Gesture drawing helps me capture the essence of a subject which is oftentimes fresher and more “alive” than when I have more time. It forces me to focus on the most prominent aspects of a subject. However, I find I see even more if I just watch first and don’t try to draw at all to take it all in, then gesture draw. Surprisingly I also found contour drawing to be a great warm up before gesture drawing. It got me to focus more on my subject and less on the paper.

I really enjoy the crazy nature of gesture drawings however I constantly combat myself and my slow processing.  Then I tend to guilt myself when they don't look cool and sketchy.

Yes, trying to do quick gesture drawing really brings the animals to life.  I noticed more patterns in movement. Watching a desert waterhole in Africa I see animals return to the same postures over and over again.  I also noticed how one male oryx seemed dominant and was able to stay closest to the female while all of the others circled around hoping to get closer. Lots of live webcams on the internet now that are great for this practice!  Hard to avoid the temptation to push the "pause" button though.  I definitely want to get better at these quick drawings with minimal detail to incorporate into my nature journaling.

I feel gesture drawing is definitely helping . I am noticing details and behaviors that I had never noticed before and also noticing the placement and angles  of various parts of the body. For instance, I noticed that cardinals and tufted titmice almost flatten their tufts when eating.  The more I tried to do this, the more I wanted to keep trying. I never thought I would be able to look at 3D animals and nature and capture what I see on paper. I have only drawn from photos.

Gesture drawing is helping me to pay closer attention to details of movement, habits of movement, and I am watching the moving animal more than looking at my paper, because if I look down too much, I lose the subject, it has moved on. That said, it is rather challenging. My goal now is to be able to go back to poses I captured and add to them, rather than creating a new sketch each time the animal moves.

I am really enjoying doing gesture drawing. For me, it takes the pressure off my perfectionism, and puts me in a state where I'm concentrating so hard that I'm really in the moment. And sometimes there are "happy accidents," when with just a few strokes of the pencil I somehow accidentally capture the essence of my subject.

Yes, observing the many shapes and movements of the subject.

Their shape and movements.

I found most helpful to sketch in snap shot like style, meaning that I sketch a body part, for instance like the leg, or head, or body. Since the bird I was sketching was moving rather quickly, it was easier to just get a little sections of the bird and then try to get the whole body.This way I was able to notice more detail in the quick sketch of the legs and how they were joined the position of the head, and the long beak attachment to the head. I definitely have a ways to go but it’s a good beginning.

Gesture drawing does help in getting the observation down on paper and with motion implied in the quick sketch. You obtain a sense of motion that helps make the observation become more life like. The roadrunner was in stride, head pointing forward in its chase. I had trouble getting the tail represented to make the proportions right. 

Capturing gestural drawings with creatures in motion is super hard for me. Like others have mentioned, I hardly can get a wing or leg or tail sketched before the foxes or birds move. Often, because I feel so slow, I find that I keep a brief memory image and draw from that for a few seconds before trying to capture a new pose. Need lots more practice!

Gesture drawing is sort of hard for me because many times I can not finish even the outline. Half a wing, a tail, even a line. But I have been working on it for several weeks and I'm imporving. I notice things like the bushiness of the fox's tail and the slant of eyes. I think I'm trying to work on too large a subject - I should work on just the wing, or just the eyes and ears. Or just the outline of the animal with nothing else. The movement make it the hardest thing so far.

Really appreciated Liz reminding us a few times over the course of these gesture drawing videos to be kind to ourselves when it comes to the outcomes of our drawings. And that the enjoyment is in the process!

Yes, this is helping. It also helps me break things down into basic shapes and see how they move and overlap.

I watched a heron intimidate another to leave his territory. I noticed the basic shapes of the birds to capture their movement. Their legs and feet seemed to inform the sketches more than their wings, which I thought would be the other way around. Maybe if I'd been more accurate in portraying the wings, they would indicate more.

I had never drawn an animal before, therefore I had to stop the video to capture their gestures. I will try to draw it again like the ducks, fast and not really precise, practicing what I might see outdoors while sitting quietly! ....and just dreaming of seeing such a delightful play as the Arctic Fox.

Found it very difficult to maintain a pace fast enough to capture even some of the duck's movements. Fun, but much more practice needed. Noticed the cyclical behavior.

I need about a million years to practice gesture drawing. I have no experience drawing live animals, and i'm pretty dedicated to pretty lines. sigh.  This one was a real challenge.  Will keep at it, though.