Gesture drawing is a new journey for me, and I’m enjoying the challenge! I’ve got a long way to go. I find that i start my session loose and free and fun, but I get a bit gripped (literally) and bogged down if my gesture session goes too long. Here are a few samples of class assignments, and one piece that started with gesture drawing and wrapped up with a more complete sketch. 

I was more comfortable gesture drawing with the familiar Canada Goose at a lake that is still mostly frozen. Lots of subjects standing on ice or swimming in open water.

I always have fun with Gesture drawing, but for moving subjects I get frustrated. However it does make you focus more on the patterns, trying to "predict" the subject's behavior. The Fox video was so cute by the way.

I noticed when gesture drawing, I avoid complicated positions of the subject and wait for something easier.  I will keep trying to just go for it and capture smaller drawings, finished or unfinished without being intimidated.

 

Gesture drawing would likely help if I were a little better at it. That's why I'm eager to practice some more. I still definitely get a lot of joy out of it! When I was gesture drawing with the video, I noticed the way the birds were positioned when they perched. I would not have noticed such a difference if I hadn't gesture drew!

<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">N</span>I like gesture drawing, although it’s going to take a lot more practice!  I particularly like my fox and eagle.  I feel like I did get the essence.

Capturing gestures has presented a challenge that leads me back over and over to practice again and again.  I find more success with slower animals and have repeatedly gone back to my favorite Explore online cams to either watch animals live or through captured clips.  I am also finding a timer to help me move quickly is helpful.  I also have found doing the scribbling exercise a good way to start my practice sessions since it loosens me up and gets me into quick movements.

This particular skill is one that will require a lot more practice, but I find an exciting satisfaction in filling pages with quick sketches that give hints on movements of my subjects.

Gesture drawing helped me get a better sense the subtle differences in the shapes of the feeder bird species I was observing. I also noticed parts of the birds that I don't tend to notice when seeing birds in the wild, like legs and feet.

I couldn't look at the page and foxes at the same time, basically had to just watch the video and move my pencil. Saw way more than I would have by just passively observing. Especially how their bodies/fur moved.

The Cornell bird feeder. I think it is slightly better, do you?🧐

I tried.😅

We have a pretty good sized field in my backyard, surrounded by woods, and bordered by a marshy area and pond. Wildlife of all sorts are frequently strolling through and these guys were practically posing for me last night. I think I got some good, realistic postures down. This exercise, more so than any thus far is good for me because I tend to get bogged down by too much detail, trying to get a perfect image. This forces me to focus on the subject and be quick!

I'm finding it really important to remember Blind Contour Drawing when doing gesture drawing, spending more time looking at the subject than the paper and letting my pencil do the work. It's intimidating, but I did find myself relaxing into it and letting go after several tries. I'm finding that I am making quicker observations of the anatomy of my subjects, which feels like a big learning curve, too.

 

Gesture drawing is challenging, but a lot of fun and has shown me how gracefully and efficiently animals move, how they sometimes "shapeshift" depending on what they're doing.  I tried to draw animals I saw on live webcams on Africam channel on Youtube.

loved it. perhaps capturing the life in the subjects. looking back, I can see what I was trying to portray.

I really liked this session, the looser I stayed, the more I was able to keep moving, switching up, starting, stopping, noticing. Because I went through so many pages I'll just send the image of the pintail. All were fun, all were challenging, especially the red fox and kit! never stayed still to get much, but I kept at it.

Gesture drawing is great and I think I should really make it a regular practice. Yes, it’s helping immensely with observations, but also with getting my hand to work its way around the page without waiting for the right trait at all costs. I notice how sometimes my eye sees something (e.g. an eye, an ear, a leg) one way, but then when I draw it, if I only heed my visual idea of it, I won’t render it with accuracy. This I noticed a lot with the fox cub sitting next to its mother (also the only true full-body sketch I managed while practising with the video). It’s only a few lines, but I think it is quite okay. The muzzle is pointed, but I had to draw it even more pointed than my brain wanted to, and while in my head that gesture felt exaggerated, it turned out much more accurate on the page. Will practise more on birds, but also other animals, as I realise I need more practice with mammals. Drawing these foxes was very tough!

Photo #1: sketches (few :D) from the foxes video

Photo #2: sketches from the duck video

Considering the time of the year, I looked at live webcams from Ontario and from Sapsucker Woods. At first, there were many birds moving around frantically. I decided to spot a few species and draw them in a position they would come back to. Like what I learned in other courses, when there are many birds, I just looked at one of them at a time. The song sparrows did not come back. I will look at them another day. The titmouse is most fascinating as it does not come where I live. I found many interesting details I never paid attention to before, especially for the Pine Grossbeaks (shape of the feathers around the eye). I added my question when the feeders were quiet.

I have always enjoyed the immediacy of gesture drawing, and the way it emphasizes essence over perfection. 

I don't think this was fun! However, I would really like to learn this skill! It's hard to let go of refining details and shapes, and leave sketches unfinished. Gesture drawing helps me to see the movements and poses. Foxes were difficult to draw when two animals were constantly moving. I stopped to draw some really cute poses. At the same time, I missed a lot.

I decided to try behaviors again.