Gesture Drawing

From Figure Drawing at ToJo Gallery

Gesture drawing is a great way to loosen up and it really helps get better at drawing overall.

We start all of our session with the gesture. Gestures can be as fast as 30 seconds to 10 minutes. The whole idea is to draw fast.
This will help you focus and capture those fleeting moments while sketching from life.

Here are a few thing to consider while drawing your gestures.

• Flow; find the flow of the model, this will also help find the center of gravity. The spine is one of the best sources for this.

• Light touch; if you keep your touch light you can also move around the paper faster and smoother.

• Overlap; let your shapes overlap. This will also help see connections and flow in the contour.

• Speed; you really want to try capture the whole model in the given amount of time.

• Move; keep your drawing utensil moving all the time. Time is precious here, keep moving.

• Eraser; put it away, you don't need it here.

• Relax; you really can't do anything wrong here, though you'll improve over time.

• Size, consider the amount of time you have for the size of the figure you're capturing. If you only have 30 seconds you won't be able to fill the entire page. Consider quartering the page or even drawing over the previous drawing in a new color.