Lesson 3 - Gesture Line

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Gesture line sounds just like what it means. It's a form of line that has a sense of emotion, or feeling to it. These lines can be soft and dreamy or hard and angry. Artists often use this technique to warm up and loosen up their right brain. A gesture drawing can be a doodle or squiggly line. Students eventually begin to call these studies "scribbles." I compare it to brainstorming or free writes....when you don't care about penmanship, spelling, or grammer....you're just trying to get the idea down as quickly as you can.

Before you go any further, I'd like you to check out the following site on gesture drawing:

Beverly Effinger

If you don't have a model, or even if you do, go somewhere where there's a lot of activity. A playground, park, lumber mill, mall, etc. These places will give you excellent opportunities to study gesture. A perfect model won't even be aware that you are drawing him or her. As the model poses, you are to let your pencil do whatever it wants to....WITHOUT LEAVING THE PAPER. Find the areas of tension, or the areas that are most complex, like folded arms, weight on one leg, outstretched limbs, etc. Draw rapidly and continuously in a ceaseless line, starting from the head. The model should not be still for more then 10 seconds. SHOW THE ACTION. For example, if you're drawing someone in a boxing ring, you would draw the arm swinging back, midway to the target, then smashing into the target. Gesture captures time. In the first 5 seconds, you should have the entire body down in its pose. Move around the page continuously at 5-6 second intervals.

Assignment: Gesture Line

SESSION 1

Your first 5 drawings I'd like you to spend 2 minutes apiece on. An egg timer or watch with an alarm can help you keep on track. Concentrate on getting down the entire pose in the first 5 seconds. Every time the model moves, you are to capture the new pose within 5 seconds. You're paper should show the history of every movement the model has made within that two-minute time slot. So take a deep breath and have some fun with it. Don't get caught up in minute details such as finger nails, hair styles, etc.

Before you start your second session, you're going to measure a person's height by taking your pencil and holding it up an arm's length away from you. Just measuring their head. Keep this measurement and then measure how many "heads" it would take to make up a human body. It should be around 7. Try this on a few different people.

1. Hold arm straight out with your pencil in your fist. 2. Close one eye and measure off the distance from the top of the head to the chin with the pencil. Move the top of your thumb down until it lines up with the chin. 3. Now hold that measurement from the top of the pencil to the thumb and line it up with the bottom of your last measurement. (This should be the bottom of your chin). 4. Repeat this process down the rest of the body and count how many head lengths make up the distance from the top of the head to the subject's toes.

This will give you the overall length of the figure in relation to one head. Repeat this with the width, only turn your pencil to the side (90 degrees from the last orientation). The average human figure is between 6-8 heads high with the average being 7. This will vary from individual to individual, but is a good standard to use. Figures also tend to be three head widths from shoulder to shoulder.

SESSION 2

Your second 5 drawings I'd like you to spend 1 minute apiece on. I'd like you to slow down a tad bit and concentrate on making the figure 7 heads tall. After each drawing session, measure the head of your gesture figure and use that to figure out if you're drawing proportionally or not.

SESSION 3

Your third 5 drawings I'd like you to spend 1 minute apiece on, with your non-dominant hand. So, if you're right-handed, you'd use your left hand. Concentrate again on proportions.

Line these up in the order you did them...what differences did you notice? Did you make improvements? Please comment in the discussion group.

Go to "I get graded to scribble?" discussion.

EXTRA CREDIT

Using the proportions below, do 5 figure-gesture drawings at 2 minutes apiece. A very slow moving model would be helpful.

General proportion information:
The human figure is an average of 7 heads high.
The width from shoulder to shoulder is 3 head widths.
The distance from the hip to the toes is 4 heads.
The distance from the top of the head to the bottom of the chest is 2 heads.
The distance from the wrist to the end of the outstretched fingers of the hand is 1 head.
The length from top to bottom of the buttocks is 1 head.
The distance from the elbow to the end of outstretched fingers is 2 heads.

Interesting note:
The Vitruvian Man
This diagram and text are taken from an illustration of Vitruvius's theory by Leonardo da Vinci.

You will be graded on a 1-6 scale on the following:

• Shows action and time sequence
• Does not get stuck on minute details (such as fingernails, jewelry, etc.)
• Shows proper proportions (drawings 3-6 only)
• Line is continuous
• Line shows tension by becoming darker in areas
• Line crisscrosses the body at least twice.

TURNING WORK IN? Select 2 drawings from each session (for a total of 6, or 8 if you did the extra credit). Label them with the name of the lesson, a small description of the assignment, and number them in the order you did them. For example, "lesson 3, two-minute drawings, session 1, #1of 6."

You may scan your work, use a digital camera, or use snail mail (send to the address on the contact page). Use the assignment link below to upload your files; if you're sending your work by snail mail, use the assignment link below to tell me WHEN you sent it. (If you're not sure how to upload or send files by snail mail, review the Procedures page.)

Submit your work here.

Submit EXTRA CREDIT work here.

Excellent examples will be posted with permission of the artist.

Done? Please check it off on your Timeline.