Gesture drawing advice

Hello! I'm completely new to gesture drawing. I've done life drawing classes before, but I was never taught to consider the skeleton, or to practice building up the body in basic shapes.

I've been following the "Gesture basics" guide on this website, which is really helpful. I tried doing 30 second gestures for the first time:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/94505133@N04/15057339682

I'm struggling to work out the placement of the pelvis in such short time. Other than that I find this exercise refreshing. Would it be a good idea to keep drawing this way every day for practice?

I just want to check that the way I'm doing gesture drawings is right. I'm a bit uncertain after seeing gestures from other people that look more fleshed out than stickmen. I'm not sure how to progress from stickmen. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hello Arina!!

What you've got so far is a great basis to work from, don't worry! The only reason other people's gestures look more fleshed out is because they tend to 'sketch' more with their mediums. Mine end up looking super messy because I hastily scribble my lines.

Yes, do keep on drawing like this regularly for practice! It will help tons! One recommendation I want to give is to try and be 'more free' when drawing lines. It's not always a matter of precision, you want to capture motion too. If you draw precise, slow lines, you tend to lose motion.

A good way to draw is to just draw a curved, c-shaped line in a quick sweep, trying to mimic the curve and motion of the figure's spine. From there on you build the rest. Don't be afraid to draw messy lines, it's part of the fun!

Here are a handful of my gestures that I've drawn to help people out:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/if0an7n8224k7z7/AACHUIg3GYJ3GK3LdbqaSJnxa?dl=0

Just a reminder: I often exaggerate the motion to dramatic proportions to make the figures come more to life. It's totally okay to do this! Once you get the hang of motion it's easier to move onto getting proportions right, although you seem to have a pretty good grasp on that already. :)