Tuesday Tips - Gesture Drawing



As a story artist, I feel like one of the most important technical skill to develop is the ability to draw things things clearly and fast. Practicing gesture drawing is, in my opinion, a good way to get better at it. I think it’s fun, too! Of course, you can draw from life and find unique things people and animals do, but I also think practicing gesture drawing from imagination is truly helpful. For instance, I usually do some gesture drawings of characters I’m about to work with in a sequence. It helps me find a short-hand to start building from. The simpler, the better. Especially early on a project, it really helps to find a quick way to draw a character over and over without repeating yourself all the time.



I remember Life Drawing teachers telling me to “draw from within” and to “feel the weight”. It’s absolutely true, but in terms of storyboarding, other elements came to be as important to the process. Silhouette and a sense of “cartooning” is tremendously helpful to communicate certain things clearly to an audience.



I’m only focusing on character posing right now (and this is just an introduction to the subject). Gesture drawing is very close to thumb-nailing, another ultra-helpful skill. More on that later.



For those who want to spend some money on great books on the subject, I highly recommend you to pick up “Drawn To Life: 20 Golden Years of Master Classes of Disney Master Classes” (Vol. 1 and 2) , from Walt Stanchfield. Do it.



Norm