Gesture drawing involves rapidly capturing the form and movement of a model in a short time period (2 minutes or less) through loose lines and shapes. It helps train hand-eye coordination and understanding of proportion and form. The process involves determining the line of action through the spine and adding volume around this line to define the major body sections and joint positions. Artists should practice different styles like continuous line, line and circle, or using a thick brush to find their preferred approach for gesture drawing.

1. A. Theinert – Becker College - 2013

2. Gesture Drawing
Gesture Drawing – Rapid Execution style of drawing. The
artist attempts to capture the form of a model or scene in a
matter of seconds or minutes. (Max 2 min)
• Often used to capture Movement or Action Poses
• Helpful in training the brain in hand–eye coordination
• Helpful in gaining instinctive understanding of proportion & form.
• Can be a warm up for more detailed work or can be the
beginning ‘sketch’ for a fully rendered piece.
• Pen should constantly be moving ‘freely’, don’t stop to think
about the lines.
• No erasing, there are no ‘mistakes’- just draw darker lines to
continually define the shape you see.

3. Gesture Drawing: Process
Step 1: Determine the Line of Action:
• Observed and drawn in the first 5
seconds of drawing
• Imaginary line that runs through the
spine of a figure
• These should be Curves (not S
shaped)

4. Gesture Drawing: Process
Step 2: Add Volume & Form around the LoA
Located the major
body sections that
define the pose:
Head, Torso, Pelvis
Locate the Joints
and the represent
the position of the
Extremities.

5. Gesture Drawing: Style
There are many different ways to go about gesture
drawing. We will experiment with a few so that you can
determine your preferred style.

6. • 5 Poses per Style
• 2 Minutes per pose
•
Gesture Drawing: Practice
No Erasing, Instead enable Pen Pressure and make
your final lines darker by pressing harder.
1 – Warm Up. Draw however you would normally.
2 – Line & Circle. Represent the joints with circles & the
extremities with lines, follow the Line of Action. Add volume to the
skeleton as a final step if time allows.

7. Gesture Drawing: Styles
3 – Continuous Line. Don’t lift the pen from the tablet, let it
flow back across the lines you have created already. This will give
the sketch a messy, ‘scribbly’ look.
It can be difficult, but resist
the urge to lift the pen!

8. Gesture Drawing: Styles
4 – Square or Thick Brush. Use a larger brush preferably
square, With this method you will need to adjust your approach, this
time focus on the volume of the figure but remember to still follow the
Line of Action.
This method is similar to
working with Charcoal
or Pastel on paper.