Gesture Critique

Hello,

It's been about 2 months since I last posted any gestures/figures here. I've been trying to structure my practice better for the last two months, but I have been doing a lot of gestures while trying to figure myself out. Here's a few I decided to do digitally, any critiques are appreciated.

https://imgur.com/a/BfXYBex

OK, feedback #1: Do an old man a favor: check your scanning software, I am certain there is somewhere a button that let's you adjust contrast and brightness. Rip up the contrast to 100%, the page will probably turn white when you do that, then lower the brightness until the drawing reappears.

Ideally you should chose a bright enough paper and a dark enough pencil, so that isn't always necessary and you can control the amount of contrast you want while drawing and don't have to always mess around with it while scanning, but the combo of dark paper and timid lines makes it really hard to see, what you are even doing for a pair of old eyes.

The lines, that I do see look like you are on a good trajectory. You are focused on finding essential lines that show the gesture, and design and execute them cleanly and confidently, and you even know how to exaggerate the poses for quite a bit of extra swagger.

I think you are at a point with your short sketches, where basic beginner advice reaches its limits, and you have to make some artistic decisions about where you want to go next as an artist yourself.

If you want to start really celebrating your lines, and keep to a caricature style, you could try switching to an ink brush. Pentel GFKP Japan worked best for me, not too expensive and reliable ink flow. Ink brush gives your line weight a lot of variation, (which might take a few attempts to get used to, but you'll figure it out) which will make your good line quality really apparent to the viewer.

If you want to go photorealistic instead, it's probably time to read up a bit on theory about how light and shadow works, and get used to doing longer drawings.

Another step into the wild would be to come up with short stories or jokes and try to do short series of three panels with a continuous narrative, to get used to drawing from imagination. Your foundation in drawing from observation should serve you well, but it is still a separate skillset.

Hello, Swampat. Welcome to our site!

You know, when it comes to exaggeration in gesture drawings, I think you're completely on the right track, but I still feel that the exaggeration in the poses and in the gestures still need more real straights against curves. How would you like to just please free up your shoulders and elbows with our Learn To Draw interactive drawing tutorial of figure studies here?

And as for your lines, they could and would be a real celebration of them, as you could and would just go for any cheap but affordable brush pen as Aunt Herbert suggested, then I suggest you just go for it.

The reasons why is because of two things: First, to help you self-teach on your line economies of figures and such. And second, to help you satirize and draw out the humor and feeling of your figure bodies as clearly and sharply, if not cleanly.

And furthermore, if you're really curious about more line economy practice and exercises, may I please recommend you Cartooning by Ivan Brunetti on Amazon right here, as a book?

Let's hope they work. Thanks.