, and storyboarding.
In his workshops and tutorials, Hu famously breaks complex subjects (human figures, animals, or vehicles) into interlocking boxes, cylinders, and spheres. The "dynamic" aspect enters when the artist learns to distort these primitives to convey perspective, foreshortening, and torque. A Hu sketch of a boxer throwing a hook does not simply outline the arm; it shows the compression of the rhomboid major, the twist of the torso cylinder, and the counterweight of the pelvis box. The viewer feels the physics of the punch because Hu sketched the force rather than the skin . If you'd like to dive deeper, I can
Instead of treating a sketchbook as a surface for reproducing flat photo references, Hu teaches students to look at a 3D subject and instantly perceive its internal architecture. The goal is visual literacy: learning how things work, how they occupy space, and how they can be rotated, manipulated, or re-engineered on paper. 3. The Core Triad: Gesture, Shape, and Structure
: By mastering form and perspective, artists can eventually design things from their imagination rather than just copying references. specific exercises from Charles Hu's curriculum, or would you like a list of he typically recommends for the course? Dynamic Sketching 1 - Online Course by CG Master Academy
Draw your own forearm in extreme foreshortening (hand closer to your face than the elbow). Wrap lines around the cylinder. Notice how the ellipses of the wrist are tighter together than the ellipses of the elbow.
