“The key to the nature of a subject is its gesture. From it, all other aspects of drawing proceed”
~ Kimon Nicolaides
This week I published a video on Youtube about the importance of practicing gesture alongside a study of anatomy
Anatomy Moves! Why Beginners Should Learn Gesture Drawing
Now, whenever I write about Gesture Drawing, I always check Nicolaides (The Natural Way to Draw) to see if there is agreement - and usually there is. This time however, after writing my script and recording my video, I casually opened my book at a random page, and the first thing I saw was this:
“The study of gesture is not simply a matter of looking at the movement that the model makes.” …😬
I had to laugh. I’m such a purist when it comes to gesture drawing, and when it comes to anything that Nicolaides says about gesture (or contour, or anything to do with figure drawing in general). And here I was making grand statements in seeming opposition to his approach.
He goes on to say:
“You must also seek to understand the impulse that exists inside the model and causes the pose which you see. The drawing starts with the impulse and not the position. The thing that makes you draw is the thing that makes the model take the position.”
In my defense, I feel that focusing on movement is nevertheless an excellent starting point for many many figure drawing students. For the simple reason that they are usually drawing from photo reference.
To be sure Nicolaides was writing for a different context. He could never ever have imagined the way figure drawing students are learning these days: online!!?? And the inescapable challenge of learning figure drawing online is the one thing that is making it so accessible to so many people - being able to work from photo reference. Photos have many shortcomings in terms of learning to draw. So many!! They are an amazing aid for studio practice, but for anyone learning to draw, there are hidden pitfalls that beginners just don’t realize. Like, for example the problem with shadows, the problem with flattened 2D images, and in the case of gesture, the problem of not being able to see the energy or the impulse of the model. Only being able to see the definition of the anatomy.
And so, failing to see the impulse, for this reason I think beginners should really think about movement when they are looking at the photo of the figure.
Like I said in the video, gesture drawing is an exercise to get you to LOOK at the figure differently - to stop (even for 1 minute or 2 minutes) looking at the shapes and parts of the body that have names, the parts you know look a certain way because you’ve studied them as such. And to see, instead, the figure as a whole, a complete and comprehensive unit that has life and movement. The body is not a still life, though many people online are drawing it as such - it is truly a dynamic, moving living thing. And beginners should be supported to know that movement (or, life!) is draw-able. In fact that is the one aspect that will actually make their academic-still-life-studies-of-parts be way, way better as drawings.
But What is the Impulse of the Pose?
When Nicolaides talks about finding the impulse of the pose, he is referring to the reason the model takes the pose: is the model tense and straining, or seated, passive and relaxed. In a sense, this impulse is pointing to the meaning of the pose. The meaning of the pose is like a statement that the pose makes. It is something that can be seen in the very instant that you look at the model. It’s not something to be studied, analysed and measured. It’s the most immediate aspect of the pose that you see. It is a unified expression of the body. Your job in a gesture drawing is to make some kind of mark that answers that. That is what a gesture drawing is: it is your response. It’s not a drawing of the anatomy of the figure.
This is exactly why gesture drawings should really only be done in short time frames like 1 minute or 2 minutes (ideally 30 seconds) because the second you start to perfect your answer, ie your marks, by making the drawing “look more like the model” you lose it. Entirely. When this happens we are instantly back to drawing maquettes, or mannequins - little figurines. Not the powerful meaning of the forms.
(Drawing the figure as figurines, or mannequins is a good learning tool, but a gesture drawing is a completely different learning tool, and has a different reason and approach. The two should not be confused).
Looking for the impulse or meaning of the pose you will eventually understand that there is only one way to find it. And that is to feel it. The moment you can feel that energy or dynamic quality that the pose has, that impulse - then you will be able to draw it. This is exactly why life drawing is so important for learning to draw the figure. The feeling or energy of the pose is tangible in a way that can’t be experienced very easily (certainly not for beginners) in a photo.
In these drawings there is zero correct “anatomy” compared to the photo reference, but each drawing still “feels” like the pose.
Like I mentioned in the video, life drawing is not the only way to get this experience - if you can’t get to life drawing, you can make a daily practice of drawing anything from life. Animate or inanimate. Objects have a gesture, a stone or rock has a gesture. Trees have amazing gestures to draw. There is endless opportunities to look for gesture all around and to practice drawing them.
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Thank you so much for reading! I hope you have a wonderful week
Siobhan
❤️
📖 What I’m Reading this Week:
• Bogdan Luca’s great article about Bacon, Art and Painting
🖼 What I’m Looking at on Insta (for the very brief moments I go on that app):
Shane Wolf’s figure drawings
🎥 What I’m watching on Youtube: