Figure Drawing | Part 1: Gesture

[Luke Brunettin]

Thank you for your answer, that makes perfect sense and I will try to keep that in mind and not judge myself too harshly (nor too kindly either ;-)) as I practice. I will try to combine this with a few other courses who present the basics of basics and hope that, through repetition, something takes form. Thanks !

[Brittney Bach]

 

Wow. I can’t believe how something that looks so simple can be so hard. I tried holding the pencil like he did but there’s just no way. It kept falling out of my hand!! And the drawing through method is hard. I can’t draw through if I don’t have a full form. Not to mention if you don’t know where the anatomy is then it’s basically hopeless.

[Daniel Daigle]

Hi Brittney, You are correct in thinking that this is hard. Glenn studied a lifetime to develop these skills, he is taking all of that knowledge and distilling it down to the absolute essentials. This is not something you can just pick up a pencil and do. It takes a lot of time, study, practice and effort. I think the most important part of my development through this stage was positive self talk. There is so much to learn and it all seems so overwhelming that you cant see the light at the end of the tunnel. But I kept hearing people say “Trust in the Process”. So I did to the best of my abilities. I tried to have some faith that I would be able to learn, given enough time and effort. And over some time I saw enough progress to really start believing in the process. All it took was attention and effort and time. Now this is my own personal story, but I think many people here probably have a similar experience. I hope that reading this will help you too in some way.
KEEP GOING! It will all klick eventually

[JGreen]

Hi guys.

Loving NMA so far, well worth the subscription! I am having some frustration with my gesture drawings, and would be grateful for some pointers.

I think my main issue is that I am not so clear on what I am trying to achieve. In particular, there was something Glenn says in the lecture about the lines not corresponding to anatomy or anything you can see in the figure. As far as I can understand, these lines are supposed to be somewhat abstract representations of movement. Yet when I see him draw, it just seems to me like he does in fact draw heavily on his anatomical knowledge, e.g. silhouette of an arm or leg muscles, or the knee, or a line that is just the spine.

So because I don’t really know really what I’m supposed to be representing with these lines, I just end up drawing random lines. I have trouble trying to wrap my head around the idea of drawing the ‘movement’ or the ‘flow’ of the action.

I remember reading Michael Hampton’s figure drawing book a while back and having similar confusion over the gesture section. Obviously I’m not expecting to be as good as masters like Vilppu, but I want to get to the point where I know what I’m trying to achieve, so I’m not just practicing aimlessly.

Thanks in advance for any help :).

[erikdennes]

JGreen,

Vilpuu uses a lot of skills put together when he draws, so I think it is difficult and a little confusing for the beginner.  You should check out Steve Huston’s lessons on gesture where he defines gesture as simply the long axis curve.  Also, I really like Karl Gnass’ lectures.  He begins with gesture kind of the same way as Huston, simply a long axis line placing each part of the body with the correct proportion and attitude.  I also like Gnass’ progression from gesture to shape/volume to anatomy.  This approach really  makes the most sense to me.  Good luck

[JGreen]

Thanks for the advice, Erik.

That makes sense. I will check out those lessons, its good to have a more varied approach.

[Jenifer Andrea Arana Herrera]

[Gannon]

 

These timed exercises are really tough!  I feel like I don’t have time to really analyze or think about the pose too much and might just be falling back to “copying” at several points due to the constraint.

I understand that this is a process and I’ll improve as I continue to practice, but any criticism feedback on this first pass would be appreciated.

[Daniel Daigle]

yes they are! Id recommend that you slow down and take a little more time, only focus on gesture and do not render, do not go any farther than you did here. just take that time to really think about what you are doing. then come back to this shorter exercise.

good luck!

[Georg Hasenoehrl]

Hi,

I agree to @Daniel Daigle. I startet drawing as a hobby 2019 and choose the most difficult areas:

• figure drawing
• gesture drawing (which I like the most, because it is not copying the figure)
  Most artists says, gesture drawing is more difficult than copying

I tried different methods and not all methods fits to all persons. As Mr. Vilppu says: These are all tools. The most part happens in the mind.

I like for example longer curvy lines, but like the “slow” style of Mr. Vilppu. Because I am not an animator, I have not the need to hurry up. I take time for each figure. Sometimes I make multiple iteration to understand a figure.
Sketch the figure mutiple times, like you understand it. Try to understand this as an experiment till you get the correct feeling for a pose. E.g. sometimes you oversee that there is a twist or the one hip is lower than the other.

And what was an enlightment for me the last year: the first line(s) have not to be perfect. In general gesture lines are not visible, as long as you don’t have gesture as art style 🙂
Gesture has the advantage that you can correct it.
Try to draw over it till it fits, you see this in the first lessons of Mr. Vilppus video. Karl Gnass also draws over his first lines, seems not to be correct.
For me persnaly I like the style, where you see the “constrction lines” and it is more “sketchy”. Don’t find the correct word this. Hope you understand what I am meaning 🙂

Yesterday I was so angry not to get a portrait correct. Today I have another perspective on it and remind me on: I do not want copy 🙂 (but this only my goal)

Drawing is unfortunatly a long journey, but a thrilling one 🙂

Hope this helps 🙂

George

• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Georg Hasenoehrl.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Georg Hasenoehrl.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Georg Hasenoehrl.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Georg Hasenoehrl.

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