Gesture Drawing

~Gui-mps Nov 16, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Is Gesture Drawing recommended only for people with a certain level of skill, or should I start with it?
I'm really bad with body proportions, should I start doing gesture drawings, or I need to practice something first?

Thanks

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Devious Comments

*YusakuJon3 Nov 18, 2012 Hobbyist Artist

I'd suggest getting a couple of books on drawing. For instance, comic strip artist Byrne Hogarth came up with a series that includes Drawing Dynamic Hands, which gives you some good pointers on how to construct the human hand, which forms the basic framework for the guestures that you're learning to draw. It also helps to have a mirror handy, as your own hand can serve as a model.

~PeytonJune Nov 17, 2012

In my art class we are FORCED to do gesture drawings.

I think that they're useful, especially for beginners.

But, like people said before, it doesn't work as well with photos.

~Wereo Nov 16, 2012

Photos are okay to use if you don't have access to a live model. The whole point of gesture drawing is that the speed forces you to only focus on the anatomy of whatever you're drawing rather than the detail of the overall subject. Pose-maniacs is a pretty useful site,since it does just that plus the 3D technology gives it a more realistic approach. Although I do suggest taking a life drawing class in the future, the guidance of an instructor and being involved in an artistic environment can be helpful and motivational.

`saintartaud Nov 16, 2012 Professional General Artist

Gesture drawings are fine at any skill level. They're used mostly as a warm-up and/or to get a sense of the pose or gesture of the figure. You're supposed to work very quickly, no more than 5 minutes, getting a basic idea of the form down. In life-drawing classes, they're often done at the beginning of the session, with the model changing poses in quick succession. If your goal is to improve proportions, they're not really going to help you there. At most, they'll get you comfortable with drawing the figure and getting an overall sense of how it works.

~CinderBlockStudios Nov 16, 2012 Professional Traditional Artist

if you do it make sure you have a live model. It doesn't really work with photos.

~Gui-mps Nov 16, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Thanks for your reply! Well, I thought that sites like posemaniacs and artists.pixelovely were good...

~Schnitty Nov 16, 2012 Hobbyist

If photos are the only thing available to you at the moment, you can use those.
That's how I do a lot of my gesture drawings because I'm not able to go to live drawing(?) classes.

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