The Magic of Motion Blur

Motion blur is an effect you can see any time you pause a video, Fast-moving objects blur against their background. The effect happens when a form moves rapidly in front of a stationary “camera.” It also conveys the way moving objects look to our eyes.

Surprisingly few artists attempt to convey the effect, but if you can do it, the results can be compelling.

If you look at individual frames from live action films, any fast moving object has a softly blurred edge. The ability to simulate motion blur in CG animation was the revolutionary breakthrough that made the embryonic Pixar company take off in its first successful films. Very primitive CG animation, like traditional stop motion animation, left hard edges on moving objects, which gave a jittery rather than a fluid feeling to the motion.

As painters of still images—digital or traditional— we can take a lesson from these animation pioneers.

This oil painting from Dinotopia: First Flight shows dancers dressed up as dinosaurs parading at night through a city. They’re caught mid-stride in a wild dance. Their left feet are swinging forward, and their arms are flapping upward.

The faster the form is moving, the more it is blurred. I painted the figures and the background all wet together, and then softened all the edges in the direction of the line of action. For this kind of soft passagework, a slower drying medium helps.

To suggest that the “camera” was tracking along with the dancers, and to give a sense of shallow focus, I also blurred the details of the crowd across the street. If I had painted all these elements with crisp edges, they would have lost the feeling of depth and motion.

Manfred Schatz: Master of Motion Blur

Manfred Schatz (1925-2004) was a wildlife artist who captured the energy and movement of living animals.

He developed a distinctive motion-blur effect in his oil paintings, using large brushes to soften edges in the direction of movement. The wings of these flying ducks are nearly lost, and the water is suggested with a few deft strokes.

Manfred Schatz, From the Shadows

He was born in 1925 in Stettin, Germany, and attended the Academy of Arts in Berlin before the age of 18. He was unable to escape the war and was drafted in the German army, fighting on the Russian front.

He was taken prisoner in Russia and spent more than four years in a prison camp. He suffered from exhaustion, tuberculosis, and near starvation. After he was set free, he recuperated at a hunting preserve with his brother, a game warden.

There he fell in love with nature and with observing the movement of animals.

How did he accomplish this effect in his paintings?