03-08-2013, 04:19 AM
Hey Tyrus, I made a small tutorial about gesture drawing a while back HERE
Although my methods have changed a bit slightly over time, I think it's still a good starting point; or gets the point across.
With a gesture drawing you want to capture a pose as quickly as possible. Let's say you have 30 seconds on a pose. Do you want to spend your time drawing the edge-lines/contour of a figure? Are you really going to capture the essence of the pose with contour lines? For me personally, it's a waste of time, and at best you're going to capture maybe half or less of the figure with the time that you have, and it's most likely, if you aren't experienced, going to look disfigured.
So, how are you going to go about capturing a pose with so little time?
Let's say you're working with this image and you only have 30 seconds
How will you capture the whole figure in that time?
![[Image: Gestureexample.jpg]](https://crimsondaggers.com/dennis/images/stuff/Gestureexample.jpg)
First of all, I would look at the figure as a whole.
Try to look to look at the image as one fluid line.
![[Image: Gestureexample02.jpg]](https://crimsondaggers.com/dennis/images/stuff/Gestureexample02.jpg)
Try to look at the image as one big shape.
![[Image: Gestureexample03.jpg]](https://crimsondaggers.com/dennis/images/stuff/Gestureexample03.jpg)
The point is, before you even lay your pencil down to paper, look at the figure in its entirety, and look at the shape it's making.
Gesture drawing is about being able to capture the feel of a pose in it's entirety. Even 10 seconds should be enough to capture an entire pose if you approach it the right way.
The only easy way to do this is with simple lines. Forget the fleshy parts of the figure for a bit and try to think of the figure as a skeletal mannequin. Here is a great example by Andrew Loomis:
![[Image: GESTURELOOMIS.jpg]](https://crimsondaggers.com/dennis/images/stuff/GESTURELOOMIS.jpg)
Stay loose and fluid and you have the ability to not only capture complex poses in a short amount of time, but feel a lot more freedom while drawing.
Also, don't push aside gesture drawing after you move on to do something more complex; like a finished piece of work. You should always start your work off with a gesture and build on it.
Just look at the information there is about gesture drawing, think carefully, continue to experiment, and you will come up with your OWN method of doing gestures sooner or later, because there really isn't just one way.
Although my methods have changed a bit slightly over time, I think it's still a good starting point; or gets the point across.
With a gesture drawing you want to capture a pose as quickly as possible. Let's say you have 30 seconds on a pose. Do you want to spend your time drawing the edge-lines/contour of a figure? Are you really going to capture the essence of the pose with contour lines? For me personally, it's a waste of time, and at best you're going to capture maybe half or less of the figure with the time that you have, and it's most likely, if you aren't experienced, going to look disfigured.
So, how are you going to go about capturing a pose with so little time?
Let's say you're working with this image and you only have 30 seconds
How will you capture the whole figure in that time?
First of all, I would look at the figure as a whole.
Try to look to look at the image as one fluid line.
Try to look at the image as one big shape.
The point is, before you even lay your pencil down to paper, look at the figure in its entirety, and look at the shape it's making.
Gesture drawing is about being able to capture the feel of a pose in it's entirety. Even 10 seconds should be enough to capture an entire pose if you approach it the right way.
The only easy way to do this is with simple lines. Forget the fleshy parts of the figure for a bit and try to think of the figure as a skeletal mannequin. Here is a great example by Andrew Loomis:
Stay loose and fluid and you have the ability to not only capture complex poses in a short amount of time, but feel a lot more freedom while drawing.
Also, don't push aside gesture drawing after you move on to do something more complex; like a finished piece of work. You should always start your work off with a gesture and build on it.
Just look at the information there is about gesture drawing, think carefully, continue to experiment, and you will come up with your OWN method of doing gestures sooner or later, because there really isn't just one way.