The Fundamentals of Gesture Drawing

[New Masters Academy]

In this lesson, instructor Sheldon Borenstein will teach you the fundamentals of gesture drawing, an aspect of figure drawing that tells stories and gives the body rhythm. Sheldon will demonstrate the weight, balance, and proportion of standing figures. You will learn how mark-making can aid in the readability of your gesture drawings.

This lesson belongs to the course Introduction to the Figure. In this 4-week course, Sheldon Borenstein will teach you all the fundamentals of figure drawing. With his 30 years of experience in the entertainment industry and teaching, Sheldon will show you how to draw the figure with rhythm and structure. This course will teach you two important aspects of figure drawing: gesture and construction. Through these two principles, you will be able to tell a story with the figure and give it believable forms.

Throughout this course, you’ll have access to the NMA community for feedback and critiques to improve your work as you progress.

[reva]

he is great teacher! i am happy he is back

[theprederick]

Hi there!

Just signed up and I’m super-excited to get really dug in. I’ve been drawing for a little over a year now, but frankly, I could afford to have spent more time really laser-focused on the fundamentals, so I hope this will help me begin to get some of those important basics of figure-drawing down, and so far, Sheldon’s been an amazing, wonderful, engaging teacher, so I’m really excited.

I hope this is the thread where we can post our work? (Let me know if that’s not the case.)

If so, I’d like to post this bit of Assignment 1 I did tonight:

[theprederick]

 

 

On to Assignment 2. Some progress!

[Geraldine Arnold]

[Geraldine Arnold]

I am getting so much insight on figure drawing. I feel like this is where the lesson ended in art school.

[Shanmen riddi]

hahaha frekin hilarious , I love this teacher

[Jordan Austin]

I am on 2. Intro to Gesture. He is talking about how the figure is 7 1/2 heads tall.

Head #1- the Head

Head #2- to the Sternum

Head #3- to the Navel

Head #4 – to the MBA

(which is also the half way point. But how is it half when that would be 8? Is the body that symmetric to where it is typically 1/2 and 1/2? Or is the upper body typically a little longer)

Head #5 1/2 – to the Knees

Head #6 1/2 – to the Bottom of the Feet

=7.

Am I losing it? Where is the last 1/2 of a head measurement?

My body looks too long on the top so I am assuming I missed something on the bottom.

[Daniel Daigle]

Hi Jordan, I will try to answer your question
1 Head to chin
2 chin to sternum
3 sternum to navel
4 navel to pubic symphyses

this is where it gets tricky
1.5 heads to the knee
1.5 heads to the top of the foot
.5 head to the bottom of the foot (i think he skipped over this part and just said bottom of the foot)

This is just one measurement system of many.
I prefer to use the head width

1 crown to nose
2 nose to manubrium
3 manubrium to xiphoidal process (just above xiphoid actually)
4 xiphoid process to bottom of ribs
5 bottom of ribs to iliac crest
6 iliac crest to pubic symphyses

at this point I look at the model to see if they have long or short legs

for long legs I would drop down a line of 5 head width lengths from the pubic symphyses with the bottom of the knees in the middle, this would put the pubic symphyses in the middle of the body
for shorter legs you could drop the same line from the iliac crest and move the knees to the middle again, this would put the pubic symphyses closer to the ground, which is similar to the 7.5 head model

I once knew a person that was 11 heads tall. so you will have to adapt your strategy when drawing from models

you should play around with different proportion systems, maybe you can find a measurement system that works better for you

but 7.5 heads will typically look like the average person while 8 – 10 heads will look more athletic to heroic, respectively

I hope this helps 🙂

• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by Daniel Daigle.

[Jordan Austin]

So helpful! Thank you Daniel!

[Steve McHale]

Borenstein is ideal for the beginning student. He is playful and entertaining yet has gravitas when needed. I welcome more chapters in this series.

[Author]

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