Hello, this is my first try to do gesture studies with clay while following the steps provided. This is quite small one, 0.5 inches = 1 cranial unit. I was waiting for my smaller diameter wire to arrive but I thought I would try to get the feel of the clay first with what I have, since I ran out of smaller diameter wires. I am the type who will learn more as I practice, so I think this smaller gesture study help me where to improve or where to push - to get the overall feeling of the piece without bigger commitment. So it does feel like solving problems in achievable manner. Additionally, it's fun to think of the story while doing this, like I was imagine this pose was like blowing a kiss :) Would love to do more as I go on the next video.

My second gesture study. I've tried to add more volume to the limbs this time and to also follow the proportions more closely. The clay was too soft and the sculpture kissed the ground a few times. It's hard to add details and not smudge what's already there. I've, hopefully, built some lasting anchors for the feet, but time will tell :) What can I do to keep 11.5 inches sculptures standing up if I don't have an armature stand yet? I want the "scaffolding" be hidden.

Probably a gesture study taken too far. I decided to skip ahead and to try and finish this one (11.5 inches) as much as possible, but I've started seeing too many mistakes in the proportions, so decided to call it "done". It took quite a lot of time for a second scupture, so moving on to trying out a few 6 inch gestures.

Hey Andrew, I made three gestures based on the poses you shared. They are presented here in the same order I made them. I hate to admit but it's taking me a bit longer than expected and it's due to my work , I have made peace with that. The amount of knowledge one can acquire from making these subtle gesture studies is enormous, I am sincerely enjoying these exercises and I see the value of keep on doing them. Moving onto the gestures from the masters! Thanks Andrew.

Here are my first attempts capturing gesture using a wire skeleton. The first one was made from imagination. I made the face too big unfortunatelly. Second one is based on the free stock images provided. I see not correctly - finished gesture and some missing clay. I ran out of clay. Will leave them as they are. On the next figures, I will see where to focus more on by that (hopefully).

Here are my first gesture studies (cranial unit = 1/2 inch). I feel like they are a little stiff in some areas, but I am really enjoying sculpture so far. Any critiques would be welcome!

Hi, here's my first Gesture study as well... would appreciate your input/critique... I'm not too happy with the head (will work on it when I get to the Loomis-head section). I also feel it looks a bit like a caricature, not quite sure why it came it out like that, many thanks.

So here's my 1st Gesture study. You'll notice that you'll see technically 2 different ones. Well the 1st one I did I really PACKED ON the weight. So much that it couldn't stand. My suspicion was the feet or that it was too heavy for the skeleton as the wire frame couldn't even hold it up. So I took out another wire armature and did it again. Except this time I did pencil gesture studies of the ref. I'm a line guy so I figured it would help me to translate into doing more gesture than structure. I also paid very close attention to balance. Every so often I would have the model stand to make sure I was having a balanced sculpture. Unfortunately, while I succeeded in a standing model, the upper body is too flat. I guess you can blame that on being a little too LINEar with applying the gesture drawings...get it?...Cause it's kind of...flat...

Gesture Study #3. I focused on the mass and weight of this pose because there's a lot of interesting things going on in the back and left art/shoulder area. I made a mistake in the armature construction, so the spine was 1/4" too short. Due to that, the rib cage and pelvis are closer together than what the model's proportions are, making the sculpture a little more squat. That said, since he's a bodybuilder, it kinda works and doesn't ruin the work. Any other notes are welcome.

Gesture Study #2. Putting aside my poor photography skills, this study was overall decent. I think there might be room to push the rib cage on the left side so that it really offsets from the pelvis. I found that the right leg kept sagging/bending at the knee, so that leg feels a little off from the pose reference as well. Side note: The Sculpey I found for the $5 challenge is Super Soft/gummy, and it feels like it doesn't bake completely... I can definitely see why it was free. Still, I"m happy to use it for gesture sculpts because it frees me up from getting too precious with things.

Gesture study #1. For this assignment, I built 3 armatures at 3/4" = 1 Cranial unit which yielded 9" tall armatures. The material I worked in was white Sculpey. I chose this pose because it was the hardest one for my brain to wrap itself around. Something about the relationship of the head, torso, hips and feet were challenging. Overall, I think I came pretty close to capturing and pushing the gesture of the pose, properly identifying a center line, and sort of implying the squash and stretch sides of the torso. I think I'll add a more permanent support for this sculpture too.

Gesture Study

I had an opportunity to do a 2.5 hour life model session where I sculpted in plasticine around a wire armature with the oven bake clay masses for the head, torso and pelvis. I used a 1 inch cranial unit which I found too small to add the fingers but I would like to do a bigger one with the hands next

Gesture studies! The first one ended up a bit to lanky and stiff, but the other ones went a bit better which was nice. Any feedback is welcome!

Gesture Study 3 with an Armature

Gesture Study 2 with an Armature

Gesture Study 1 with an Armature

Hi my names Kalinda , I did my first gesture study , would love to get your feedback :)