Abstract shapes

Recently I've been asked how to get the "whole" body into a drawing in the time it takes to get a gesture down.  Some artists fall into a piece meal kind of sketching where they draw the form sections separately from one another.  I encourage and challenge you to strive to capture the whole gesture as one piece as early as possible when sketching.

I like to think of the whole gesture as an abstract shape that encompasses the feel and attitude I'm going for.  Within the first ten to fifteen seconds of the drawing I'm blocking out shapes that allow the gesture to live within it.

Henri Matisse inspires me with his abstract silhouette paper cut outs when I think of this direction.  The deceptive simplicity is very impressive and I believe we can be inspired by his work.

Henri Matisse

When gesture drawing we don't really have time for too much detail, we need to get the whole thing down fast.  I like to call this abstract shape the trajectory of a pose.   It's a planning stage that allows you to buy the impression you are creating and sends the drawing in a direction allowing you to finish even if the subject has moved on.

In thinking about this stuff I decided to take a break from the Cintiq and slum it with the chinamarker on paper.  I sketched this stuff out of my head and wrote lil' notes to assist my thoughts above.  All sketches were done quick in under a minute each for the more detailed.

Draw! Draw! Draw!