What I learned about gesture drawing 👭

I started to learn gesture drawing in 2019 through Stan Proko's free YouTube course. I had since bought his course which had plenty of examples. But easier watched than done. I feel like I have a lot of useful information I could share with others such as yourself.

A daily practice routine is important. I structure my practice like so. I start with 10 30-second gestures, five two-minute gestures, one five-minute gesture. I then do a variety of practice going about two-minute gestures for different anatomy. I think having a wide variety of photos to study from is important.

I recommend you look at places where models have photos posted. I recommend Deviant art as a resource. Many models release their photos on Deviant art. I will have to include links to some. Studying from nude models to learn anatomy is a must. If you prefer, you can study from clothed models. But clothes models become difficult much like studying from models of high body fat. The reason is because of obscured anatomy which is a problem if you are trying to extract useful information when gesture drawing.

I recommend you draw with a mechanical pencil 0.5mm or fineliner pen 0.5mm this is to remove the style factor. Digital artists turn off your line smoothing algorithms. The ideas is to just improve. If you reach a point, you can try to use a tool that introduces style. Often art classes will have you use tools they want you too. Think the drawabox course requiring fineliners only.

The reality of progress is that it happens over long periods of time. Perhaps you want to do a longer study practice than I recommended. It depends where you want your art career headed. It is really up to you. You could pay a mentor for feedback. I have found that trying to get feedback on your art is difficult. People are quite fatiqued from social media. Often people pay for art school to do this. The issue is that art school tends to cost $100,000. But you can also find someone like drawing force by clicking here. You can pay a lot less and probably grow a lot more.

Going into debt over artschool is not feasible for a lot of people. I went into massive debt over a science degree. College across the board is largely unaffordable these days. As are most things for that matter... Online methods can work or you can try to find a mentor to work for free under. Short story, I got into debt to work for free to get a day job. It is just the standard these days. Most industries work this way. I hate to say that if you really want something, you will find a way to do it. Unpopular opinion.

Gesture drawing I have learned how to summarize things. But I think how you learn all in all you pick up stylistic techniques. Dealing with nothing but I, C, and S curves becomes internalized. I just do it without thinking. Kind of weird. It is hard to explain in words. I will try to share some photos of my gesture drawings. Working in things like ink post drawing you will probably introduce more style. Often pencil and fineliners you can't introduce style. Learning to draw gesture using smoothing algorithms from art software will often hurt your work. I feel like going from digital to traditional art back and forth has taught me a lot.

Even though I mostly draw using digital, I have realized massive improvements in traditional. Weird. I still feel more in control using traditional methods. Although no undo button with traditional. Digital has made me way to reliant on ctrl + z. Often when I do traditional practice I ghost my lines more and don't erase. I also worry about wasting paper.

Trying to determine whether to use a C or and S curve is often subjective. I feel like often if the line needs to be strong, you will need to add line weight. I think one artist may decide to use a C curve when another artist may use an S curve. Sometimes I often avoid using C curves and just use S curves. Sometimes I make an S curve and realize it is weak and it would have been much better using a C curve for strength of the gesture. Often I may freehand shapes and not even think about an I, C, or S curve.

To each artists is their own. Maybe learn from a wide variety of artists drawing gesture and come to your own conclusions. You can't always rely on instruction from others. Often you have to work for long periods of time over years to come to your own conclusions. Things can be subjective. One art teacher may give you praise while another may criticize you. I think it is important to always be trying to improve. Until you reach a level you are satisified with. I don't know everything and likely never will. Just don't give up!

You never learn everything. You just get closer to your truth. Unless you are a photo copier. Always strive to learn and become a better version of yourself.

About Lars Barnabee 🐝 hey that's me