Figure Drawing Critiques - Gesture
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Figure Drawing Fundamentals

Gesture

Figure Drawing Critiques - Gesture

52K
Mark as Completed

Figure Drawing Critiques - Gesture

52K
Mark as Completed
Stan Prokopenko
Marshall Vandruff joins Stan Prokopenko to critique student gesture drawings.
Newest
Agnieszka
18h
My examples of gesture drawing include those I did before the demo, following the demo, and after critique. There are some poses I like and others I don’t. I’m wondering if I should try 5- or 6-minute gesture sessions to take more time to analyze my mistakes, understand why my poses feel stiff, and work on improving line quality (since it currently looks messy), or if I should stick to 2- or 3-minute gesture sessions and rely on consistent practice to help me improve.
Rachel Dawn Owens
I can see the improvements already! Your drawings on the second page have more form and flow. It looks like you’re learning exactly what you need to. 1-3 minute drawings are great practice to loosen up your hand and get your mind working right. When you start getting into 5-10 minute poses, you will start to consider anatomy and lighting more. All gesture drawing is good practice. Draw whatever you like more to keep up your consistency. Any quicksketch practice over a long period of time will yield results. Nice work! Keep it up!
Soso
18d
I went over gesture drawing a couple of times, also watched the videos multiple times but I don’t seem to be able to get my drawings to look so dynamic. Either I make itchy scratchy lines or everything seems so … static.
Kevin Patel
Hello I was wondering if anyone could critique my gestures! The things that stick out to me right now are doing single lines instead of "stuttering" and using more c curves for the arms instead of muscle contours.
Abigail G.
5mo
I just finished the first assignment for the figure drawing class and wanted to get some feedback on them! It’s been a while since I’ve done any gesture drawing, and I really want to improve. I would really appreciate any feedback/advice you guys might have! Most of these are 30 second-2 minute drawings, though the ones on page 3 are more 3-7 minutes. Also ignore the face on page 3, I got carried away lol
Jesper Axelsson
Hi @Abigail G., nice drawings! I'll do my best to help you further :) - It would help me to know what your art goal is. What type of work do you want to create? Do you have any examples of artists who does that type of work? - With drawing you communicate ideas. In your next attempt of the shorter poses try to make sure that the idea of the gesture (the action) is completed. In many of your drawings (image 4 for example), you have started to add details before the gesture has been communicated, making the drawings hard to decipher. -To me it has been very helpful to keep this line in mind: "Do one thing at a time". So I might start my figure drawing by focusing on the gesture. When I feel like I've said what I intended to say (the action; what the structure is doing), I might do another pass where I focus on the shapes that the figure is built of, and how they would look in the gesture I've decided on. When I've communicated the structure of the figure, I might start to think about clothing for example, and how the wrinkles in the clothing could lead the eye. The exact process wasn't the point here, but the idea of doing one thing at a time, since that creates clarity in your mind and in turn in your drawing. - I've been taught that a figure drawing needs proportion, balance and rhythm. Proportion (the structure), balance (the sense of weight) and rhythm (a flow that leads your eye through the drawing. Often one side of a part will squash and the other will stretch; all the parts of the body squashing and stretching together creates a rhythm). You need all three. I try to work on improving in all three areas and on making all three present in my drawings. You might want to try doing that too. I hope this helps :) Keep up the good work!
Filippo Galli
It was nice to be reminded that these are few of hundreds, if not thousands, so it doesn't matter if you get some looking off. Incredible insight from Marshall as always. The only way up is through patience and good practice. In any case, I'm excited to move onto the next part of the course!
@juliannavolkov
I took around 2 minutes with each pose and I used the references from the post below me (Jack Mills' post). I would really appreciate some feedback! An artist I really look up to is Rembert Montald because of his storytelling through illustrations. I really want to capture the movement in each pose, but I find it difficult when the person isn't actually moving. I know a good way to practice is drawing directly from animations. I think one of the things I have to improve is my lines. I keep adding new lines to try to "fix" the previous one, so the pose ends up being confusing. Please let me know what you think! I would appreciate a criticism more than a "looks good".
Jack Mills
6mo
Here are my gesture drawings from oldest to newest. My drawings are not timed, but I think I'm gonna do more timed drawings from now onward. If you got any feedback that would be most appreciated as I feel my gesture drawing progression is slowing down. References will be in the comments.
Jack Mills
6mo
These are all the references I could find.
Peter Tinkler
I try and do gesture studies as often as I can, as I'm still working my way through the Anatomy course, and don't want to stiffen up. These are mostly gesture, with a sprinkling of some structure. I didn't time these officially, but I'd be surprised if any of them were more than 5 minutes.
Patrick Bosworth
Excellent gestures!
Melanie Scearce
These are lovely, thanks for sharing. I really like the page with the two figures kneeling with the canes. If you want to get real loose try some 30 second - 1 minute poses to keep it fresh!
@nullmyriad
I've been focusing on 30 sec gestures to loosen up my movements, as my first gesture attempts were very stiff. I definitely see improvement, but would like critique/advice on finding more flow
Gannon Beck
I think you're on the right track. Nice flowing lines here.
DrawYer
6mo
These are some samples of my attempts after watching the demos and the critiques. I tried to really stay at 5min or below, but sometimes I got carried away ;D !  Any comments or feedback welcome. 
Aiba Miller
30s in red, 2 min in blue. Didn't realize how awkwardly rusty I was, I would love some real strong criticism, don't be shy. The more it hurts, the more I can learn from it. Sometimes I have a lot of trouble creating strong flow and lines in my figures. I spend about 30 seconds on each one constructing it in my head before I start.
Melanie Scearce
I think you have great drawings here. If you're feeling awkward and rusty, it could be a symptom of just not practicing enough so I recommend you make a daily practice of it! You could try doing even shorter poses, like 10 seconds, to challenge yourself to quickly find the gesture of a pose. Good luck with your practice :)
Huy Vuong
7mo
30sec, and rest is 2 mins, I got rusty with gestures but I'm glad getting back into it
Gannon Beck
Very nice, Huy! A few of us in this class and other classes are posting in a daily thread if you want some company in making this a habit. https://www.proko.com/community/topics/daily-drawing-with-timer-challenge#k8Z.bMm We also do some live calls where we draw together. DM me if your interested in those for the times.
@yoyoy12
7mo
Jesper Axelsson
Hi @yoyoy12, nice drawings! - Your drawings have nice rhythm! Now try to include some more structure. You want you drawings to have rhythm, but also structure. See if you can get both in your drawings. If you already have lines in a leg for example, that lead the rhythm, use the other lines to show the structure. Straight lines often communicate structure. I hope this helps :)
@yoyoy12
7mo
@yoyoy12
8mo
@yoyoy12
8mo
@iyana
8mo
Sorry that the images are dark in some places. I can tell that I am improving but I still find myself rushing to draw the gesture within the 2:30 time limit and doing those chicken scratch lines at times. I would love a critique to see how I can improve. Thank you!
@noag
8mo
Hey guys! I have tried my best, but I feel like I don't improve... Does anyone have any advice? (I attached 2 minutes and 30 seconds gesture drawing here) Thanks!
Gannon Beck
How often do you draw?
Emmanuel Moyo
I'm new to figure drawing and I'm not too sure what it is that I'm not doing right. Majority of my drawings come out feeling a bit lacklustre. I'd appreciate any advise.
Brando Gould
there's no way around it, figure drawing is one of the hardest types of drawing there is. I think you honestly have a lot of great stuff here! Great job doing a lot of these. I enjoy your line work. To your point of the drawings feeling lackluster, there is a point where Stan and Marshall talk about rhythm. Rhythm is an aspect of figure drawing that takes time to learn, but it is the connection point between two seemingly disconnected things. This can be a hidden connection such as anatomy (under the skin), a curve that is behind an arm or an obstruction. We must always be thinking about the form as a composition. Where can we see these connections and rhythms? If you don't know anatomy, just try to find beautiful lines within the body positioning. maybe the chin tilts towards the left thigh, draw a swooping C curve that connets the two and see what the result is! If you do know anatomy, use it to inform where certain points have a relationship! Gesture is the action of the pose, the weight, and feeling of a pose. It often looks best with confident mark-making and emotion rather than analytical and measured marks. Take a look at Force: dynamic life drawing by Michael Mattesi. Exaggerating the pose is helpful, even the most stiff poses typically have a lean or tilt somewhere, if you can see it, push it further to exemplify it on the page! The last thing I'll say about gesture is that it can't be accomplished with the stick figure style drawings that you are bending around. The linework MUST connect exterior with interior parts of the body and can not only stick to the center line or the contour. it is a careful combination of both! Keep it up!
faye zhang
9mo
Followed along a Life Drawing class by Royal Academy of Arts: https://www.youtube.com/live/RHbFyW279ME?feature=shared I found that it’s better to find the general lines of motion first, rather than finding the gesture of the torso, separate limbs etc. Very happy with my 25min figure in the last pic :)
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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.
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