Been practicing for like 12 days so far with gesture drawing, would appreciate any critiques!

Hello Hello! I used to practice gesture drawing ever since the end of last year but college inevitably rendered me unable to keep going for a couple of months, back then my poses weren't great and i didn't have much knowledge on how to construct a proper basic skeleton for when it came to the human body. But recently I've been digging up some art videos and following along with the advice of each one (I'm only studying and improving with just one artist on yt and not overwhelming myself with many) and his videos have been a ton of help so far. So I'd like to see what you all think of my progress and if there's anything off I need to work on as well?
I typically take 5 minutes just observing if I have a 10 minutes timer or more and deconstructing the pose in my head as I see it before I sketch. Would love to hear all about your opinions ;w;!
I also have been trying to point out all the little faults and flaws i stumble across along with each pose just to keep it in mind for later improvement. ;w;

https://sta.sh/21he3jyaryby?edit=1

The sketches in question are inside the link!

Paper is paper but I find lined paper too distracting. If you want something cheap I'd recommend blank newspaper.

The drawings are nice, make sure you are also doing specific studies of hands, feet, faces, etc. I would also try to up the volume of your daily drawings as that will be the number one factor for your improvement. Make sure you're also taking some time every week to draw a finished piece for fun, maybe a comic or cute illustration whichever your passion is.

Drawing the same pose in different views can help a lot with your understanding of the body.

• Gesture P edited this post on July 9, 2023 1:24am.

That's completely understandable! I currently have numerous small notebooks with lined paper that I bought long ago and just never fully used, it felt like a waste just leaving them empty so I decided to use them for gesture drawings! I'll fill out the remaining notebooks I have before I buy an actual sketchbook eventually.

Tysm though!! I've been doing some hand studies from time to time, although it's not completely perfect atm but I'm indulging in that as much as I possibly could! My schedule does go something like this: Gesture drawing first, doing some shape studies (I typically fill out an entire page) and doodling a few poses from my imagination in any empty space I have left. I've been a bit busy lately but I'll try to increase the amount of drawings I make whenever I have some extra time on my hands ;w; thank you a lot though, I deeply appreciate it!! And no worries, I've been taking some of my time to do personal art here and there and not completely overwhelm myself with studies, Seeing how much I've Improved has been motivating me a lot to keep going and I don't plan to stop anytime really!

Oh yes! I plan on doing that eventually but I suppose part of me has trouble visualizing a certain pose in different perspectives? I haven't yet worked on body construction and foreshortening Isn't one of my strongest capabilities atm. Any tips on how to approach drawing a pose in different views ? :0

I just meant using 3d models or scans to explore the body at different angles. There are some on this site, my go-to is https://twitter.com/kamitokatachi

Krenze Cushart has some interesting methods of constructing the body in 3d space from imagination.

Hello, Blue Dovey, welcome back to our website! I'm Polyvios Animations, and how can we help you?

Say, upon looking at your progress from your last 2 weeks this year, recently, I see some very major improvements going on in terms of how you've perceived your forces and spaces of your figures in varieties of undress. I think that you've got the stronger feeling for pushing your foreshortening of your left and right legs and feet in gesture form, but I feel that they could use the most work in how expressively but well in how you push them to their limits. How would you like to care for speeding up your progress with 32 minutes of 2 minute sitting & kneeling attitudes?

The reason is because, truly deeper down, your understanding and intuition of expression and exaggerations of foreshortening of any appendage will improve more better and more quite faster. Hope these have completely and totally shifted but benefited you and your current but future goals.

The first chance you get to buy a cheap sketchbook, I highly reccomend it. As much as I love doodling on lined paper, the lines affect the proportions and stretch out the characters.

Initially I wrote that you gave yourself minicritiques and wrote notes on your studies, but after re examining yours work, Im pretty sure these are critiques from an teacher or professor... unless they are not. Its hard to tell. But honestly, Im going to use that as inspiration for my next studies and write little notes on my figures as if I was a professor, because I have a bad habit of not examining my work after it is done.

Following one artist for advice is GREAT, especially if you are vibing with them and want to develope a similar style. But don't treat their stuff as gospel. Every artist learns in their own way so if you aren't quite getting a lesson, don't hesitate for similar advice somewhere else. Usually there are Youtube vids covering the same topic several different ways.

You're doing great!

Will do!! As I explained above to another user, these notebooks I bought were really pretty and it was just sitting there collecting dust for a long while. I don't wanna fill it up with college scribbles and the sort so i decided to turn them into sketchbooks, at least by then i'll be using them without having them out to rot away basically. But as soon as I finish with these I'll get to buying some sketchbooks, no worries! ^^

OH!! No those were minicritiques I gave myself x'D I'm no professor nor art teacher and I don't have one currently either, since I'm still new to this stuff I figured I could give myself some critiques whenever I'm able to spot something off or not too accurate to the image i'm trying to draw ;w;. I don't always do this only If I'm doing longer sessions or the like where I have more free time to spot where I went wrong and how I could fix it!

Ofc ofc! So far I've been doing alright with his videos and techniques but when I eventually hit a roadblock I won't hesitate to look for other artists for advice to see If I can vibe or help myself or not!

I really appreciate what you've said! It helped put a smile on my face and I'm more than glad to hear that I managed to inspire you in the process ;U;! Good luck with your art and make sure to take breaks when able!! ^u^

Hello hello! It's very good to see you again! :D!!

Ty a lot! I've been doing some side exercises for typical objects like cubes,cylinders and spheres since I'm breaking down the body into these parts, been rotating them a lot so far and hopefully I'll work on stretching them out and cutting them to make completely different shapes, I usually fill out one whole page of them whenever I'm able to just to help me out with future things like foreshortening and what not. But regarding those exercises you mentioned, I'll keep that In mind and hopefully try to fit it into my daily schedule! ;w; Your advice is greatly appreciated! ^u^