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Dive into gesture drawing's why, what, and how, mastering techniques like the 16-line method and shape gestures to capture the figure's essence.
$125
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Educator, painter, and art historian. Author of Figure Drawing: Design and Invention and Gesture Drawing: Dynamic Movement and Form.
DOWNLOADS
project-difficult-poses-reference-images.zip
23 MB
project-difficult-poses.mp4
49 MB
project-difficult-poses-transcript-english.txt
801 B
project-difficult-poses-transcript-spanish.txt
834 B
project-difficult-poses-captions-english.srt
1 kB
project-difficult-poses-captions-spanish.srt
1 kB
ASSIGNMENTS![]()
![Neill]()
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![Melanie Scearce]()
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![@sergeishimwe]()
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![Gale Martinet]()
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![Bex]()
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![Steven Michael Hampton]()
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![Tommy Pinedo]()
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![Daelin Proudmoore]()
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![Vecta]()
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![Ash]()
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![@airando]()
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![Steven Michael Hampton]()
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![Josh M]()
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![Steven Michael Hampton]()
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![Rich Acosta]()
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![Diego Gamboa]()
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![Steven Michael Hampton]()
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![Tuang Dheandhanoo]()
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![Ash]()
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![@toufubox]()
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![@mwalker]()
Objective:
Practice drawing challenging poses with a focus on foreshortening and gesture.
What You’ll Do:
- Use the provided reference images to draw different poses.
- Focus on foreshortening by adjusting line lengths to show depth.
- Apply wrapping lines to emphasize form.
- Work on different angles:
- Front and back views – Maintain the natural asymmetry of the spine.
- Crouching and leaning forward – Adjust spine lines to show compression (pinch).
Key Skills:
- Capturing depth and movement
- Understanding how the body bends and twists
- Making confident, expressive lines
Final Notes:
- Think about the flow of the pose.
- Don’t worry about perfect details—focus on the gesture and structure.
- Have fun and good luck!
Deadline - submit by March 25, 2025 for a chance to be in the critique video!
The difficult poses,
I've two questions based on these sketches.
1) If a hand or a foot is touching the body, the other hand/foot or is close to the body or other hand/foot I like to fist draw where the hand/foot is placed then aim the limb towards it. Is this a legitimate tactic or am I setting myself up for failure by adding rigidity? The same applies with negative space between limbs. if there is a triangle of space between the limbs before they meet again in silhouette I like to carve out that negative space first.
2) how to control scale? My drawings for form tend to be like water, they occupy the free space given too them, has anyone got any tips on getting constant scale on paper when you have no reference points?
Any feedback welcome :)
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1d
Using and designing negative space is a GREAT way to build the form. Keep up with it. The hand/foot thing I'm not too sure about, I personally would rather design the gesture of the arm and then indicate a hand or foot at the end of it. I feel like having too specific of an end point might restrain my gesture too much. If it works for you though I don't see the harm.
As for scale, I like the envelope method. Design simple shapes to fit the form into, with the basic proportions laid out. Like a more sophisticated chalk outline. You can use that as a guide to place your more specific proportions, but you're not married to it if you need to make slight adjustments.
The most important thing about both of these suggestions is to make sure you're keeping your lines light as you're working out the proportions. That way there's no need to erase when you make adjustments, because the light lines will fade to the back.
it took me a lit longer to understand difficult poses , but I think it is slowly coming, what do you guys think
I absolutely love that you even have the time to draw faces in some of them!
Is it more of a stylistic choice or would you consider it an aid to gesture?
My first set - really enjoyed doing these! I’ve already done some of the poses before (a month or so ago) and it’s really nice to see how far I’ve come in that time!
I haven’t been timing myself, so these took a while. I think 10 minutes for each one, but I was really thinking about the most efficient and meaningful lines.
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2mo
Very nice 👏
Here are my attempts before watching the demo and critique. I numbered the poses based on the reference images that were numbered.
I spent 2-3 minutes on each pose. I always struggle with getting the proportions right (especially the size of the head)
Prolly shouldn't be using stylized art as the base, but at least I did some of the recommended poses.
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2mo
Very cool references! I think they're dynamic and cool. Nice work!
So those are mine, not sure if I did back view ones right. Please tell me what do you think Mr.Hampton. Do you see anything I should work on more?
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3mo
These are great! Now maybe you could start working on line weight (heavy vs. thin/light vs. dark) to start creating more space, spatial separation, or variety in the gestural lines.
Here's some more. I tried applying what you told me in my previous submission for the last lesson. I think they turned out a bit better. A bit more 3d, still room to grow though.
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4mo
Very nice!
I did all the poses, but I don't think I took a picture of all of them. This is kind of a mish mash. Feedback is always welcome.
TBH, I feel myself becoming more and more confident doing these. Still not an expert by any means, but when I go back and look at the poses after a few days, I can tell what is happening with the gesture.
I definitely have a really hard time with poses without much action. Like when someone is just standing there. It's hard to really capture any sense of rhythm or movement.
This was a lot of fun, I definitely have a lot to learn! I am happy to receive feedback
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6mo
Looking really good! Keep at it
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6mo
I'm glad you had fun! These look great, Tuang!
This was a really difficult assignment for me. I definitely spent too much time on each gesture (around 15-20 minutes) and I can't help but feel that I screwed up my proportions for a few of them. I'm not sure if I was able to keep an asymmetrical flow for a number of poses, especially the ones where the models were curling on the floor.
Critiques will be greatly appreciated.
Did each of these (actually more) a couple times. The thing that stuck with me was to be more mindful of placing my lines. At the beginning I would just spastically draw a line, undo, and try again and again until I got something that looked right. Now I’m trying to more carefully visualize the line before I draw it. My lines still leave a lot to be desired but I at least my thinking is improving.
