This exercise was very valuable for me - so many helpful tips and reminders. Need to practice, practice, practice . . . I was really glad to hear Liz say, “And sometimes when I’m out in the field I pick my favorite drawing to refine, and I add more detail later.”  I often sketch birds, who are almost always moving at least a little. Somehow I had the impression that Nature Journaling meant that every drawing had to be completed in the field, and that it was sort of ‘cheating’ to refine them later! Below are a page from this course exercise and a sketchbook page from last fall.

It was insightful to realise small bits of details that maybe would be captured in slow-paced sketches, maybe not: the angle of the tail or the arched back of the fox; the elongated hands and arms of the frog; the bulkiness of the elk. And although with the video gesture drawings sometimes I was frustrated from having to abandon the just-begun sketches with new poses, it was actually quite fun to capture those basic characteristics

These basic skills are important and with constant attention they show the skills forgotten or passed over in the time you were and are drawing. Refreshment is not easy but is rewarding.

I found that I need to relax into this practice.  Just keep my hand moving.  Shapes go awry and move on to the next thing.  It is also fun to find a shape and develop it a bit.  Remind myself that it is about the process and not the result.  It takes courage to keep going when some of the shapes are so off the mark!

I’m having a lot of trouble with this- so tempting to pause the video, but I resisted. Tried to focus just on mama’s head, then just kit’s head. I plan to practice this a lot more. It’s hard to get loose enough and keep that pencil moving.  Enjoying the challenge.

This exercise helped me really relax into drawing - normally, I am tense about getting it right.  Interestingly, working on the gesture instead of fixating on drawing the subject allows me to relax and sometimes the subject looks more like the animal than if  I had worked toward the perfect drawing.  I have been erasing alot of my marks every time I draw so it has been a frustrating experience ie. make a mark, that's not quite right, erase and then try again.  When I work on gesture drawing, I focus more on the whole animal as opposed to a "photograph" of the subject.  Also, Liz really encourages folks to have fun, which I find helpful for me.

Hi, Although gesture drawings sometimes  look a bit messy, they do help you observe and record behavior and field marks. Sometimes one or more sketches turn out really nice. I decided to try gestures of insects on spring wildflowers, both quick sketches and ones that took a little longer. Sometimes,  I go over the pencil sketch with marker, and colored pencil.

This is a technique that will take a lot of practice. It did help me to capture a bit about behavior and variation in body positioning. But there was so much movement, I found myself abandoning sketches before it began to look like anything that made sense.

I have to look at my gesture drawings with a sense of humor. Some of these drawings look like foxes, but others look more like deer. I wouldn't have noticed the similarities in the shapes of these animals if I hadn't done gesture drawings. Also, I paid more attention to the shape of the ears and the placement of the eyes relative to the ears and nose. The kit behaved so much like a puppy with fast, enthusiastic movements. The mom is molting, so I noticed where she had new and old fur. Gesture drawing makes me look more carefully at general shapes and notice behaviors, even if I can't capture them on paper.

Gesture drawing feels a bit crazy to me! Its almost stressful but fun at the same time. I don't like bailing on a drawing after the subject moved but it is nice to hop back and forth if it is repeating behaviors. I think gesture drawing is helping me pick out simple shapes in body, head, tail etc. I notice I try to hone into the detail right away instead of just getting the overall picture. I also like seeing the behaviors. I usually would ID the bird and move on. This is helping me slow down and enjoy all the hopping and bouncing, and preening, and eating, and and and :).

It is making me practice being loser and more focused on impression rather than details. It means you can capture a lot of what is happening and then combine/refine that information down the line. You notice lines and shapes a lot more, and perhaps the specific lines and shapes that you need to focus on for that subject rather than more of the details like fur, or colors, etc. It took a few minutes for something to pop up outside since I was in front of my apt complex, but eventually I spotted a crow to draw. It is really challenging to start the gesture drawings but the longer you work on it the better is is. 

Well I definitely did better with the ducks and with birds than with mammals such as the foxes (which were incredibly cute btw), which is probably due to the fact that I have had a little more practice with drawing birds although I clearly have a long way to go.  I practiced drawing doves at our feeders -- there were eleven of them today -- from the window inside as it was still pretty chilly but they were close enough and busy walking around so they gave me plenty of poses to choose from.  I really hope to learn to refine this ability, in particular to learn how to pick out the relevant lines that help define the subject and delineate the movement so that in just a few lines the whole can be captured and clearly communicated to the viewer. I have noticed that even when you think your subject is sitting still -- they are not.

I think that gesture drawing helps me with my observations, like how I heard a House Finch singing, but I didn't know where it was. When a finch came to my feeder, I saw that it was singing because its throat was moving and very puffy too. If I wasn't gesture drawing, I wouldn't have paid more attention to those details.

Grey squirrel on a search and eat expedition at one of our feeders provided practice opportunity this morning.  I still need to practice more and the drawings of his face need a lot of work, but he was fun to watch on the ground, not on the feeder as he usually is.

What a blast when I nail the posture!  It's starting to happen more frequently.

This was a very exciting but also a little bit scary ecperience! I never tried drawing like this. The trick here is to focus without  thinking too much.  I have to cut out my mind and to rely more on my body intelligence. It is just like learning to swim or to ride a bike. It’s hard in to get on top of it, but once we are there our eyes and body will guide our mind.  The motto is simple: I just keep practising and I trust that, just like a flower, this skill will unfold  naturally ..

I enjoyed the different stances that the eagles made.  How they used their shoulder muscles to pull apart prey.

Gesture drawing was easiest with still subjects! The foxes were amazing but I had to replay many times to get the drawings beyone one little jot! Here are also my bird feeder drawings, that was also hard - especially the birds, very very fast moving. More success with squirrels, also moving but repeat motions. The woodpecker was the most successful to try to draw. I think it's helping me with my observations as I am better able to predict what the next move will be, with the squirrels and the speedy birds. Also more observant of the markings, which I've been pretty lazy about in the past - like, what kind of woodpecker?

I’m not quite there with the video or bird feeder yet, but if they would just stay still for a minute I can do it. 

I'm beginning to get the shape better.  The questions you ask yourself and put on the page are fun!  While watching the birds, there must be either a hawk or owl around because there is not one squirrel anywhere! I need to keep practicing - the foxes are fun but really really hard.  I do that many times.  I'm better at birds.

This gesture drawing makes me a bit more concern about what posture to draw. I think I need to practice more to get faster on paper, and to drop faster the subject when in move. Maybe doing more drawing without looking much at the result. In the vídeo of the foxes the rounded shapes of the puppy was a thing I noticed but couldn't put on paper. Also the shape of the ears in both animals was a point of focus but not well translated on paper. Last thing I notice was when the adult fox lay down the tail is the "same" size as the body (I know that's an illusion). I also add my drawings from the vídeo of the birds on the feeder. The titmouse was too fast for me. The woodpecker was good for drawing the doves allow me to get various sketchy intents.