How to Draw Gesture – Step by Step
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Figure Drawing Fundamentals

Gesture

How to Draw Gesture – Step by Step

2.2M
Mark as Completed

How to Draw Gesture – Step by Step

2.2M
Mark as Completed

Get a bunch of figure photos and draw 10 to 20 of them every day. I promise you will improve. And rewatch this episode and the previous episode a few times. Remind yourself what you're trying to do. And listen for those things that I repeat several times. Don't copy, don't draw the contour, find the story etc.. Also, try drawing along. Enjoy the process, and realize that you're drawing! It's a treat to just sit down and draw for a while. If you're having fun and enjoying yourself, you'll learn better.

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@dwt12345
Some one-minute gestures- in hindsight, it's sort of an awkward length of time for this.
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Tasha
5 minute poses
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Devon D. Yeider
nice! looking good!
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@dwt12345
30 second and 2 min gestures
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Martha Muniz
I like the simplification you are using for both, there is a nice connection between lines that brings flow to the entire figure for a lot of these. I would recommend for your next practice session to push yourself to exaggerate, as I see a tendency towards timidness in energy. I think especially that the 30 second gesture practice is a good opportunity to focus on the essential lines and assess whether they are dynamic enough or can be pushed even further--whether they can be curved, tilted, or even straightened up more--and which can then be applied to longer poses.
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@kinage01
Hello everyone I hope you are all doing well. I rewatched the videos as well as some other videos to understand more about gesture drawing. I also tried to do 2 min gesture drawings as well. I would love feedback on what I could improve when it comes to gesture drawing as I know I have a lot to improve on. Thank you.
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@aeyt
Wanted to start some sort of a personal project but immediately hit a creative block so just drew some quick sketches today! These were all  around 2 minutes each, every single one was with a reference but due to the quantity of them I didn’t save them.
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@liquid
Help me please, I'm confused if I'm on the right track, I'm using 1 minute for each pose because in 30 seconds I get lost and can't finish the figure, but my drawings don't have the same fluidity shown in the videos and when I focus more on fluidity I feel my proportions getting worse, especially in the arms and legs. I appreciate any advice or tips. Thank you!
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Jesper Axelsson
Hi @liquid, nice drawings! - What's you art goal? Do you want to do animation, illustration, florence academy style portrait, or something else? Knowing that might help me guide you better. Feel free to put together a slide with a few examples of art by artists that you admire. Not just any artwork that you like, but the type of work that you'd like to create yourself. - I'm into animation, so I think a lot about weight, tension and what the story is, and most importantly getting involved with the pose, as if I was striking it myself. I think your drawings could use some more of that. Do some more, and try to really feel the pose, as if you we're striking it yourself. Maybe even get up and actually strike the pose (assuming it's safe XD), to feel the weight and tensions. Before you start to draw, ask what part is carrying most of the weight, and focus on communicating that in your drawing. Keep in mind that the body is connected, so if for example you're standing up leaning with most of your weight on your right leg ---> the hip will be pushed up on that side--> and the shoulders might angle the opposite way for balance ---> causing one side of the torso to squash and the other to stretch ---> etc. But most importantly, try to feel the pose. Get involved! You could imagine that the pose you're drawing is part of a sequence. Where is it coming from and where is it going? Try to feel that in your body while you draw. It helps to describe what you're drawing with verbs: "the head hangs down" "the hip pushes out" etc. This is not easy stuff, so don't be discouraged if you struggle. Instead I hope for you to be excited about all these things XD! I hope this helps :) Keep up the good work! 💪😎👍 PS. Try to have your camera parallel to the drawing, when you take the photo, to avoid distortions. You might have adjust your position relative to light in order to avoid cast shadows. If you struggle, take the photo outside, where you have a lot of light :)
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@longbeard
Hey i think these look great, I have the same issues as you in regards to flow vs proportional accuracy. I think the main thing at this stage is to keep at it! Decide before each pose if you going to focus on flow or proportion and once you get to the point where you can feel each out in isolation then start combining them. Prokopenko's been drawing for literally years so it's likely intuative for him at this point - the gestures he puts as examples are a skill that takes years to develop so just stick at it and trust the process.
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@alexkiani97
When do we know whether we can 'graduate' from gesture to the bean? Would it be when we send in gesture critique and if we get positive feedback we can move on?
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@lazy0
I'm confused is Gesture separate from rhythm or are they the same. Or could I put gesture in my rhythms or practice them separately??
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@eldragdrag
Hi all, I'm posting here as I would love some help with some gesture drawings I made. As I am typing this post, I find I critique myself more so than looking at what I have done so it's useful. The first 8 are 30 seconds, the second are 2 mins. I did label the page too. For the 30 second poses, I often found I didn't have enough time to draw more than a stick man. For the 2 minute poses, I tried to emulate how Stan uses sweeping lines for the shape of limbs rather than a single line. I find the hardest part to be the shapes of the forearms/lower legs, and the S shape around the muscle and the bone. Studying this anatomy might improve this. Am I misunderstanding the concept and drawing gestures wrong? Or should I keep practicing and I will get there? I would appreciate any advice or instruction.
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Jesper Axelsson
Hi @eldragdrag, nice studies! There are many different ways to approach a gesture quicksketch, so I wouln't worry about doing it the wrong way. However it could be relevant to think of what your art goal is. What is your art goal? If you want to do animation for example, there is a lot of things worth considering in a gesture sketch, and there's a tradition of how to go about drawing the figure. If you want to do Florence Academy like painting, then you might go about it in a different way. I think you have a pretty nice flow in your drawings. What I think you should focus on in your next set of drawings, is to feel the pose. Imagine that you were striking the pose yourself. Where is the tension? Can you feel the arm reaching? Where do you feel force? etc. Really try to empathize with the model, then focus on describing what you feel with your drawing. Maybe even strike the pose yourself to actually feel the forces. In the third drawing from the left in the top row of image one, for example, you have a person sitting on the ground leaning against their arm. But I'm not really feeling this as I look at the drawing, because I'm missing lines describing it. Draw a line that describes the butt pushing against the ground. And a line that shows the shoulder being pushed up as the body lean against the arm. This will do a lot for the gesture. Then add aditional lines that enhance the feeling of what's happening. Maybe make the arm straight to make it look tense, like it's a stick holding up the weight of the body pushing down at it. Maybe lean the body more, to make the story even clearer. Yeah, so much of it, is thinking about the logic of the pose. What is happening and how can I describe it? If you wonder whether to move on to the next lesson or not, it depends a bit on how long you've stayed on this lesson and if you feel like you've got something out of it. Gesture is a fun subject and in my experience there is always more discover :) So don't expect to "get there" and never have to do it again. As you learn other drawing concepts, you'll get a greater context for how gesture is used, and you'll have more tools to do figure quicksketches sucessfully, so moving on doesn't hurt. I would also highly encourage you to take the Drawing Basics course as well, it's packed with great stuff that you'll benefit from! If you have to choose between the Drawing Basics course and the Figure Drawing course I would say: Focus your efforts on the Drawing Basics course! I hope this helps :) Keep up the good work💪😎👍
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hArtMann
Did the gestures after watching this video and the rhythms one from the drawing basics course. I did notice a slight improvement but I still gotta work more on incorporating everything covered in both videos I watched which was quite a bit of info.
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@sinkrity
Took a crack at it! I've gone through quite a few iterations before this trying to understand gesture as something separate to a finished drawing, and I think I'm getting close! Would love some feedback. Thank you in advance! edit: these are all 2 min poses!
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@avedab
I would love some feedback as I struggle a little bit with getting the body just right in the two minute drawings
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@cesarcarlos
Hello, I recently got the Figure Drawing course and have been paying particular attention to gesture and trying to draw many every day. These are all 2 min poses, some from the demo video, others from Pinterest. Still have a lot to practice but feel I'm a bit more comfortable than before. Any insights are truly appreciated. Thanks! @Jesper Axelsson
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Jesper Axelsson
Hi @cesarcarlos, nice studies! It's great to see the improvement of linequality and rhythm, from the first images to the last. - Overall, the gesture is pretty good, but the figures feel broken at places. Try this exercise: Do some more figure drawings, where you try to capture the gesture, but build the figures with pieces. Focus on the shape and proportion of the pieces. Also check so that the pieces that are mirror versions of eachother are the the same lenght and width. So, for example, when you've drawn the left upper arm and the right upper arm, compare the two and make sure that they are the same lenght. Tag me when you've done a few👍 Cheers!
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@hannassi
Here are some gesture drawings i did lately. This was my first time sketching gesture with a pen, so they turned out a bit messy. I would always love your feedback and critiques!
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@lassek
First set of 2mins. Still struggling with gesture through volume.
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@lassek
I have been doing a bunch of 30sek drawings. I'm having a hard time pushing the gesture and my figures lose their gesture anytime I try to indicate that the form is moving towards or away from the viewer. Should I try to become somewhat good at 30sec before moving on to 2min or should I practice these two while moving forwards in the course? Thx 🙏.
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@charliev
Another set of 2 min gestures. Hopefully I’m not considered spamming, looking for feedback. Tried to focus on asymmetrical contours and having the flow line follow all the way through the figure.
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@amit2140
These are pretty good. Im still struggling with gesture
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@charliev
One more set, open for any critiques. Is there a way to pay for classes or how do I get feedback on how to improve?
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@charliev
Another set of 2mins, a couple dragged on to 3-4 mins because my proportions were out of control: really long torso’s, really long limbs.
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Tyler
Day 1 - been studying faces too much and got bored so now I'm gonna try to improve my figures, so I decided to pick up the course. Any advice on my gestures would be greatly appreciated.
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@charliev
I’m learning myself, so not much I can provide on advice, but love your style. The bottom right laying down is my favorite, your line work really shows the weight on her back and the sharp angle of her left arm. I like that initial flow line you put in the body on your gestures. Really helps capture the movement of the poses, I might have to try that one as well! My drawings are looking stiff after looking at yours.
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@charliev
Please help critique. 2 min gesture each. I feel like I can do these forever, so addicting, but I can’t tell if I’m doing it right, getting better, or how to improve.
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Jesper Axelsson
Hi @charliev, nice start! Yeah, isn't this exercise a lot of fun XD. I'll do my best to help you further. - As a general study tips, I think it's a good idea to have copying drawings of artists that you admire, as part of your practice routine. You'll learn a lot of tricks that way. You could for example follow along with Stan in his exercise demonstrations. Or you could look to other artists, such as Glenn Vilppu Drawing Demo by Glenn Vilppu, or Mike Mattesi Improving Line Quality and Rhythm – FORCE Series Part 1, or someone else. Then use the things you learn in your own drawings. You'll find that there are different approaches to doing gesture quicksketches. I'm particularly fond of the approach that you might see Glenn Vilppu use, where you start with a rhythm of lines flowing through the forms, a flow that you then contain with forms. - Draw through the forms. If one leg goes behind the other, don't stop the line. Continue it lightly, to make sure the body is constructed properly. - You might appreciate this video How to Hold and Control Your Pencil. Learning to hold and control your pencil properly can help you on your drawing journey. The Drawing Basics course also has a lot of great stuff on linework. - It would be interesting to hear what your goals are, since that might help me guide you better. Do you want to do animation? Illustration? Realistic portrait drawing? Or something else? I hope this helps :) Keep up the good work!
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W.I.M.U
Hi ! I have been having some doubts lately regarding my figure drawings so I decided to go back from the start. Although I’m not sure if this is the right approach to gesture drawing. Any feedback is welcome ! PS : those are 40 sec
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