Gesture drawing- critique and thoughts
3yr
@aheneha
I have recently started practising gesture. I watched Proko's tutorials on it, it wasnt going so well in the beginning but I've thankfully been consistent. I followed the videos with Tim Gula, the one where he does quick sketches with a live model and the one where he demonstrated the Riley method. That, with the force series of Mike Mattesi really helped me understand some things better.
I would really appreciate a critique of these gesture drawings I am attaching below, they have been done today and I've been at it for about 3 days now. I have numbered the drawings I was not happy with, enough to draw them again. A drawing numbered 1 will have a 1twice in the next pages, thrice means I attempted to capture the gesture thrice.
These were done in two minutes.
I would've attached the reference pictures but i am already at the 10 pictures limit. But if any pose is confusing or you would like the reference picture used, let me know and I will respond with the picture if i have it.
From what I can figure, other than the fact that I've just started, my issues lie in downsizing or oversizing the torso and legs, not having a clear idea of how the arms attach with the torso near the armpits, and drawing the male figure from behind. I think that is because i have majorly drawn the female figure so far (unintentionally, the world just seems to ignore the aesthetic appeal of the male figure heh) and look for the same flow while drawing the male figure, not focusing on what is in front of me. Is it very important to make the proportions anatomically correct for gesture drawings? I think it is not but there also seems to be a certain limit to what can be exaggerated and how much.
I have also noticed that it is easier to draw a figure when it is curled up (i also tend to make those smaller, maybe because of the closed off pose itself, as opposed to when the pose is more dynamic and the arms and legs are freely flowing and I automatically draw it bigger) or has apparent curves. I find upright, straight, and rigid poses more difficult, I tend to focus on the smaller details and disbalance the size of legs and space between them when i have to draw a model standing stiff and looking straight at the camera. I guess more practise will let me pick up on the subtle flows and exaggerate them?
I might be criticizing myself too much too and would really benefit from a balanced review. I will definitely incorporate any beneficial tips and post my improved drawings consistently.
This is already too long but i would love it if someone could list out the steps in learning figure drawing, like gesture drawing, structure, mannequinization, and then anatomy, is that correct? And should I move on to the next step already? I will of course keep practising gesture too.
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3yr
Hey, @aheneha, sorry to be catching up a little late. Great job with your gesture studies!
I agree with @paper, it seems youâre on track and aware of what your next steps can be - your thorough description of your recent history and your âself-critiqueâ show you have a clear vision of your situation as far as I see it. Itâs good that you seem to be pushing your skills forward, just try not to be so hard on yourself - when you find youâre being too critical, see if you can soften self-judgement and keep an open mind. The learning journey is never-ending, and facing it as some kind of experimental play can help it become a lot more fun. And, as you said, youâre just starting out. By the way, itâs awesome that you opened up for external feedback as a way to balance your own point of view of your work.
Other than whatâs already been said, the only thing Iâd recommend is to try to consciously loosen up a bit more when doing gesture sketches. Loosening up can take some time to feel comfortable with, but itâs worth the while. We often want our linework to look good and controlled, but this is an outcome that usually only happens through a long time of practice - instead, for gesture, try just focusing on keeping loose and dynamic movements as you feel and draw each pose, and that spontaneity and aliveness is more likely to eventually show in the linework. Iâm attaching a couple examples which can hopefully illustrate with I mean.
Answering your questions:
. No, keeping proportions anatomically correct doesnât need to be a main concern in gesture sketching. Itâs good if the proportions turn out fine in a gesture, of course, but if managing proportions is getting in your way of sketching a dynamic gesture, just let it go and keep you focus primarily on the motion. If the proportions are blown up, you can always adjust that in later stages in case you come to develop the drawing further;
. How much to exaggerate might depend a lot on the drawing style you want to have. For me, for example, when Iâm drawing my cartoons, I often try to take exaggeration to extreme levels. For more realistic figures, I think the best approach is, through experimentation, to test how far we can take it without breaking it. Youâre right, there can be a limit, but, most of the times, each artist gets to define where that limit should be;
. It makes sense that you find upright poses more challenging for gesture! But you got what to do right on spot: over practice, youâll probably start picking up on more subtle flows and be more able to find out how to design a dynamic gesture even if the reference is not very dynamic;
. About the stages in learning figure drawing, as @paper already stated, you got it. In practical terms, if you started with Prokoâs Figure Drawing Fundamentals, you can keep going all the way and, afterwards, continue through Anatomy of the Human Body, and youâre sure to be following a clear and logical path that should help you understand all the essentials.
. And, yes, definitely move on - as you probably already have, hopefully. Future lessons in the Figure course will somehow refer back to gesture, since itâs where it all begins, so you will keep practicing it, either directly or indirectly.
Hope this helps!
Happy studies đđť
Honestly,you ask for critique,but it seemed you already got a handle of what need to improve.The only thing I got is that your line quality need to improve,but you'll probably get that from just drawing and being concious of it.
Though I will say the drawings on slide on 3 on the upper right is really good,I think you captured the flow of that pose really well(Like you said on the post)
But yeah,just try to be patience and just practice and try to look at people who are good at gesture studies like Jeff watts and Tim Gula.
Also you talk the order of study being gesture,structure,mannquezatiin and anatomy.Which is correct.
And also yeah move on to the next step,those other thing after will make your gesture better
Well im sorry I don't have much to say but hopefully this was atleast useful
That was useful, thank you for mentioning line quality, I will look into that and hopefully the improvement is visible the next time I ask for a critique.
And thank you for appreciating that drawing, I am happy with it too.
Your comment was helpful :)
