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Hey guys, I'm Steve Houston. I want to show you how I draw, specifically how I think about gesture and structure and how they connect. As artists, we're mainly connectors, not just craftsmen. The craft is a way to bring things together to compose. So, we're going to compose gesture and structure together, and I consider those the foundations of any great art.

Simplifying Gesture and Structure

Let's take the gesture and structure idea and simplify it even further. Remember, we're thinking intuitively and creatively rather than theoretically.

Structure as Corners

I think of structure as being all about corners. The more corners we have, not necessarily the more mass and volume, but the more position we establish. For example, with a perfect sphere, even if we render it beautifully, we might have plenty of volume, but we don't know that we're slightly underneath it or slightly to the side of it. The more corners we have, the more pure structure we get, not only the form but the position of the form in space.

So, in structure, the more corners I build into my construction or into my rendering, the more it's going to be structural and three-dimensional.

Gesture as Curves

We're going to make gesture even more simple. Think of gesture as the long axis curves. The more curves we have, the more gesture we introduce. Gesture brings in the life and fluid energy. We can take any character and make a box without ever drawing a straight line, using long axis curves.

The long axis curves are the gesture, they connect one form end to end to the next form. The short axis curves move over the form and help us feel the volume, moving over the form by breaking the contour.

Applying Gesture and Structure to Figure Drawing

Let's apply these ideas to a figure.

Drawing the Long Axis Curves

I'll start with the long axis of the face, without the features or the bumpy architecture. I'm focusing on the landscape and looking at all the corners, which might be rounded but are still corners. I'm drawing every line with its long axis curved.

I'll draw the structure two-dimensionally, using the long axis curves and connecting the next curves. I'll add enough structure to lead me to find the next gesture.

For example, I'll draw the centerline, breastbone, belly button, down to the crotch, or maybe out to the arm. I might use several connective devices, maybe some anatomy, maybe some shadow shapes, maybe measurements, whatever I need to make it comfortable for me so I'm confident that when I add the next thing, it's in the right place and has the right character.

Connecting through Interruptions

When we draw, the best we'll ever have is half of the form, we only see half of it. If we see the back of the hand, we can't see the front. If we see the front of the torso, we can't see the back. To show structure, we've got to give the audience a feeling that there is a back, even though we see the front.

So, the more connections we can make with things, the better. I imagine seeing what I can't see. I'll come off the neck and think of it going through the interruption of the shoulder line into the rib cage. If I draw this several times, I can start to think about the other side, and now I have a more confident placement.

I'm always looking for ways to triple-check what right is. I'll connect the neck to the breastbone of the rib cage, the neck to the shoulder line that sits on the rib cage, and the neck to the backside of the rib cage. Three ways to double-check or triple-check where each thing sits correctly.

Prioritizing Gesture over Structure

If I don't have time to finish an area, I'll do the gesture and overshoot lines, drawing through. The gesture is more important than the structure. It brings the energy and life, the ever-evolving relationship of things. If I have to choose one, I'll choose gesture over structure because it's more fundamental and important.

The mastery of any art form is the connective strategy. I can hit every note on the piano, but that doesn't make me a great pianist because I can't string those notes and chords together to create a melody. The real mastery is showing how the separate parts come together, the separate colors in a composition, the separate shapes and structures in a pose, that's all gestural.

Practice and Refinement

Chunking Down Problems

When practicing, allow yourself to not be great immediately. Work on one problem at a time. I might work on the proportions between the rib cage and a disconnected, interrupted leg. I keep doing it again and again, chunking down the problem.

Don't try to solve every problem when you're learning. We're always learning, even in a finish. Chunk down and work on just that. Get that problem proportioned better. Then move on to the shape of the shadow, then the value of the shape of the shadow, then the edge control on the shape of the shadow.

If you do that, chunking down, you'll level up much quicker with less frustration because you're not holding yourself to an impossible standard.

Consistent Thought Process

A long axis curve, which is a connective strategy in the energy, and simple constructed shapes, curves and corners, carry through whether we're doing a simple construction line or a beautifully finished rendering in charcoal or oil paint or a sculpture in clay.

We can use the same thinking throughout the process, so we don't have to abandon our thinking of construction when we move into rendering, and we don't have to change our thinking around rendering when we change the materials.

There will be a little process difference between oil paint and charcoal, but my thinking will be the same if I can keep a consistent thought process about what's most important: first the structure and the gesture, then the proportions, then the shadow shapes on the structure and the gesture, and so on.

If we do that, we can progress through any medium, any concept, any level of beginning construction and finished rendering we want to do.

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