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This is my first ever drawing course, started two weeks ago. I'm having a fun but hard time with gesture – especially, I guess, distinguishing between contour and actual gesture. Not sure if I'm grasping the concept sufficiently to move on to the bean... Would love some suggestions on how to improve!
John
1d
Hello ninapolak, First off, very nice job, overall. Your linework smokes my skill level, so I will leave the critique to the more qualified. Inspired by your linework, I share my tiny victory in figure sketching. Taking my focus off my line work for a moment and staring at the photo's negative space helps me improve angles and spacing. I recognize the model you used in your "3 of 5" attachments, so I marked it up as an example. The point is when I can "see" the negative space's shape, then I pick up my pencil and make adjustments to my gesture's armature. I hope you find value in this. Keep up the nice work!
Melanie Scearce
Welcome to the course! It looks like you've got the idea to me. I hope this helps define contour and gesture for you further. Think of the contour as an outline. The gesture is the movement of the pose and is less dictated by anatomy, more by the energy that is flowing throughout the pose and its parts. As you can see, the contour drawing is stiff and uninteresting. The gesture drawing emphasizes the stretch and pinch of the side body and has a lot of movement throughout due to supporting rhythms that flow out from the center. Gesture is the start of a drawing. It's not meant to capture anatomy perfectly. As you progress through the drawing, you will add structure with forms and contour, which will make the drawing gradually more stiff. The gesture should be flowing and loose to start but not so much that your arms and legs look like noodles. It is a constant back and forth balancing gesture and structure. I think you did a great job with these!
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2d
Asked for help
This is my first ever drawing course, started two weeks ago. I'm having a fun but hard time with gesture – especially, I guess, distinguishing between contour and actual gesture. Not sure if I'm grasping the concept sufficiently to move on to the bean... Would love some suggestions on how to improve!
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