Forum posts by Kevinstuh

Gesture Drawing is one of the most mentally draining exercises for me as well, especially if you want it done well.

But that's why I do it as much as I can. It challenges me and makes me stronger at drawing so fast. It's something that's done purely as an exercise to help you improve. Just keep doing it and you'll adapt and be able to draw for longer. Keep doing it at 10 minutes. The next week, try 20 minutes. etc.

Because it's so hard, I usually do it at the beginning of my drawing practice session, instead of winding down with it. I also don't go for more than 60 minutes at a time, at most 90 minutes. I'd have to take like a 5 minute break.

Also, I recommend drawing at 2 or 5 minutes per drawing. That's enough time to get basic forms down with correct perspective. If I draw at 30 seconds, I just end up making stick figures with no perspective.

Good luck!

If you have an income, you might want to consider purchasing Victor Perard's "Drawing and Anatomy" and Bridgman's "Complete Anatomy" book as well. Just copying and studying the drawings in those books is great help, I'm still going through them after three years of seriously studying drawing. If you only have money to get one, I would get Perard's.

Those things helped me more than anything, so that when I went out to draw at cafes or zoos, I was able to observe and understand a lot more than if I were just copying from pictures online.

You are heading on the right track with your drawings, they are very good! Keep drawing from life and studying anatomy, it's actually fun and not boring at all, especially once you realize how quickly you can improve. I saw daily improvement for years.

Hey, I know this is late, but I just saw this post.

I don't use a line of action when I draw, since it really is confusing. Especially with very static poses.

The line of action is more of a thing you use to invent 'dynamic' poses, to give your drawings life and energy. To use a line of action with figure drawing, you would try to find the 'main idea' or 'story' of your pose, and then you would use the best line of action to convey that story.

But instead of a line of action, you can just do a graceful stick-figure, and then draw on top of that.

For now, if the line of action is confusing, don't do it! I know I didn't. Just draw the figure accurately with cubes, boxes, and cylinders. Check out Proko's Youtube channel for more basic drawing teaching. Study anatomy (Muscles, Bones, Proportions) when you can. Remember your perspective. And just enjoy! Drawing figures gets more fun the better you get at it.

• Kevinstuh edited this post on March 10, 2019 5:59am. Reason: Grammar
• Kevinstuh edited this post on March 10, 2019 6:45am. Reason: wrong word