How This Simple Exercise Unlocked my Drawing

Part 1

When I understood the purpose behind drawing the figure as a gesture, that was when I understood what a drawing could achieve beyond being just a photocopy of something. Gesture drawing has the power to describe something more than a photo representation or a photo likeness. Because seeing the gesture in a pose means that you see an idea, a moment or a feeling that can be captured by your marks very quickly. Sometimes, that impression can describe a person as much as a photo realistic drawing can.

You might say, that’s not my style, I prefer a photorealistic style of drawing - and I would say to you: “I think you should still give this exercise a go”. 😅

Because in addition to being way to draw the energy or essence of the model, this exercise also trains you to be selective in how you understand and approach drawing the model.

You learn how to distill and express that thing that is the most important thing to say in a drawing.

This is vital for a beginner figure drawing student to learn. It’s worth it to explore gesture drawing if only because of the potential that can be unlocked in this simple exercise.

Learning this “instinct” has huge implications for longer drawings, or more detailed and academic or “realistic looking” work. If you know how to understand a pose as a gesture; if you can see the whole pose as an expression of the body; see the model as being more than just an anatomical still life; then it means you can choose what to emphasize, what to leave out and what to say with the least amount of fussing. And, it means that you can then bring that emphasis into drawings that are highly realistic and by doing so, be able to infuse them with so much life.

If you have the same emphasis of mark and intention all the way around your drawing, it will tend to look dull and lifeless. But if you are able to have rhythm and flow and know where the drawing needs movement, or powerful emphasis, or moments of softness and quiet, then you’ll have a drawing that has life. The way to learn this rhythm is to practice capturing the gesture.

NEWSLETTER UPDATE!

I hope this approach resonates with you today, and that you can find some inspiration here to fuel your own drawing practice. Going forwards, I’m going to begin a series of posts for paid subscribers that I hope will have as big an impact on your artistic development, as having a mentor for life drawing had on my own development. I’ve been working towards offering mentorship, and I think Substack is a perfect place for us to connect, share and learn together.

Starting next week, I’ll continue to send out weekly letters as part of the free plan. (I know, I’ve fallen behind in the last few weeks in terms of the “cadence” of weekly letters to you, and I apologise - I was in Ireland visiting my mum, but now I’m back in the studio and focusing on our weekly posts)

In addition to the free posts, I’ll also turn on a weekly paid posts which will include Q&A sessions as well as a book study club.

For now, I hope you are having a good week, and that you manage to get some drawing time in! Let me know in the comments how you’re doing - oh, and don’t forget to check out this week’s YouTube vid, all about… you guessed it: Gesture Drawing! Yay! …

🎥 Gesture versus Style

FYI, next week I’m actually writing part 2 of this post… and it’s NOT going to be about Gesture Drawing (I do actually have a lot to share about all things other than gesture, believe it or not!)

Tune in here next week for the other drawing exercise that completely changed my drawing: an exercise that taught me how to look.

Have a great week,

Siobhan.
❤️