Let’s take a look at your “Dynamic Shapes” project submissions.
Because the project for level 1 and level 2 were essentially the same, just a different path to get there, I’ll be combining both levels into one critique.
I’ll go over some of the more common mistakes and give some demos covering ways to get your shapes looking more dynamic, interesting, and gestural.
Newest

pedrobranco
18d
Just came back from a vacation. Happy to see some of my stuff was featured. I've a bit of a hard time putting the folds and tension points on paper to be honest, it's really not obvious to me what I'm looking for and what I'm trying to draw.
And yeah I agree the imagination seals were meant to look like numbers so I did exaggerate them a bit more than I should've.
Zach Pipher
21d
so watching Stan show students what they could of done instead has brought a question to my mind, when we do break from the reference versus when do we stick to the reference? There was times he would sort of bend and spaghetti the reference just a little bit, then other times he would say how there was a bump or something that needed to be shown otherwise it was over simplifying the reference.

bert2
20d
Its always tools not rules. You do what appeals to you and your decisions can be guided by what Stan is teaching us.
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Ralph
24d
So for the earlier lessons we got warmup exercises for every concept. While I get that it is difficult to keep calling it "warm up" the more these basic exercises are combined to arrive at more complex concepts like gesture, I was wondering if there still were good warm up exercises focused on gesture? Or is that too advanced already and we should just stick to the simpler line and circle exercises for warm-ups?
23d
Hey, @Ralph! For me, a warmup is any exercise that gets us started, physically and mentally. Personally, I like simple lines and circles because they’re quick and don’t demand much mental effort, but feel effective enough to get my hand and arm ready, and they also put me into the “I’m-gonna-draw” mindset. But the possibilities for warmups are various. Some artists like to use gesture itself as a warmup for a longer drawing or painting. And, in one of Proko’s livestreams, I’ve seen @Sinix warm up on a Cintiq by drawing and undoing just a simple spiral several times.
For a gesture assignment, I think a good warmup could be to draw C-S-I lines using shoulder movements and an overhand grip (as shown by Stan in this video: How to Hold and Control Your Pencil).
But this is just a suggestion, of course. Ultimately, I’d say it’s up to each artist to decide what warmup will work best for them each time.
Hope this answers your questions!
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johananvogelenzang
24d
Sorry I’m a little late with posting my seals but here they are. Feedback would be very much appreciated :)
akzafeld
27d
Ahoy there , is it supposed to be more like this? :
Zach Pipher
24d
sort of looks like what he was saying, although the shape of the flipper does seem to be flattened a little bit. There is a pretty sharp downturn to the body at the bottom of the flipper.
Amy
27d
I would like to ask a beginner level question about line quality. I have been practicing the tapered line and line weight. I need help applying it to gesture. I don’t have the fancy drawing programs. Just me and a pencil and paper. Stupid question about pencil, if there are programs with different ‘brush packs’ should I be handling the sharpness/lead softness- hardness/lead length of my pencil differently to produce a cleaner line? I feel mine just get messy, and hence I erase and my output isn’t clean. Any and all suggestions welcome.

Perce
27d
When the pencil is sharp it will produce a clean line. you can thicken the line when you hold the pencil in a different angle. Softer pencils wil produce darker lines. You also can sharpen thicker pencils like the ones they use for woodwork in an flat angle, so you can produce calligraphic lines. Whit charcoal pencils maybe its easier to make those tapered clean lines Tim Gula explain this in his video https://youtu.be/ZRnQcwKU9DE , I hope this helps. You also can sharpen the pencil more whit sandpaper.
Those charcoal pencils work great on newspaper, Stan use it and explain it in his figure drawing course.
I think how more you practice you produce cleaner lines and less messy lines.
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Arielle Ronin
27d
A little tip when you want to do this exercise a little bit more: when you google "wildlife Photographer of the year" you can find the website from the Natural History Museum. In the gallery you can find the pictures from 2010 to the current year. Lots of interesting stuff. There is one thats for underwater photography too (underwater photographer of the year). These are some very cool and sometimes weird creatures in there which are very fun to study
Clowndev
27d
Gesture can be tricky, when I first started with it 6 months ago it was very rough, it took me about 4 months of almost daily practice to get some decent results, but it's worth it! But dynamic shapes imply more than line of action, they are also movement inside the secondary forms, and as Stan pointed out in the critique pinching, overlap, weight distribution, character are all parts of it. Though for level two invention is hard without knowing where exactly do flippers attach to the body and what is the range of motion, but it doesn't matter unless it's very obviously wrong! If it looks cool and dynamic and somewhat seal like it's probably fine, this isn't anatomy after all! Keep drawing everyone :)
Lin
27d
Thank you for the critique! It is so unbelievably encouraging and means a lot that my linework/tapering efforts are paying off!! :D :D I have neuropathy with dual splints, so good linework is both a struggle and an aspiration. I was really surprised to see you mention Vilppu because I felt an instant kinship with him in the way he approaches gesture. I've not studied him in-depth, but I've watched one of his videos (with plans to look at more); since we approach problems kind of similarly I've tried my best to take his advice on to eradicate my gesture sausageitis. 😅
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Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.