/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

>>3474424
>when I can't draw people to begin with?

Kek, that is literally the point. To help you draw people better without making them stiff like wood.

>>3474424
>t.stupid questions
>t.stupid person
There's no point explaining stuff to stupid people.

are you a troll or just a dumbfuck

>>3474424
Don't be deceived by these other posters. Gesture drawing is just another method to keep you wasting time and getting caught up with nonsense that isn't helping you. It's basically an older form of "draw a million boxes and you'll magically be able to draw top shelf loli"

>>3474433
>>3474434
wow ur so smart have a funny stupid man

its to prevent your figures from looking stiff

>>3474424

If you're using the hampton method or any variation of it then I can understand why you'd think it's "abstract". You really can't call the Hampton method a method to begin with as he himself learned it from someone else who is long dead. He can't be that dead guy and, as a consequence, any deciple of his can't be hampton himself nor the dead guy creating three times the gap to the student.

It's even worse as a /ic/ scum pirating his content to view without Hampton himself going of your work. You're left with abstract information and questions as you begin to doubt the method and think that "gesture is a waste of time".

The true problem is everyone is trying to stitch up a puzzle with the end receiver (you) having far less pieces. So you go to other sources whom they're pulling bits and pieces of information from their teachers and so on. Really, in short, find the right teacher who doesn't beat around the bush and actually has a method.

>>3474424
study anatomy also, gesture drawing alone is not enough, study anatomy to understand the mecanic of the body and do gesture drawing to catch the feel of the form. A little of both everyday and be patient.
Personnally, i do gesture everyday for about 20 minutes, 60 seconds each pose, it's really not much time to invest in, and i believe very rewarding in the long run. Just be patient and never complaisant with yourself

>>3474470
Top shelf?

>>3474424
It helps you with form, speed, and confidence. Being timed forces you to look at the overall form rather than a single detail.

>>3474470
>legit retarded
keep drawing stiff lifeless character art youre ngmi

>>3474424
There are two major approaches to figure drawing - measuring and construction. The second breaks down the figure in its elemental parts. Gesture is just one part of this deconstruction that simplifies the direction of the figure's motion into a line of action. The principles of Gesture are not only relevant for bodies in motion, but apply also to other aspects of figure drawing, such as the principle of imbalance and squashed vs stretched lines that directly translate into how muscles work. Gesture alone is relatively useless, but combines with line economy, landmarks, weight disposition and the 8 basic forms of the human body (+ basic perspective knowledge) it allows you to create dynamic characters from imagination. If you also have knowledge ablout anatomy and rendering, it is a powerful tool to make your figures more lively, compared to a direct copy. Understanding the fundamentals of figure drawing is not necessary for every artist, but it will give you more options and lets you draw the human form in a more personal and interesting approach.

If you just want accurate looking drawings, learn to measure and copy bargue plates.

>>3474492
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/top-shelf

>>3474424
What's the first step when drawing a non-abstract, detailed, finished human figure?

That's right, you start with a gesture. Then you fill it.

>>3474424
>doesn't understand something
>concludes it isn't worth understanding
Ever heard of fox and the grapes?

>>3474570
>>concludes it isn't worth understanding

Never said that.

>>3474489
Who was hamptons teacher? I’ve always wanted to know. His concept of gesture & construction seems very similar to Ron Lemen, Vilppu, and all of Vilppus students, as well as Walt Stanchfield...

>>3474430
Not OP but what I learned is that it is a terrible idea, because how do you draw something you have no idea how it looks? The method, that at least helped me most, is to draw something new from using reference however long you want, then drawing 5 minute gestures. And after that, getting into less than 1 minute gestures to do them daily.

Also i never understood how anyone does 30 second gestures, I always do 1 minute ones to warm up.

>>3474424
It’s actually a fairly nebulous concept and means different things to different people/schools.
Most people define it with some variation on “capturing the essence of a pose”. This “essence” being described variously as:
“What the pose is doing”
“What the pose is about go do”
The main line or lines of “action”
Where the eyes go when looking at the pose.
Mentler insists its simply the line of gravity or balance.
Huston seems to suggest that parts of a pose have a “gesture” as well - eg a the center or main construction line of a head travels along the front, but also back along the top.
Nicolaides and a lot of strictly fine artists, use a rapid squiggle that travels all over the pose.

So the only thing you can really say is its is the most basic or fundamental statement that can be made about a pose or object prior to elaboration or detail.

>>3474489
By that logic no one should learn from a book because the author isn't there to check your work.

>>3474621
Exactly faggot. Books are made as residual income for the author and nothing more. Advertisements for bigger and better content.

>>3474623
But anon, we don't ACTUALLY read instructional artbooks, we just collect them. Occasionally some overly ambitioue anon will mindlessly copy all the drawings inside. But READING the books? Are you insane?

>>3474688
Even if you did read them you still wouldn't get what was told to you.

>>3474424
It's the relationship between forms (structure).
What's the difference between a person running, pushing, dancing with passion, or lying on the floor exhausted? The bones and muscles are the same, same forms. What changes is the balance, the energy, the push and pull, the attitude and movement - the gesture.

>>3474424
The problem is that you're trying to copy someone elses style of gesture and not actually trying to work on gesture.
You watch proko and try to emulate proko's gestures.
You watch vilppu and try to emulate vilppu's gestures.
But you're not grasping the concept of simply trying to convey motion, and every single person will instinctually do that in a diffrent way.
Find you own gestures.

>>3474705
state of /ic/

>>3474886
state of my post # in your mom, bitch

>>3474887
sigh..... fuck you >>3474888

>>3474887
what's your problem, dude?

>>3474895
Nothing I just wanted the joke to tie to my figure eights.

>>3474572
good

>>3474899
next time. at least you got dubs

The point of gesture drawing is to help you develop a sense of how the whole figure behaves

Or in other words: Gesture drawings is about depicting how we PERCEIVE the figure, while anatomical and constructive drawings is about how the body actually is in reality. When we see people in real life, we don't see them as an anatomical puzzle, we see it as one whole entity without any conscious anatomical definition. Gesture drawing is the depiction of this kind of observation pushed to the extreme. Gesture is what breathes your anatomical knowledge into life.

>>3474688
>we don't ACTUALLY read instructional artbooks, we just collect them.
that is so painfull true for me that i shed a tear because of your reply

Gesture drawing is essentially denoting a figure in the simplest way possible, focusing on weight, movement, the silhouette and very basic forms over everything else. It's kind of like the cliff notes verion of the figure.
If you want to learn about gesture drawing, check out resources for traditional animation, because movement and exaggeration of the figure is their main focus. In fact, I would highly recommend any figure drawing books for animation, because animators more than just about anyone else have to completely memorize the figure and be able to make it move through space in lots of different ways. Putting down the essentials of a figure in as few lines and as little time as possible is their bread and butter.
Walt Stanchfield's Gesture Drawing for Animation book is a pretty good starting point to understanding gesture, I know it helped me. It's free, just google it.

>>3475010
You cant you wont you will never be Walt Stanch field. it's pointless copying his shit scribbles some dorkazoid compiled into a book to make money off of.

>>3475010
Good post, but explaining gesture to /ic/ is a useless endeavour

>>3475035
That's because gesture is one of those things that no one has a patent on.

just helps you capture the essence of the figure/object/whatever. Like most art practices it isnt necessary but it helps loosen you up and understand the motion, which ultimately helps your art look more alive.

>>3475028

>>3475028
Is this some kind of meme?

>>3475105
Actually, a gesture is where just about any good figure drawing starts from, especially from imagination. I'd say that it's pretty necessary.

>>3474489
>Really, in short, find the right teacher who doesn't beat around the bush and actually has a method.
Who is a good teacher for gesture drawing then?

>>3474424
i really like this person's process. do you have a source anon? are they a teacher?