26. Figure Drawing 1 - Seeing Rhythm & Gesture

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Artist Mike Mattesi warns about using "dead" symmetrical shapes to draw people, because symmetry keeps any suggested energy, or force contained. Containment keeps the gesture from flowing through the limbs from one part to another. This is fine for drawing objects, but when you draw a living thing, you want asymmetry. You want the energy of a pose following through the different shapes of the figure.

One way Mike suggests to do this is to pair curving lines with straight ones. Curving lines help suggest energy flowing and fluidity, while straight lines suggest structure.