Gesture Drawing, Introduction

Gesture drawing is many things: a way to “see”, a technique of drawing,

an exercise, a defined “scribble”, and a finished style.

What Is Gesture Drawing?

Basically, it is a method of training hands to quickly sketch what the
brain has already seen. Staying “focused” means sustained concentration.
Once you start drawing, don’t stop—there’s only 10-30 seconds to finish! As
you proceed in skill development, drawings should be “grouped” with
overlapped shapes and time extended up to 2 minutes. This is Gesture
practice.

Gesture STYLE allows the designer to incorporate gesture concepts in

part or all of the design as a finished expressive mode of pencil drawing.

This is the beginning—the first step—to know the form and purpose of
gesture drawing. Of course, like any learning, it takes practice to effect the
skill. The next section will demonstrate the work of first gesture experience
learners using ordinary pencils and pens.

Steps to Success
1. FOCUS— constantly. The eye, a wonderful camera
estimates proportions, contours, movement, and contrasts quickly.
Determine contours first, then interior shapes and shadows.

2. DRAW LIGHTLY—for the 1st “layer” as a rough draft;

darker for the 2nd drawing corrections right over the 1st layer adding
contrast; then, the darkest 3rd layer with deep shadows and final contours.

3. DRAW QUICKLY— The entire image is viewed in a

blink. Make the pencil follow content flashed to the brain. Keep the
pencil/pen in constant circular and linear motion. Catch the form, not the
details.

4. CONSTANT MOVEMENT—is a necessity. Quick, light

drawing makes for easy clarifications in succeeding layers. Move eyes with
quick returns without moving the head. Accuracy takes patience,
perseverance and lots of practice.

5. TIMED DRAWINGS—from 10-30 seconds for skill

practices of single shapes and 1-2 minutes for grouping objects together. It’s
a challenge only in the beginning.
 6. NO ERASING. Step 2 is the key. Gesture drawing’s
purpose is to develop visual skills which will effect expertise. Erasing breaks
focus and wastes time.

More than a practice, exercise or a process, Gesture Drawing defines

images in many beautiful ways. From simplicity in single media to mixed
combinations it creates both technique and art style.

Gesture Drawing is a visual training skill which can be expanded by

diverse methods, complexities and materials. Different media enhance
appearance, color blends and textural effects.
PENCIL—is a favorite practice medium and with softer leads exciting
shade and linear blends can be effected.
CRAYON—an erroneously lowly regarded media, may be humble, but it’s
ageless for productivity. With tips or side swipes it offers smooth tonal
qualities. Heavy applications build “mass” (volume) and rough textural
surfaces with easy color blending.
PASTELS— provide smooth blends, rough mass or fine line combinations
as seen in the shell and vase examples. Drawing pastels into wet paper
widens color contrasts and partially “sets” the medium.
INDIAN INK —effects heavy black linear qualities controlled by a variety
of open and tightly closed spaces for its value levels and changes. Black
MARKER can also be used in a similar manner.
WATERCOLORS—and watercolors plus INK have unique features and
together make an exciting marriage. With ink, a rich black contrasts the
colors when dry, and when wet, water makes unusual movements of each.
One needs to both enjoy and control the exciting, random flows.
COLORED PENCIL—is most satisfying to the artist who demands more
realism. It offers more precision and has great color blends. It can effect very
exciting loose interpretations as well.
MIXED MEDIA —opens wide doors to creative interpretations. Ink and
crayon, crayon and watercolor, pastels and ink, ball point pens and
watercolor, and collage papers with each offer special effects. Bright
overlapped tissue papers can stain backgrounds for color changes and
contrasts well with other media. However, mixed media should augment
gesture drawing skill and not substitute for it. Practice single media until
confidence in visual and hand coordinations are well developed. With
perseverance you will be well rewarded!

Gesture Drawing:

Gesture drawing is related to action drawing, but it goes further. The

idea of gesture as the essential character of a figure or object, a kind-of
eastern philosophy viewpoint. That is, everything has a gesture. As
Nicolaides wrote, “Everything has a gesture - even a pencil.” On the physical
level, the pencil’s gesture is a “shooting” straight line, very quick. That
physical movement has an intangible counterpart - its essence - its
movement identity, personality, or essence.

When you strive to capture the essence of an object or person, your art
will start to be on a deeper level than mere appearances. Another example
of this notion is the idea of a ribbon tied into a bow. When you do a drawing
of what the bow looks like, you will get just that - its appearance. But when
you do a gesture drawing of the bow, you will get what the bow is DOING, its
action. Your line will move, stop and go very quickly, around, up and down,
getting the FEEL of the figure in real or perceived movement. Don’t look
much at your paper - just keep looking at what you are drawing, and work
very quickly, trying to find the axis, or essence, as quickly as possible. Draw
figures and animals, and different types of objects, such as flowers, shoes,
and trees.

Gesture drawing can exist on two levels - action drawing, and gesture
drawing. Both involve the principle of movement. However, action drawing
deals with physical movement; and gesture drawing involves not only
physical movement, but a deeper concept of essential identity, as well.

First, action drawing: This exercise works best with figures or animals.
You are essentially trying to capture the action the figure is performing. Once
again, a likeness or correct proportions are not important in this exercise,
nor is the exercise meant to result in a finished drawing. This is an exercise
to get you to learn to identify the action the figure is doing, with his/her
body. Individual body parts are not important here - only the curve or
direction of the main bodily movement. You are not capturing what the
figure or object looks like, but what it is doing. In fact, you are looking at the
figure as a form in space, not as a person or animal. You are seeking what
the form itself is doing. Try to FEEL the line of movement, the fullness of the
curves.

What Is Contour Drawing?

The first thing we do when beginning to draw is contour drawing, which
is another name for drawing the outline. With contour drawing, we are
focusing on the edges - the outside of an object or the line made by a fold or
pattern. The line that goes across an object, hinting at the form, is called a
cross-contour. Don’t get fooled into using the line to draw light and dark. The
WEIGHT of a line, that is, how dark and thick it is, will make it jump out from
the paper (if it is a strong, dark line) or sink into the paper (if it is light or
thin). This is useful when you are trying to give the impression of something
being closer or further away.

When you look at an object, the shapes you see vary depending on your
point of view.
 When you are drawing an object, you need to select a viewpoint and
stick to it. This means setting the object down, and sitting so that you can
look from your object to your paper with minimal movement. You want to
always have your head in the same place whenever you look at the object. In
this way, the shapes will always look the same. A small movement can make
a surprisingly big difference once you start drawing details.

WHAT IT IS......
Contour means “outline”, and presents exterior edges of objects. A plain
contour has a clean, connected line, no shading and emphasizes an open
“shell” of the subject. More complex contours can imply shading values
through interior outlines (top right), may have line textures or be contrasted
with mixed media. Pencil drawing, ball point pen and black markers are good
practice tools.

GETTING STARTED......
As always, this means practice (of course!) and in a similar method as
explained in However, where gesture drawing is fast, contour is slow and
more deliberate. Like gesture drawing, practices are 1 and 2 minute timed
sketches for single objects and up to 3 minutes for more complex and
overlapping images.

METHOD......
Visual training is the purpose and accuracy the goal. No erasing is
allowed. Collect ordinary objects and practice with one at a time, as in
Gesture drawing.

Contour Drawing Exercise

Contour drawing uses the ‘taking a line for a walk’ approach, picking a
spot and continuing until the drawing is complete. Along the way, the
relative sizes, shapes and directions of lines are noted and copied, a bit at a
time. Take your time in the beginning, as the first parts of the drawing
establish scale for the whole drawing. A common mistake is to run the
picture off the page, having started too large or in the wrong place. If this
happens, don’t worry - either finish off, use another part of the page for a
drawing, or start afresh.

Pieces of fruit, and natural objects such as plants or leaves, are the
easiest. Making your drawing the same size as the object is helpful when you
are learning. Place very small objects close to your page, bigger things a
little further away. Just pick a point on an edge of the object and continue
along with your eyes, letting your hand copy the shape on the paper. If there
is a strong line, such as a fold or crease across the object, draw that too.
Sometimes it helps to squint your eyes so you can see the ‘silhouette’ of the
object. This is the basic shape you are trying to capture.

Don’t worry too much if the shapes aren’t perfect. Think of these
drawings as a warm-up exercise - there is no right or wrong. At this stage, all
you want to do is practice getting your hand and eye to do the same thing,
judging the size and shape of the edges you can see. If you feel you are
ready to be critical, place your drawing close to the object, and consider
whether the shapes you can see match those you have drawn. Are the
proportions right? Have you included all the details, or did you skip the tricky
bits?

Blind Contour Drawing

Blind Contour drawing is a favourite with drawing teachers to develop
hand-eye communication. Contour drawing is essentially outline drawing,
and blind contour drawing means drawing the outline of the subject without
looking at the paper. The end result doesn’t matter - what is important is
carefully observing the subject.

Prefer to slightly stretch the meaning of ‘contour’ to include lines

generally, so that from time to time the line will wander across the form and
back out again, capturing little details along the way. In this exercise, avoid
lifting the pencil from the paper so that the line is as continuous as possible,
and most importantly, DON’T PEEK! If need be, work with your sketchbook
under the table.

What to Do:Now, just draw your hand! Place the pencil near the
bottom of the page, then looking at the edge of the wrist, begin to follow the
line, going very slowly and steadily. Try to make your pencil follow every
slight curve and bump. When you get to a crease, follow it in then back out
to the side and carry on. Don’t rush. Concentrate on observing every little
detail.

Review: When you’ve gone all around the hand, stop and look at the
end results. Funny? But look how some areas of your drawing are amazingly
accurate. Sure, the large areas might be out of proportion to each other, but
you will notice that some parts are far better drawn than when you were
looking at the paper!

Going Further:You can also try this exercise with other objects - leafy
plants or furniture. People and animals can be pretty funny too, and it is
great observational practice.