Project - Difficult Poses

Lesson by

Michael Hampton

inThe Gesture Course

573

Assignments 114

Downloads 6

Project - Difficult Poses

Lesson by

Michael Hampton

in The Gesture Course

573

Assignments 114

Downloads 6

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!

Daniele Olevano

•

25d

@gothamdemon

•

1mo

This was def a challenge but I think I did well and tried doing the same pose twice since the first felt too straight.

Melanie Scearce

•

1mo

These have great energy, nice work 👍

@fluffybuttss

•

1mo

I think I’m doing a lot better! Though it was hard to focus on “making the lines shorter” when the reference was right there for me to look at. Critique would be much appreciated

Ash

•

1mo

These are looking great! I checked out your older posts and these are an improvement. 🙌

@updatednomad

•

2mo

If anyone can share their gesture drawings of these two pictures (3 and 2 I believe), I'd appreciate it. Having trouble with the angle of these figures.

Melanie Scearce

•

2mo

Here's my analyses of these poses, hope this helps!

Miles Franklin

•

2mo

Michael Longhurst

•

2mo

The bottom left 2 are what I did for these.

Tohega

•

2mo

Thanks for the great assignment together with so much reference images! I really like when a pose allows for a gesture line from the head to toe. It’s my favourite pose and also helps anchor the gesture in my opinion. Gonna watch the demos & critique next but any feedback/critique is welcome :)

@queman

•

2mo

Thanks for posting this. It's really helpful.

Shiro

•

2mo

Hi guys :) This was my attempt to more complex gestures, ngl I had a very hard time with the bending poses. Swapping the stretch with the lumber feels very odd to me haha. But please i would like some feedback on these and how to get more efficient and effective when doing these gestures.

Michael Hampton

•

2mo

Nicely done! I think you kept a great sense of rhythm throughout and avoided any contour or static areas.

Mario Ulloa

•

2mo

Hand got kinda sketchy when I didn't get the lines exactly where I wanted it to be.

Abdulrhman

•

3mo

@purple_olive

•

3mo

Ssss 13

•

4mo

Michael Longhurst

•

4mo

I felt pretty good about most of these, but a few were kind of a train wreck. Still really enjoying it.

ceyhan

•

4mo

That was super challenging but I learned a lot , thank you!

@art_stuff

•

5mo

Some of the gestures I did Very challenging. I think I need to see more abstract rhythm. I tend to fall back on my comfort zone and do the same one on repeat. I also need to be more careful with my proportions, specially the torso, pelvis and legs Overall, I learned a lot. I hope they are good enough for what they are. thank you Mr. Hampton

@kumaika

•

5mo

first 12 of the 28 references.

@kumaika

•

5mo

1 is actually 28 from the zip, I realize now that I was flipping through these backwards on my phone. I don't recall checking the "asked for help" box but either way i don't like how most of these turned out, i'm assuming I need to draw the wrapping lines more precisely & also use less of them. line weight seems like a problem, as well as the placement of lines in general. proportions are off & foreshortening needs work. not sure what else is wrong.

@kumaika

•

5mo

13-26

Covenant Abu

•

5mo

Hello... Learnt a lot in this. I know my gesture and understanding of it has improved a lot. Thanks Mr Hampton!

Michael Hampton

•

5mo

Awesome work!

Randy P

•

6mo

First posting for this course as I just finally feel like I’m getting the hang of this approach. I’m so used to thinking about pinch and stretch on contour and it took some time to understand the idea of using lines and the ‘formula’ just for notation and not form. Still a bit unclear to me when to close a limb shape versus leaving it open, and how to connect limbs to the torso. For example it seems to be normal for a femur to just penetrate the notation of the pelvis, but then connecting the humerus requires special rhythmic connection lines. Would appreciate any feedback on these and pointers where I’m missing the mark.

Lane Campbell

•

6mo

did a total of ten, took me about 40 minutes total so roughly 4 minutes each

Yevhen Syrchin

•

6mo

my gestures with a 1 minute timer

Blue

•

6mo

I feel like you were right and that no one should even look in my direction after I have just completed 30 gestures. I started with a four minute timer and then went as low as a minute to see what results it produces and well, some might have been a little *too hasty* in 60 seconds. Anyway, glad to have been a part of the fun, I think I have gotten slightly better at this but oh well, long way to go. Previously, I used to just wing poses without a gesture and a lot of the times I did end up having to go back and redo them multiple times. Since I started this course, I *always* start my drawings with a gesture and let's just say, it was quite an improvement. Thanks, Mr Hampton!

Josh Fiddler

•

6mo

Was away for a week, and managed to get back to this yesterday and today. Yeah, after doing most of these in the last couple hours, my brain feels a little mushy. Had a tough times with the two in the third image on the left 2nd and 3rd rows. Will definitely redo those a few times.

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Michael Hampton

Educator, painter, writer, and art historian. Author of Figure Drawing: Design and Invention.