Gesture Drawings

What is a Gesture Drawing?

A non-verbal communication – can be seen on the human figure, animals and even objects, a drawing used to study the human figure

Sometimes called an action drawing: the action a figure is performing

Limit looking at your paper as much as possible and use the whole page – DRAW BIG!

Use a continuous line and DO NOT ERASE if you make a mistake – JUST IGNORE IT!

Rembrandt Gesture Drawing, Preacher, 1644

Examples of Gesture Drawings from 17,000 B.C.

Lascaux Caves located in France

Focus on:SHAPE! SHAPE! SHAPE!: Focus on the shape of the model – not the fine details

Use your whole arm when drawing – don’t grip the pencil too tight

Remember, this is an exercise – have fun with it!

Keep in mind…

We are NOT couch potatoes…

so do not draw the model like one!

I am not a potato!

We have a torso and a pelvis!

TORSO

PELVIS

The psychology of color and color theoriesPsychology of color:

RED = Energy, Excitement, most noticeable

BLUE = Peace and Tranquility

YELLOW = Enhances concentration, an attention getter

GREEN = Connected to nature, calming color

PURPLE = Luxury and wealth

ORANGE = Enthusiasm and warmth

Color theories:

Analogous: Any color next to each other on the color wheel (red/purple)

Complementary: Any color directly across from another color on the color wheel (red/green)

Monochromatic: Any color and shades (darker) or tints (lighter) of that color. An example would be red, burgundy and pink.

Using Color to express mood in the background of your gesture pose:Using the psychology of color and color theories, to create a background using watercolor to enhance your charcoal gesture pose.

I want to see all 3 color theories being used to create this background. Make sure the color psychology is also incorporated in the colors you choose. I do not want a calm pose using red because this would be exactly the opposite of what you would want to convey. So think about this before you choose your colors.

Final Product Example: