Intro to Gesture Drawings

Honoria Starbuck

Gesture Drawing SearchWhat do you think the definition is?

GESTURE DRAWING a quick drawing that captures the essential gesture of a subject in its most distilled form.

-- artist teacher Clara Lieu

In drawing, gesture represents the primal instinct, the essential character of the subject.

As a form of expression, an initial gesture drawing is critical to every drawing. Without a sense of gesture, drawings become sterile and static

Instilled with gesture, a drawing is able to communicate emotion and expression that is visually compelling.

Through gesture, the essential character and emotion of any given subject can be effectively communicated.

Drawings lacking gesture become dull and mechanical

A sense of fluidity conveys a focused, single motion that allows the object to be perceived as a whole, rather than as a series of unrelated pieces.

Gestural fluidity can be achieved in a number of different ways.

Marks that continually flow and move into each other behave as they are a whole.

Flow come from the relationships of how big shapes transition into each other.

Ignis Drakos

Are these drawings fluid?

If so, what elements of design cause their fluidity?

What is the story of one or more of these figures?

Which gesture drawing has more flow? What elements contribute to the flow?

Connie Chadwell Nicky Wibisono

A few good techniques of Gesture Drawing

LinesScribble drawing or ScumblingGeometric shapes building togetherFinger Painting

BlindDon’t look at the paperDraw in the air before you draw on the paperLook at the model, then break the pose and draw from memory

ShapesUse only color shapes and no linesUse only value shapes and no linesDraw only the darks of the pose

MoodDraw the rhythm of the pose, not any specificsDraw the feeling of the pose, not the figure

Gesture drawing is an important technique for developing the ability to draw figures.

Gesture drawings are rapidly executed drawings of mass and weight. Gestures don’t have to involve outlines or details.

To draw in blind gesture mode, look only at the object, not at the paper.

Works Cited

"Ask the Art Professor: What Is a Gesture Drawing?" Lieu, Clara. Art Prof. 15 May 2013. Web. 13 July 2015.

"Gesture Drawing - 14262_125." Gesture Drawing - 14262_125. Integrated Publishing, n.d. Web. 12 July 2015.

Wibisono, Nicky. "Gesture Drawing Escapades." Nicky In Progress. 7 Aug. 2012. Web. 13 July 2015. <https://nickyinprogress.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/gesture-drawing-escapades/>.