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Loosen Up Your Hands With Gesture Drawings!What are gesture drawings? Well, to put it bluntly, it’s the exact opposite of contour drawings: it is the ability to feel objects in motion instead of a static pose.In other words, while you concentrate on the shape of the object in contour drawings, you will start to look at how the object moves in gesture drawings. To do that, you will draw furiously and fast without regards to the actual shape. On a deeper note, the object of this exercise is to realize what the object is doing rather than what it looks like. By doing so, you are penetrating the inner workings of the object and how it functions in relation to the space it is in. 1. Getting startedBefore starting, have you done at least a few contour drawings? The more you do, the more you will understand it. After all, what define good artist are not what they know, but how much they’ve accomplished! If you think you’ve done enough, we will start with gesture drawings. Ready? Again, start with a fresh new canvas or continue with an existing canvas. I will also do it along with you just to illustrate what you are expected to have once the exercise is over. First, you need to choose your object. This time, I’m going to choose my significant other as the model instead of a lamp. Of course, you don’t have to have the same object! You can choose any animate or inanimate object to be the subject of the study. Although everything works with gesture drawings, it’s best to use an animate object as it prepares you for the next step of speed. 2. Timing yourselfLike I said, unlike contour drawings, which are slow, gesture drawings are quick and take just as much concentration to do effectively. How do you get yourself to do quick drawings? Easy! The object has to be moving constantly. This is why it’s best to use an animate object. For my sketch, I’ve asked my partner to stay stationary for 30 seconds. Of course, you can set your own pace. I recommend a few minutes to start off and then gradually go quicker. With your digital drawing tool and digital program, you will pick a point and start drawing. However, you should not let go of your digital tool. There are no breaks in between! This is to be done with your eyes totally focused on the subject in front of you and letting your hands go in a continuous motion! Within 30 seconds, I will try to do as much sketching as I can. You should do the same as well in your gesture drawings!
As you can see from the sketch, it shouldn't resemble anything. Within the first five seconds, I captured the form and then elaborated on the flow of the figure with the time remaining. It’s straight forward, right? 3. BenefitsIf you haven’t noticed yet, gesture sketches give emphasis to your subject. For example, my partner loves watching TV. As such, my gesture drawing has emphasized her whole body leaning forward to look at the program being displayed.You may even also have noticed that you emphasize certain body parts to further exaggerate the pose. Why did you do that? Perhaps you were focusing on it more than other parts of the body or that you got lazy on the other parts of the body? In any case, you have begun to put substance into a 2d form. Unconsciously, you’re giving your subject form and function rather than just leaving it as an empty static drawing. Clearly, you won’t observe many benefits if you only do a few of these drawings. That’s why you need to do a lot of them to really get to know your subject. But once you do, you will use that experience gained to give emotions to your digital paintings! 4. The benefits of these drawings and digital artWhen you do a lot of contour and gesture drawings, you begin to feel a sense of the whole. You are no longer focusing on one aspect of the painting. Instead, you will look at the entire painting, how it flows, and how it interacts with other subjects. As such, these drawings are the basic fundamental techniques that will drive these skills. It’s like learning your alphabet for the very first time and then using it to create your first few words. In artistic terms, it enables you to learn the realm of 2d space! However, regardless of your progress, you shouldn’t display your contour and gesture drawings. These are drawings that the public will not see, and yet, it will be incorporated in your final paintings. With that said… There is definitely a benefit of learning through digital art. Every contour and gesture sketch can be thrown away with a simple delete key. You won’t have to waste physical resources when learning. On top of that, it saves time so you can focus more on learning and less time on preparing to draw. Obviously, if can also save your progress if you wish to do so. Use it as a guide on your progress. Through these drawings, you also get a feel of how the digital tools work on the computer as you experiment. Like always though, keep motivated and do more!
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