A year of gesturing ...

Hi all,

I've been gesturing on and off now for about a year or a bit longer.
You can find my gesture pics here: http://wordslye.com/gestures/

I generally do 30, 45 or 60 sec gestures and I find the 60 secs a bit too long, but it's nice to relax a few seconds.
I'd like to hear from you guys, if I'm capturing the line of action, i.e. the force of the gesture well enough ... and can you see the figure twisting ... is there any weight/gravity working?
When I look at my gestures, I can remember the photo I was using as reference so lividly, that I'm not 100% sure about the result some times.
Anyhow, I think I'm on the right track. And the best advice I can give you all is perseverance. Keep to the gesture drawing on a very regualar basis, read up on a few things. And try not to compare your works to anybody elses.

Anyway, have fun here!

Bye, Stu

Hi Stu,

I hope I'm not too late with offering my thoughts! I've checked out your gestures and they look very dynamic with motion and range, so I think you did well there. :)

The only thing that stands out to me is that your gestures are very heavily stylized and take little note of anatomical proportions. Your next step could be to focus on proportions to help you further, if your goal is more realism. I particularly notice that some torsos are very short, for example. I notice that you focus primarily on the silhouette of a gesture; have you tried starting with fluid guidelines to draw the body parts around?

I can't recall if I've linked you in the past, but just in case, here are some excellent articles with useful information on managing this:

https://line-of-action.com/gesture-basics-1-line-of-action/

https://line-of-action.com/gesture-basics-2-torso-and-hips/

https://line-of-action.com/gesture-basics-3-joints/

I hope this helps!

Dear Sanne,

Thank you!

I must admit to have getting really lost in the stylised and loose approach I was following. I am now planning to concentrate on anatomy foremost. After a few sessions, I can see that the dynamics (or flow) of my gesture figures is less, but the experience of struggling to find the correct size and orientation of rib-cage and pelvis seems like something completely new.

As I know from experience, as hard as it might seem at the time, each struggle will end in a lesson learnt.

Thanks for moving me from my comfort zone.

-- Stuart

P.S.
I especially liked this site which part 3 of the gesture basics also links to:
http://www.art.net/~rebecca/LifeDrawing1.html