Gesture & Structure

The purpose of a gesture drawing is to capture the overall shape that a figure makes.

Your first step is to see if the body makes a simple shape. Draw that before anything else.
Take a look at the images in this link.
Pay particular attention to drawing # 11 & #14
http://www.arlenediehl.com/gallery.html
The shape of the gesture will imply movement; either dramatic movement or subtle movement of a live model.

*** If you had a very large brush, and were forced to define the movement of the figure in one or two brush strokes, what would that look like? ***

Your second step is to look for the skeleton. A simple stick figure can work well.





As you get better, your stick figures will be faster, less rigid, and look more like people.
You will learn to see movement and structure at the same time.







With even more practice, you will start seeing the gesture, skeletal structure, and a basic sense of mass at the same time.
Our goal, for the first half of the semester, is to get you seeing like this and creating advanced gestures like the two below.









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Here is a quick video that shows the simple power of drawing a stick figure



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArJB4FVQ60Y&NR=1