Forum posts by Seul8r

Yeah, that looks pretty good! There's no one way to practice, so if you feel like this helps you more go for it! Keep practicing and I'm sure it'll turn out well.

This is a good start, however drawing "ball" joints and circles will generally not help with gesture drawing unless you understand why you're using it. I would suggest. first starting out just drawing what you see in front of you. After you get an idea of what it looks like, you can generally get a better understanding of the smaller forms that make a shape up. If you really want some basis for construction, try watching a few proko videos, as they have good tips on that. I would also suggest using, as is the titular name of this site, a line of action to try and make your drawing more cohesive.

You need to start thinking of the picture in front of you as a 3-dimensional object. In the drawing you've shown, the 'construction' is cubes floating in space, all with similar edges. In reality, the woman in the picture in sitting in an area with a foreground and background, a plane. Similarly, your cube constructions should follow the lines of this plane. I've attached a quick drawing that hopefully helps.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ecjGrEhVztgbLM7B0LwVN0juG8wHfwOz/view?usp=sharing
The strong point of gesture drawing is that you can get the rough idea of how limbs and torsos exist in an area without thinking too hard. It's fine to want to stick to cubes and such but I would suggest looser lines that push the accentuating areas of a figure, since you seem to understand WHAT shape these forms are generally in.

You have a great eye for detail! These look really good. One thing I would say is to focus more on proportions, that tends to add realism to even stylized work. I would also suggest focusing on form. Shadows are a really good way to do that, but if you visualize the 3D object and how that shape exists in relation to the rest of the figure, it would lend a good amount of finesse to your art.

A lot of this can happen naturally if you draw even a little bit everyday. As someone with super demanding studies, I totally understand how overwhelming it gets. I would suggest carving out some non-negotiable time to draw. If not, what I do is carry around a small (seriously, small) sketchbook and try to draw from life in my free time. I find I'm waiting around a lot, and instead of going on my phone, drawing whatever's in front of you is a great way to practice form and shape all the time.

That's a really good start! So, generally gesture drawings focus on form and movement. Your figures have a good general structure, but what you want to do is focus on the larger shape at hand. Try to start with a single line indicating movement, then block out the remaining figure, in shapes that lean more geometric than curves. From there on, you can focus on the details and the contours of the body, including shadows. When you break things down into large blocks, the shadows tend to become apparent and neat.

Hey thank you! I usually watch Proko and The Drawing Database-Northern Kentucky University youtube videos and read anything I can get my hands on. I also carry around a small sketchbook with me to live draw as much as possible. I will say that if you have the opportunity to get any schooling or classes, absolutely take it. There's a lot of online classes in a good price range, as well as inexpensive life drawing groups. I have yet to go to one but I'd jump at any opportunity given to me involving a real course.

Soooo today marks a year that I've been practicing gesture drawing! I wanted to share my progress to indulge in my newfound skills a little bit but also to encourage others to share their progress as well as contribute to the notion that this type of practice is a marathon not a sprint! 

First Ever Gesture

A Year Later

Really big fan of the 'generalized' nature of these sketches, the direction and placement of everything looks pretty good, and captures the essence of the pose. 

I would try to add a bit more purpose to your sketches. I understand that's hard to do with a time constraint, but taking a bit more time to try to figure out the overall placement and proportion of things will benefit more than just your gestures overtime. As it stands, these look somewhat hurried, which can contribute a lot to the general feel of a sketch but could also be improved on.

Really love the flow and somewhat exaggerated limbs, I think that's really capturing what the essence of gesture is- what the human body is doing. The figure itself is recognizable as are the parts of the body. 

If you feel stuck and need to improve, something I find helps is sitting down and trying to draw something (most helpfully a human body in a pose) as accurately as possible for an unlimited amount of time. When I go back to gesture drawing after that, I find it easier to remember what landmarks go where and how everything should look. I would give it a try!

I can't quite see the December ones, but what I can see is that the flow of the pose is very well captured in your drawings, which is generally the point of gesture! I can see very well how the body is positioned and where it's pointed, which is nice. These also look to be very quick, and it's always good to build up the ability to draw fast and precisely. 

One thing I would attempt is to give yourself a bit more time (or don't) and try to add some detail, like the general shape of a limb or feature, and to push those shapes as much as possible. That way you retain the flow-y nature of your pose work while also adding some clarification.

I've been drawing solely with mechanical pencils my entire life, and found shadows to be incredibly hard. My friend had this leftover art tool set, so she gave it to me. I did some 30 second sketches with one of the graphite pencils and found my control to be severely lacking, I have no idea how to make sharp edges or smooth shadows. If anyone has any tips on how to make the pencil more manageable, I would love that. It's the 8B royal graphite from a Royal Langnickel set.

haha thank you for the compliment! the truth is actually pretty simple, the reason i have fewer construction lines is because i simply never thought to use them in the first place! here's one of my very early gestures- there's no construction and its not too good. by contrast, here's one later- theres a lot more contour lines and sketchy parts. i think more lines are a good thing, as long as they're purposeful.

as for where i start, its usually with the torso and sometimes head. the limbs are far easier to scale once you have those down, but as you can see my proportions are a bit off, so it's not foolproof. i also try to start with a very light construction line, since it's subject to a lot of change/erasure and i usually put it there just for my own reference.

thank you for the feedback! it was 1-3 minutes, and yes i struggle with proportions and structure due to the short time limit, i hope it gets better with time. i'll try to incorporate shading too, thanks!

hello! been drawing for a bit (not long) and im scared of criticism but really want to grow. any advice helps, and please don't hold back!


Gesture

Another Gesture

Yet Another Gesture