gesture drawing

out of all the gesture drawing I did today (hours) I still dont feel satisfied with what I produced. I am having a hard time feeling free flowing with the curves in gesture drawing, its suppose to be so simple yet I don't feel like I am relaxed enough with it. Please critique

SINE March 28, 2020 3:23am

hello,i think that you right trak on gesture drawing, i said i think because i have same issue with this gesture base. Only think thet i understund is that the lines of the gesture pose must be light and deficitable(not so many lines:)). But keep going you are getting to something:)

1

Solarbabie March 28, 2020 5:13pm

Thank you Sine,

That was very helpful and I will pay more attention to how I hold my pencil. I feel like I do to many lines but haven't gotten the hang of the quick movements yet. lol :)

Thank you for the critique! :)

B

SINE March 29, 2020 2:49am

you are very welcome:)keep on with good work:)

1

Kalim March 28, 2020 4:48am

Hey solarbabie! Hope you doing well. This is my first critique given here, hope it will make sense to you :)

I see on the uploaded image that you started with the central single line, which is good. Some poses require 2 or 3 lines to express the gesture (for example a straight stuff hand supporting a leaned body, the body might have a nice curvy line running through the spine and legs, and the hand is a straight line in a visible opposition making the feel of really supporting the body). What I am trying to say is that there is no rule of a single line running through spine, it might my several lines even on the silhouete. Each pose is different and requires unique lines.

What helped me geatly in gesture drawing:

1) doing fast ones. Really fast: 10 to 20 seconds. There is just no room for messing around. you just need to express the significance of a pose right Now. And it helps.

2) holding my pencil the other way around (hard to explaing by words - I am sure you know about the way) what it does is three things:

a) Im drawing with my shoulder, not the wrist movement - this is super important - by moving the shoulder you give emphacis on larger more fluid strokes that are less squiggly.

b) I have the control over the thickness of the line. This might not seem important now, but as you progress, you will implement varying line thickness into your drawing expressinon. That makes the drawing more interesting to look at, better that just series of lines of the same thickenss. But Dont worry about this on now.

So... tldr: Just do really fast ones :)

Hope it helped. Have a nice day.

1 1

Solarbabie March 28, 2020 5:09pm

Hi Kalim!! :)

First off I want to share something with you I thought was kinda cool, The drawings I posted....they were the first ones I ever posted and I was very hesitant on ever posting anything out of embarrestment..silly I know! :)

However I got over my fear and did it anyway. I started a group yesterday and commited to one month of drawing as much as I can, to see what I am capable of. So yesterday was my first ever post and I have been in a couple drawing classes with opportunity to post but never did. So when I read your feedback and you said it was the first critique you ever did on here, I felt special....lol Why? Because in one way we experienced a "first" together! ha ha I know that might sound weird but my friend and I will point out moments when we both experience a first time doing something together that neither one of us have ever done. :)

I wanted to really say thank you for 2 reasons! First, thank you for the feedback, it was greatly appreciated, you gave THE BEST ADVICE!! Your advise is in perfect alignment with everything I watched on videos yesterday and its funny how as humans we have to have repitition and hear something several times before we do anything about it.

And second because you are part of me having a good experience on here by posting my work, I can BETTER UNDERSTAND why its important to post your work for feedback. I will literally be a better artist because of you passing on your gifts of wisdom and experience! And the more I listen and Do the quicker I will reach my goal! :)

Your the best, thank you for sharing Kalim!

B

Kalim March 29, 2020 1:40am

Hey! Thats awesome what you just tolt me. Your post made me smile. :)

I am really glad to hear that you commited a time period for intensive drawing And at the same time you overcame the fear and just put it online. Thats a big step.

Years back when I was starting to draw I had the same problem (even now there is still some of it). There was this site conceptart.org which doesnt exist any more and it helped me so much. It had the greates community of artist I ever met, so supportive, positive and inspiring. It boosted me every time I posted there something. Hoping now to find an alternative.

I realised that surrounding yourself with people with similar interests is the best thing to do to keep going and improving. In real life of course its way better, but as we have this super opportinutiny of The Mighty Internets, we just need to exploit it.

Have a nice day!

3

Ramosmig March 30, 2020 5:13pm

I enjoy your commentary! I feel the same way, I'm never satisfied.

To this particular drawing I would add lines to indicate where the feet and hands are resting to make the figure appear as though it's occupying space. And I can't stress enough how much a drawing comes together when hands and feet are included.

Solarbabie March 31, 2020 6:21pm

Hi Ramosmig,

Thank you so much for that helpful tip! :) I will be praticing that in my next gesture drawings. However one thing is I'm not sure how to draw the hand and feet in gesture drawings. what I have noticed so far with gestures its that its maybe just a couple lines, how do I bring them to look more pronouced? Thank you again! :)

B