After reading this book many times not comprehending a lot of what it wanted to teach me I want to ask you, if you had it... what was the thing that revolutionized your way of drawing after reading it?
By the way I've got the 10Th anniversary Edition, I don't know what is different in this version.
I completely understand, it was quite difficult for me to grasp the first several times I read the book and I still don't feel like I have a great understanding of it.
I think for me personally, it's helped me think about drawing the figure in a different way. In the first few pages of the book, he writes about the "humanity of the figure", and some parts of that really stuck with me. I've also watched some videos of him demoing his process, and that's really made me think about how gravity, weight, etc affect the pose, and how the model is in motion (even though it's a photo). Another few things he emphasized that stuck with me are to really loosen up, "be passionate about the aliveness of the model and the pose", to not worry about the drawing, and to "always have something to say" (don't just copy, think critically about what to exaggerate or emphazise. In the book, he calls it "having opinion").
I'll likely reread the book a few more times, but I hope this helps in some way.
I think the biggest gripe I had with that book is that it was made by someone that already knows anatomy down to a T but absolute beginners (like me) don't know anatomy... so it is quite obvious there is a lack of comunication between me and the book. Also I have his the anatomy book and the first thing I see is "needing to draw with force" and I was like "ok buddy, first I can't understand your gesture drawing because I don't know anatomy but then you tell me I should comprehend gesture drawing to learn anatomy?!".
Dude I gotta tell you it's the first time I felt softlocked in real life. Thanks anyways for what you told me, I guess there is still something to learn there after all.
You know - And this is speaking as someone who has NOT read this book at all - sometimes I think it's important to remember that... Different strategies work for different people.
Like, there could be people this is a very intuitive way of learning for, and for others it's just abstract nonsense. For example, I personally really struggle with the whole "making boxes" out of people to understand their anatomy, but it absolutely works for others! All it means is that our brains comprehend things in a different way.
If you feel like this book has nothing for you? It doesn't matter if 'everyone' thinks it's fantastic, it could just really have nothing for you specifically. (Heck, sometimes acknowledging that kind of thing can teach you more than the entire book would.)
Thank you very much for your words, it makes me so mad I am not part of those people. I have been chasing wild geese this entire time and did random stuff to make me think it serves at something, but now I just feel lost.
-
Idon'tknow
edited this post on October 11, 2024 9:19pm.
My biggest takeaways from the book years ago was the use of descending, offset rhytms and the skiing analogy he used. Also straights against curves.
I get why it frustrates people though, its a lot of abstract concepts & principles.
Yet, am I in the wrong for not consuming it the RIGHT way? or are those that do not understand those books in the wrong because they are not meant to learn art in the first place?
I don't think there's a wrong to be in here - it's not a morality question. It's not a black and white good vs evil battle. If you don't like to draw in this way, that's fine, it doesn't say anything about you as a person other than this book isn't your speed.
I took a live course with him years ago, and I think that's the best way to really understand his techniques, but of course that was expensive and I don't know if he still does it. But the advice I would give is to copy his drawings, it will feel alien at first but I think you'll learn more from it than reading the text. He is mainly interested in capturing the energy of poses, and he himself says that the first chapter is the most important. He asked us to fill many pages with the "skating the page" exercise before starting drawing. Like everybody says here though, it's just one approach. There is no right way, just what makes sense to you :)
It sounds like, from this thread, that you need to work on learning anatomy. I'm sure you've already spent a lot of time on it, but it seems like you still consider yourself a beginner with it.
Unless I'm missing something, until you have taken as much time as you need to understand anatomy and gesture to a point you want to add more, thats when the "Force" becomes applicable. I had to get to a point where I could draw a skeleton and the muscles attached, and then the fat distribution and additional details of a human, before I could see how the lack of movement and gravity really hindered me. Gestures were more about movement before I had a solid grasp on human anatomy, but I remember in high school gym class, learning all the names of the muscles and I kept all of those worksheets so I could reference them when I was drawing. If I make the mistake of comparing my art to other people's (and taking that personally) I want to cry from frustration lol I don't see many artists, who are INCREDIBLY accurate and aren't also in their 40's and 50's (which means they probably have 30-50 years of experience informing their decision making.)
I think a book can work for anyone, it just has to be at the right point in your journey for you to connect it to existing principles. Maybe shelf the book and try again after working on some other skills? I find theres always a chance it will click more later down the road :)
