6. Line Basics - Gesture & Emotion

This lesson is largely based on notes by Stan Prokopenko, from this video here on Youtube.

Rhythm was not invented. It has been the measured motion fo the Universe since the beginning of time. There is rhythm in the movement of the sea and tides, stars and planets, trees and grasses, clouds and thistledowns. It is a part of all animal and plant life. It is the movement of uttered words, expressed in their accented and unaccounted syllables, and in the grouping and pauses of speech. Both poetry and music are the embodiment, in appropriate rhythmical sounds, of beautiful thought, imagination or emotion. Without rhythm there could be no poetry or music. In drawing and painting there is rhythm in outline, color, light and shade. 

-George Bridgeman

Gesture is about the (hidden) lines that connect all the elements of your artwork together. Gesture is sometimes referred to as motion, action, rhythm and flow. Gestural lines create movement by suggesting where your eyes should look as they travel through your artwork. Stan Prokopenko gives this example:

The blue line indicates how your eyes move from one ball to the next, checking for details, differences, anything that might make one of them more important than the others. If you change the arrangement of the balls, it changes the shape of the blue line - the gesture.

Seeing gesture in an artwork takes practice - these lines are hidden. Seeing gesture in the real world is even harder. Everything around you has gesture - trees, buildings, water, mountains - everything.

One of the challenges in drawing is to find gestural lines and keep them as you draw - losing the gesture is one of the most common drawing mistakes for artists at all levels. As you draw, you need to make sure your details, rendering, and shading support and compliment the gesture. If you don't consciously work to support the gesture, you might accidentally kill it. You also need to choose subjects and poses that have elegant, curving, flowing gestures - straight lines can be stiff and boring.

PRO TIP: Try exaggerating the gesture. See if it helps tell a more dramatic, exciting story.

When your lines contain the correct gesture, they will convey a great deal of information. They can tell us about the shape and texture of a subject:

Three Cats, by Eugene Delacroix

They can indicate light and shadow:

Blondie's, by James Gurney, 2003

Suggest and emphasize forms:

Sketch of a Dog, by Peter McCollough

They can even indicate a subject's emotional state:

Sketch of a Man, by Peter McCollough

They can tell a story, often quite powerfully, even when the drawing lacks detail:

Germany's Children Are Starving, by Kathe Kollwitz, 1922-23

Gestural lines suggest detail, so that you don't have to draw every hair, or fiber, or leaf, or brick. It's enough to suggest it.

How To Find Gesture Lines

1. Look for the longest axis, or action line, in a shape.

2. Limit your lines to simple C's, S's, and I's.

3. Beware over-simplification. It can change the story of your drawing.

4. Look for relaxed versus tense gestural lines - and draw them accordingly. Relaxed gestural lines use flowing curves, while tense lines often use a zigzag line.

5. In people, you most often find the gesture by following the curvature of the spine. 

6. The spine has three sections. The neck bends the most in every direction. The ribcage is great at rotation, but is limited in all other forms of movement. The lower back is the opposite. It can twist forward, back and side to side, but is limited in its rotation.

7. Arms often have C shaped gestural lines, where as legs often have S shapes. Muscles in the arms and legs overlap - be careful not to draw them symmetrically, or it will look like a snowman.

GESTURE & EMOTION

Bla

LEVEL 1 ASSIGNMENT - Find the Gesture in These Simple Forms

THE SET UP: Pencil and paper.

LEVEL 2 ASSIGNMENT - Gesture Drawings of Dogs in Motion

THE SET UP: Pencil and paper.

Look through the following photos, pick ones that you want to draw, and start by drawing a gestural line that goes through the dog, along the longest axis. Draw the rest of the dog, using  C S I  lines.

LEVEL 3 ASSIGNMENT - Gesture Drawings of Athletes

THE SET UP: Pencil and paper.

Look through the following photos, pick ones that you want to draw, and start by drawing a gestural line that goes through the athlete, along the longest axis. Draw the rest of the athlete, using  C S I  lines.