Capturing The Essence of Movement

Creating the sensation of movement in a still medium is a real trick. But, Robert Longo knows how to capture that feeling…and in a drawing, no less. You can really feel the bodies bending, the push of air against their clothes, the pull of gravity. And then, there is the recognition: Wow. That’s charcoal.

Apparently others were inspired by Longo’s drawings, as well. The “Big Love” commercial below drew from his work – and you can really see the influence. When I watched it the first time, I thought, “Wow. I don’t see many works that make movement feel like something you can touch.”