Capturing Gesture Through Drawing

Drawing of human gestures has been always fascinating. We are three dimensional characters; but in our drawing we are only two dimensional. So it takes a great effort from an artist to capture the dynamic of a gesture on a piece of paper. But when drawn perfectly, these gestures become so true to life, that we say the drawing is alive.

When you are learning drawing and have progressed to a good level, start drawing human subject. For that, study your subject well. See how people move their hands while they are talking, or what is their body language when they are sad or angry or thinking. Keep all these in mind when you sit down on your drawing board. Next close your eyes and think about the gesture you are going to draw.

Getting Started
Divide the human figure into three blockshead, torso and hips. Your drawing will depend on how you position these three blocks. You can place them in any direction and as your gesture will emerge you will see that your hands and legs will have few choice of placement. So your drawing will be over the moment you find your gesture. You will know that you have drawn a good gesture if you can draw a line down the centre of your figure.

The S Factor
As said before, you will know that you have drawn your gesture right if you can draw a line through the center of your figure. Now this line should not be straight but the angle if the shoulder hip and skull should form the letter S. When this S is established, the next point should be the direction the three blocks (of head, torso and hip). Remember, they should not face each other or run parallel; that will make the picture flat and uninteresting. When the blocks face different direction, then only the picture becomes dynamic and interesting. By changing the direction of the three blocks you can create different gestures of the same object.

Creating this S is very important. That will be the backbone of your drawing. All the other parts of the body will automatically fall in place when you have drawn a successful S. For example, if your gesture shows one hip higher than the other the drawing of your legs cannot be straight; they have to be drawn as bent.

This is not only applicable for drawing but holds true in sculpting. Lets take for example, the famous renaissance painter Michelangelo who not only painted but made great sculptures as well. His David is one of worlds most admired sculptures. If you see it very closely, you will see that all body parts are in different angles with each other. No point of the body is parallel to another. This has made the sculpture dynamic and full of life. So while drawing a gesture, keep the S in mind and you will have drawing that will be admired by everybody.

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