07-19-2016, 07:49 PM
nice one with that pose! he really feels solid and like he's jogging! I think the stiffness mentioned about that pose actually works in its favour here, since he is a built up guy running I think you'd expect to see some tension / stiffness to his upper body as he braces to impact with the ground.
Definitions differ but in general I believe a 'gesture' can really just refer to something that's unfinished and suggests something. There's a video on Watts' channel where the guy does an arm drawing that's super detailed (to my eyes) and spends about an hour on it but still says it's 'just a gesture', so take it as you will. I agree though that when we talk about figure drawing gesture we refer to more the flow and action to the pose - but then we build construction on top of that. So what you've done before they definitely are gesture drawings, just depends on your definition! I don't remember if you've been studying Hampton, he has a good process for getting a really flowing idea of the pose then building solid construction on top. Here's some crappy examples of mine following his sort of method (I posted some gesture stuff before but these might be clearer about what I'm doing)
30 second gesture, I guess proper 'gestures' looking just at rhythm and movement (although there is still some wrapping lines and stuff)
![[Image: MJXaksn.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/MJXaksn.jpg)
Then this next page, I start exactly as I did in the ones above but start to add just a little bit of construction and form and did them in 2 minutes each (the one in the bottom right was left in this '2 min gesture' form). Then, after I did the whole page I went back over them with no timer and started adding some more solid mannequin like constructions - maybe spending about 3 - 5 minutes on each one but I wasn't concerned with how long it took. The one in the bottom right I left untouched like I said, that's how they all looked at the beginning (you can't really see the initial flowy lines since they are really light and must've got smudged out by my hand, or else they became a part of the construction like shapes that came after).
![[Image: BbD8h7r.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/BbD8h7r.jpg)
The poses themselves are not so good, lots of errors and weirdness but they're just my warm up, just posting them to show the process. I used more rounded mannequin construction but boxy works as well (it's actually harder I think to use boxy forms since small errors are really noticeable!).
Hope that helps in some way! Basically I'm posting this stuff again to show that you can practice gesture and construction (even accurate copying if you keep the reference images) in the same session in this kind of 3 stage approach of
1 Initial Line of action & flowy lines
2 Adding simple forms and a little structure
3 Putting solid construction on top
EDIT The benefit of doing a bunch of figure gestures first before going back to add construction one by one is that your eye will pick up more errors when you go back over them. Your kind of 'visual cache' if you like is cleared and you see the figure in a fresher way. Also if you do the construction phase without the reference it's a good challenge of your construction skills and tests if you can read your own gestures.
Definitions differ but in general I believe a 'gesture' can really just refer to something that's unfinished and suggests something. There's a video on Watts' channel where the guy does an arm drawing that's super detailed (to my eyes) and spends about an hour on it but still says it's 'just a gesture', so take it as you will. I agree though that when we talk about figure drawing gesture we refer to more the flow and action to the pose - but then we build construction on top of that. So what you've done before they definitely are gesture drawings, just depends on your definition! I don't remember if you've been studying Hampton, he has a good process for getting a really flowing idea of the pose then building solid construction on top. Here's some crappy examples of mine following his sort of method (I posted some gesture stuff before but these might be clearer about what I'm doing)
30 second gesture, I guess proper 'gestures' looking just at rhythm and movement (although there is still some wrapping lines and stuff)
Then this next page, I start exactly as I did in the ones above but start to add just a little bit of construction and form and did them in 2 minutes each (the one in the bottom right was left in this '2 min gesture' form). Then, after I did the whole page I went back over them with no timer and started adding some more solid mannequin like constructions - maybe spending about 3 - 5 minutes on each one but I wasn't concerned with how long it took. The one in the bottom right I left untouched like I said, that's how they all looked at the beginning (you can't really see the initial flowy lines since they are really light and must've got smudged out by my hand, or else they became a part of the construction like shapes that came after).
The poses themselves are not so good, lots of errors and weirdness but they're just my warm up, just posting them to show the process. I used more rounded mannequin construction but boxy works as well (it's actually harder I think to use boxy forms since small errors are really noticeable!).
Hope that helps in some way! Basically I'm posting this stuff again to show that you can practice gesture and construction (even accurate copying if you keep the reference images) in the same session in this kind of 3 stage approach of
1 Initial Line of action & flowy lines
2 Adding simple forms and a little structure
3 Putting solid construction on top
EDIT The benefit of doing a bunch of figure gestures first before going back to add construction one by one is that your eye will pick up more errors when you go back over them. Your kind of 'visual cache' if you like is cleared and you see the figure in a fresher way. Also if you do the construction phase without the reference it's a good challenge of your construction skills and tests if you can read your own gestures.