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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.
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Educator, painter, and art historian. Author of Figure Drawing: Design and Invention and Gesture Drawing: Dynamic Movement and Form.
assignments 98 submissions
Had a lot of fun with these! I tried modifying the shapes into stylized ones and exaggerating the pose as well. It was hard to draw stylized forms in perspective and maintaining the relative proportions. However, I encountered a problem in the stylized characters in 9 and 11. These poses look heavily foreshortened and I didn't intend so. It seems to me that the proportions of my characters are responsible for this illusion. Or am I doing something wrong? As I do not intend to make this kind of foreshortening, is there a way to avoid this kind of distortion with the same stylization choices?
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Use the provided figure references to practice The Shape Method. We'll be using the same photo set as our previous assignment so you can compare your approach in these two methods.
Focus on:
- Part-to-part drawing
- Gesture of each part
- Wrapping lines for perspective
- Working from head to foot
Tips for Success
- Be patient — this method might feel unfamiliar if you're used to a different approach.
- Don’t be hard on yourself — it’s okay if it feels awkward at first.
- Have fun with it — try exaggerating shapes or modifying forms to better connect with the method.
Hard Mode
- Want to increase the difficulty? Modify the forms and exaggerate the figures into new and stylized body types!
Deadline - submit by May 2, 2025 for a chance to be in the critique video!
I stopped doing the figure drawing course to take this one so I could really nail down my gestures before I continue. So I want to spend a LOT of time with these.
Feedback is absolutely welcome. I really want to get better at this. I feel like I've made a lot of noticeable progress, but I still don't feel like I've quite "gotten it". I feel like I'm having a hard time conceptualizing what I'm drawing. I get that I'm trying to capture the gesture, or the action. But I feel like I start to get stuck. I'm trying to let go of the thought of drawing contour, but I feel like I still get lost quickly.
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6d
Looking good! Lots of great movement in these. I only see a few little things you might try and fuss around with. 1) Watch the proportions. The heads looks a little too small in some. This isn't the biggest deal in a gesture but something to take note of all the same. 2) I think you could try smoothing out the transitions between the limbs and torso in areas. You're doing this well when there's a long line that unifies the pose. See if you can work on this in areas where that large through line isn't there as well. Hope this helps.
I think, when I was doing the difficult pose assignment. I was some how doing the shape method a bit as I tend to think in 3D and been looking at muscle shape a lot lately.
Now with the shape method only I can see the benefit of both and trying to use the gesture curves to capture the rhythm while drawing the shape at the same time.
Took me around 5-6 minutes per one. I'm guessing doing more would help.
It was pretty hard to change how you think about gesture after more liberal approach! I can say it's good enough, but something seems off and I'm not sure what exactly. Maybe flow/proportions? Would love to hear some critique, thank you!
I gravitated to just blobbing in the shapes rather than sketching then filling in. Either way i still find myself “adjusting” (eg erasing and redrawing) a lot. I suppose if I keep practicing for a couple more years I can hope to get closer to drawing it “right” the first time.
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2mo
Looking good! Love that you've taken liberties with the approach and made it more your own.
Used random photos I saw online since the deadline is over. Don't feel like I have a good handle of this gesture method yet. Still I got used to the 1st method So hopefully it will grow on me
Assignment submissions. This method was a bit tougher to wrap my head around, but I'm glad to have both methods to play around with. I think it helped with some of these poses compared to the first pass but stiffened others. The first method makes a lot more sense to me but I definitely see the value in using a more structure-based approach.
Here are my shape method project drawings. I find it good practice, but I do feel kind of in limbo between gesture and form, I guess it's a stepping stone? I'm happier with some than with others, usually it comes down to whether there's a foreshortened part that I can't quite get to look right. I used about half-and-half reference from the previous lesson and other references (to keep it fresh & try new poses).
This was more fun to me as it felt more natural to how I draw. Will redo this assignment as I feel I still use more work on the connecting of parts and lines to each other that may be missing. Def a learning curve. Any feedback is appreciated.
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7mo
Looking good. Nice flow throughout. Now Id take a closer look at proportions. Sometimes the heads are getting a little small relative to the torso length and or width. Keep at it!
an other quick study, really enjoying the shape method , but still struggling ...., great course
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7mo
Great studies!
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7mo
Not necessary. I use them as a short hand for 3 dimensional directions. You can leave that element out if you like and focus on shape.
Finally doing a few more of these and complete going through the course. Gonna try to do more modified studies in the afternoon.
Here is my assignment, maybe it’s helpful to some. Definitely used a lot more observation. I feel like the wrapping lines are really helpful to indicate when a pose is twisting its torso.
Onto the demos & critique next! Any feedback/critique is always welcome :)
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8mo
Looking good!
Hello everyone...
Here's my assignment using the shape method...
Thanks a lot Mr Hampton for the course...
I'm really grateful and exited to have learnt this...
First attempt after watching the videos on the shape method. Going to do some more and do these final practises of the course :)
i've somehow managed to get worse as i move through these. line quality, line economy, proportion,rhythm, etc..these are the first 8 though. i'll have to finish this up soon.
the day i submitted these michael uploaded a video talking about burnout. i'm probably burnt out, so i'm taking a lot of breaks now. i managed to do 9 & 10 though.
Okay, So here's a set from after watching the demo and trying to simplify things. I spent more time looking at connection, simpler shape design, while also trying to find the modifications for the body type presented.
