What's a gesture? Shortly put, it's a very quick sketch intended to capture the form and pose of a figure. It doesn't go into details, and it's not meant to be a finished drawing by any means. However, it's a good way to quickly get a pose down onto paper and study the way the human figure moves.
So the last two classes in Drawing II, since we're focusing on the human figure this semester, we've done several gestures - with a brush and ink, so we were forced to make bold strokes we couldn't erase. We took turns standing on a platform in the middle, and we had a minute to draw each pose. We posed for about 3 gestures each and then switched, and we had some props to use like chairs and cushions, a wooden pole, etc.
It was pretty difficult with the time pressure, and in most sketches I was too messy with the ink, so it's hard to tell where some of the shapes are. But we had a lot of fun, and it was a lot of good practice simply observing how the human form moves. Next week we'll start using charcoal for our gestures, and I'm hoping I'll be able to have a little more control with that.
Here's my gestures!
I've also been working on the 60 people sketches I need to do by the end of the semester whenever I have some free time around people - in the student center, in the cafeteria, hanging out with my friends, etc. I used charcoal pencil for the first 20, which I loved, and now I'm using a charcoal stick and trying to focus on the shapes of masses rather than the outlines. It's a challenge though, as it's less precise than the pencil, but I think it will be good to practice. Here's a few of those!
Eventually in class we'll be posing for longer to make more refined drawings, and I'm super excited for that!