Study group - figure 5 ways 2

Our multi-discipline figure drawing month continues. Last week we did a survey of all 5 approaches to figure drawing — simple forms, gesture, anatomy, values, full figure drawing. This week we’re focusing just on the first two of those, with some review instructional materials examining those skills in detail.

Simple forms drawing breaks anatomical elements into broad shapes: an egg for a rib cage, something Kenzo calls “pelvis pants” in his charming British way, a simplified head model based on the Loomis head, and tapered cylinders for arms and legs. These are the 2 drawings on the left in my picture. These are intended to be reasonably accurate to the figure. They help guide an intuitive sense of proportion and the relationships between the parts.

Gesture drawing is meant to capture the spirit of the pose, where flow and design are more important than accuracy. Notionally you’ll tend to exaggerate in a gesture drawing to call attention to some aspect of the figure. I’m not so great at the exaggeration, at least not when intentionally! My attempts are on the right, up above. I did take care to make clean, bold lines, and at least I can feel good about those.