Some Examples

Here is an example of gesture drawing. Keep in mind that the pose was held for only 30 seconds long. The idea is to get us not to concentrate so much on what makes a "good" drawing, but just trying to capture the movement in the body. With broad strokes, we had to show the most exaggerated angles. We did this for maybe an hour, to the point that my arm was soar. It was literally a warm up exercise to get our blood flowing, and to liberate our minds from the constraints of previously held beliefs of what made a good drawing. The exercise also broke down skill differentiation in the class. Everyone was pushed for time, and everyone's drawings were reduced to pretty much stick figures. Even so, everyone had a different style to their stick figures. Some were more rounded, and others were edgier. It was easy to see the beauty in every one of these abstract figures.

Following this very free and energetic practice of gesture drawing was a rather slow and controlled exercise in measuring. This is a self-portrait done at home:

This exercise required meticulous measurements. In contrast to gesture drawing the act was slow and deliberate, requiring great concentration--or a different kind of concentration.

In class, when I discovered that my drawing was still turning out disproportioned regardless of the meticulous measurements, I realized that it would never be down to an exact measurement. The idea of coupling this exercise with the rapid gesture drawing was to learn balance between the two. I had to keep in mind the proportions and be able to eventually internalize it without losing the wild and dramatic nature of creating the image.




I had much going through my mind that first day of class. I began to relate this process to the experience of life itself. There is, on the one hand, freedom and energy, the unexplainable ability to create an image simply through exploration. And then there's effort towards precision, there's me thinking that if I can break the process down into explainable terms like units of measurement, that I'd be able to create good art. But there really is no "how to" to art--I think, there are tactics and techniques, but it is learned purely through exploration. And most importantly, one must have humility and courage.