Drawing and form

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Gesture drawing

Lesson 6 of 14 in Drawing and form.

The Basics of Gesture Drawing · Steven Michael Hampton
Lesson

Gesture drawing en.wikipedia.org is drawing the action of a pose in seconds rather than the appearance of it in an hour. In a life class the model holds for thirty seconds, then a minute, then two, and there is no possibility of getting the anatomy right, which is the point. The exercise forces you to find the one thing the pose is doing and record that, because it is all you have time for.

gesture · the line of actionfirstconstruction · boxesafter, never beforestart with the movement · the anatomy hangs on it
A thirty-second gesture line beside the same pose built from boxes.
A woman on a station bench sketches a traveller leaning on one leg, her page filled with quick figures each built on one curved line.
A sketcher on a station bench catches travellers in seconds, each begun as one sweeping curve. The pose comes first, and the details can wait.
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  1. Question 1, locked

    What is a gesture drawing for?

    • Catching the action and weight of a pose before any detail
    • Getting the outline accurate
    • Working out the light
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “The action of a pose rather than its outline. What the figure is doing, drawn before what it looks like.”

    • Contour versus cross-contour
    • Negative shape
    • Gesture
    • Line of action
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “One curve through the whole figure, from head to weight-bearing foot. Drawn first, in a second.”

    • Line of action
    • Axonometric
    • Specular highlight
    • Thumbnail

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