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@muffinarrow
•
3yr
added comment inHow to Draw Gesture – Step by Step
Hi, I have been practicing gesture drawing for a month now , and can someone please critique my drawings.
Thank-you
•
3yr
Wow @muffinarrow! I remember giving you a critique a month ago, and these drawings look like they are done by a whole new person! Long fluid clean lines done with your shoulder and great gesture! Congratulations on the improvements you´ve made and well done working through this month! I will try to look for things to help you further. You can try working on the suggestions I make but I would recommend to pretty soon continue with the bean; you´re ready for it :)
ASSYMETRY, HELPING THE FLOW
When you move into doing longer poses where you have time indicate both sides of a leg and add small details in the contour, you might find the gesture to be hurt. A common issue is to draw symmetrical contours. The symmetry kills the flow. What you want to do is to draw contours that support the flow. Put simply, if the gesture is a c-curve, bend the contour lines to follow that c-curve. You could also think of the gesture as a stream of water that the contour should push forward from side to side. A curve on one side is followed by a curve on the other side. This assymetrical contour pushes the flow forward.
With that in mind I might have redesigned the leg in your 6th drawing (see attached paintover)
If you want to dive deeper into gesture, Mike Mattesi has some free lessons that you can check out https://www.proko.com/lesson/improving-line-quality-and-rhythm-force-series-part-1/discussions
I hope this helps and enjoy the bean :)
@muffinarrow
•
4yr
Asked for help
Hi, I am new to this course and I did some gesture practice. I would like to have some feedback and to know my mistakes.
Hi there, while some could argue that this is not a gesture, it's actually very hard to gesture a simple standing pose, as people tend to use the body's motion as lines for the gesture. But you can also use the body's S curves's flow to create gesture, this can really help with a static pose. check the image where the S curves are looking from behind. hope this helps, good work ;)
Hi muffinarrow
Hi, in both sketches you have correctly identified the main line of action (from the neck down to the ground in these two cases) but you should apply the same concept to the other parts of the body before trying to build shapes on them.
After you have identified and drawn the line of action try to identify the position and correct inclination of the shoulders and pelvis and signal with a simple line or (if you feel like it but, at this stage, it is not necessary, with a perspective box); by doing so you will have the indications you need to position the torso correctly and for the arms and legs.
Place your arms and legs over your shoulders and pelvis, always using fluid lines, just as you did with the line of strength.
After that you can draw shapes on them.
In this one, however, I would advise you to concentrate exclusively on drawing the gesture, without worrying about finishing the figure too much, as how to do this will be explained to you in later lessons, so there's no need to worry about that for now. :)
•
4yr
Good work so far. I like some of the flowing lines you have. Look out for making limbs symmetrical (having the same bulging contour on both sides). In the lower legs you want to push the flow by ignoring the muscle contour to create asymmetrical flow and so increasing the gesture of the limbs along with the flow of the pose. Stan says in his lesson notes this about symmetry: "The tendency for us is to make things symmetrical, but this stiffens the gesture and makes the figure look like a snowman."
Hope that helps! Good work on getting the main action line idea!
•
4yr
Hi @muffinarrow, there´s some good stuff going on in these drawings. I like the s-curve going through the first image, and the overall c-curve in the second. Great!
My main advice for you is to simplify more. Think " how can I show this pose with as few lines as possible". It´s a challenge, but It will help you distil it to the real thing, and see past unnecessary details in the contour.
How you practice is also important:
Watch the instruction videos (I think the next one https://www.proko.com/course-lesson/how-to-draw-gesture-step-by-step/notes will answer many of your questions) and do the assignments:
1. Try for yourself
2. Look at Stan and copy his drawing
3. Try for yourself again. Try to draw like Stan did, without looking at his example
This is the MOST IMPORTANT part of the entire course, worth spending time on. Stan recommends to draw 10 to 20 of them every day
I would also recommend watching this video and applying what it teaches.
https://www.proko.com/course-lesson/how-to-hold-and-control-your-pencil/discussions
Drawing with your shoulder to create long fluid lines is a big help in gesture drawing
I hope this helps and good luck! I´m rooting for you :)
