Gesture Drawing

Original Post: 6/12/2010

When I took life drawing class back in college, gesture drawing was used as a warm up exercise. That's a pretty short-sited approach to take. The definition of gesture drawing is to capture the energy and movement of the subject matter - or to capture the essence of the pose. While gesture drawing is typically used in figure drawing, I see no reason why I can't use the same approach with still lifes or landscapes.

I've been reading Walt Stanchfield' s book "Drawn to Life". He must have been a very enthusiastic and vibrant individual because it really comes across in his writings and his drawings. Here are a few gesture drawing tips I've gleamed from his book:

1. Use a fountain or pen & ink. Use cheap paper so you have no hesitancy to do lots of renderings.

2. Exaggerate the pose. if the body is leaning over, lean it "more". This creates more drama and 'essence' of the pose.

3. Try the pose yourself. Feel the shift of the shoulders, the weight on one leg, the position of the hips, the stretch of an arm. This will help you "feel" the pose and understand what the muscles are doing.

4. Always include the hands and feet in the gesture drawing. They are the most expressive parts!

5. Work to capture the weight of the body. (If the head is leaning against a hand, make sure the "weight" of the head is apparent in the hand. The position of the arm to head is important.)

6. Action, reaction. Squash and stretch. If the body is bent over, the back stretches and the stomach squashes. If the leg bends, the front of the knee stretches and the back of the knee squashes. In every movement there is an action/reaction.

5. Clothes will react in a like manner (squash and stretch) and will enhance the gesture. Manipulation of the wrinkles, lumps, bulges, folds, seams will enhance the gesture. "A real solid, expressive, sparkly drawing in one where the clothing is doing what the body is causing it to do."

7. A pose is always doing an action, even sitting.

8. Avoid tangents. (Lines meeting at the same point. It's the death to depth. (I'll address this later with examples)

9. Draw with verbs not nouns. Add adverbs for drama. (Example: Don't just draw the body part...arm, elbow, hair. Instead portray a woman "bending" over, "stretching" her arms to dry her "wet" hair.)

10. Gesture drawing will solidify your understanding of the pose. You can work out the pose, modify, elaborate, change it to 'tell' your story more effectively. Better planning before you start your portrait.


Gesture drawings can range from capturing the mass of the figure, to contours, to simple stick figures. The purpose is to capture the essence of the pose.

You can see in my drawings that I've repeated a pose several times. They go from fairly detailed gestures to simple stick figures. Each one trying to understand the pose.

So how can gesture drawing help you draw realistically?

Just think of the powerful impact of understanding anatomy and applying creative energy/essence of gesture drawing on your drawings. Your portraits will come 'alive' on the paper!

Drawing the Figure

Original Post: 5/31/2010

The human figure is a complex form, combining skeletal and muscular components. By breaking the components down into simple geometrical shapes, it's easier to capture the general form. Arms and legs are cyclinders, the elbows, shoulders and knees spheres, the area between the shoulders are a triangle.

Drawing through the form helps to identify the 3-dimensionality of the body part.

The ideal figure proportion is approximately 8 heads tall. Balance, symetry, flow and movement should all be considered.

These sketches are studies derived from Robert Barrett's book "Life Drawing".

Drawing Hands

Original Post: 5/16/2010

Andrew Loomis is my instructor this morning. I've attached a couple of pages of sketches working through his illustrations.

Hands are not as intimidating as they look once you understand the basics. The hand is two units in length with the center being just above the knuckles. An arch or curved arrangement of the fingers and knuckles are key. (A common mistake is to draw the knuckles in a straight line.)

The palm of the hand is all pads with the center of the palm hollow. The back of the hand is all tendons.

I hope you all have a chance to practice!!! Everyday that I freehand sketch gets a little easier. Using guides of measurement and using basic shapes to block in an object is helpful. Once I get the proportions correct, then I start to work in the details.

Drawing the Head

Original Post: 4/18/2010

How do we put all these features - the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, cheeks, chin, eyebrows, each so uniquely different - into a harmonious and unified "HEAD"?

Thank goodness the head can be reduced into general proportions to help us guide the placement of the features. I've attached a simplistic diagram to outline these guidelines.


Drawing the head at various angles adds interest to our composition. It also adds complexity as well. Understanding how to apply perspective can help you immensely in getting the head to look correctly.

Giovanni Civardi's "The Art of Drawing Portraits" has some very good exercises to try. I have attached my first attempts at drawing the head in various angles using his illustrations.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to actually put your pencil to paper and try these exercises! It is one thing to read and visually understand the concepts. By taking the time to practice brings a whole new level of understanding and solidifies these principles.

I've been wanting to get to this portion of our studies for a long time as the head/body have illuded me long enough! I have a very personal goal in mind and these are only the first of many tries and studies that I want to explore. My goal is to learn how to effectively draw the figure so I can start including them in my drawings and add urban landscapes to my collections.

Drawing Hair

Original Post: 3/28/2010


The best starting point to drawing hair - is to draw a lock of hair. And the best reference to learn how to draw hair is Mike Sibley's book "Drawing Line to Life".

Creating a natural highlight by lifting the pencil:

Use a sharp point of a harder lead (HB or harder) and smooth paper (with no texture). Practice creating strokes pressing hard on one end and lifting as you get to the center. This will create a 'natural highlight' in the center.

Creating a highlight using blu-tack eraser:

Roll a small piece of blu-tack into a cylinder. Roll the eraser over the center of the drawn hair. This will gently lift the graphite off, leaving the pencil strokes behind. (See the actual pencil lines of graphite on the eraser.)

Diane

Drawing the Ear

Original Post: 3/14/2010

The EAR.

In portraiture, the ear creates a sense a balance and overall continuity to the entire head. The placement and correct position of the ears seems to be more a challenge than rendering the actual details. The base of the nostrils should align with the base of the ear and the length of the nose should coincide with the length of the ear. When viewing the head on the side (profile) view, the ear is angled back and is about halfway between the back of the head the front of the facial plane.

The ears are very different from the rest of the facial features, not only are their shape different but the skin and texture are totally different as well. The ears are made of cartlidge and the structure is designed to channel sounds into the inner ear. The interlocking folds of the ear help to channel these waves. While these folds vary on each individual, learning the general parts of the ear will make identifying them much easier.

I like to think of parts of the ears as folds of satin or silk cloth. As you draw these folds, identify and apply the seven components of light and shade. Highlights, shadows, cast and contact shadows, core shadows, key highlights and reflected light.

I've attached an anatomical map of the ear along with a sketch and blended rendering of the ear.

Drawing the Mouth

Original Post: 2/28/2010

The mouth is a close second to the eyes as the most expressive feature of the face. Learning from masters as Andrew Loomis and Giovanni Civardi really helps. Here are a number of sketches from their instruction references.

Stan Prokopenko has a wonderful tutorial on drawing lips.
http://www.stanprokopenko.com/blog/2009/07/draw-lips/
Here is my realistic attempt using his references.

Emphasizing the planes or curvatures of the lips will help with creating really 3-dimensionality. How light plays off the curves will bring more depth to them. You can "feel" the fullness of the form. The shadows under the bottom lip are as important as the lips themselves to create the illusion that the lip is not a flat surface.

One more item that I didn't understand or realize the importance of, the node. Stan's tutorial explains how the muscles of the face all connect to the corners of the mouth. This is called the node and he compares it to a bean. By emphasizing the wrapping of the muscles around the corners of the mouth can bring the smile to life and depth to the cheeks.

Drawing the Eyes

Original Post: 2/7/2010

Portraiture is not my strong point, so over the next few weeks I will be studying each feature of the face. The eyes demand attention in portraiture and capturing the key elements is crucial. The pupils and iris' need to be round, the highlights positioned just right, the eye needs to sit in the eye socket and the lids enveloping the spherical round shape.