Trajectory of a pose

The trajectory of a pose is set up in the first minute! There's something that happens as we wave the pen around the page waiting for it to contact. We are aiming! Eventually we feel comfortable putting a line down and hope that its the right one. In the onset of the drawing those lines need to have a sense of directon aiming for a target! Imagine if a there existed a magic bullet that when fired it didn't just go straight, it wiggled around and drew a line that formed our drawings. The same kind of aim a marksman may have when he fires a bullet to a target is the same kind of aim we need when we fire off a sketch, but our bullet moves around in that magical line. All too often we don't take the moment to aim and we start putting lines down that mean nothing or fight against each other on the way to that target.
Those first few structure lines are the most important because those are the ones that we are building on and they act as your scope for the rest of the drawing to follow. So all the best as you aim and fire, drawing out lines that are purposeful and hopefully.........hit a bullseye!

A New Year

In my recent class I was pretty excited to see so many people wanting to draw!  The class was electric and the students really pushed themselves.  We had two models "Daniella Traub" and "John Tucker" and they had us speeding through ink and paper.

When drawing two models at a time you really want to build the first trajectory lines around both models simultaneously.  If they're drawn seperately time may run out on the pose and then we're left with half the drawing done.

I likened it to a sculpture who may see the two character pose in a large chunk of marble.  The sculpture sees into the stone and carves out the two characters simultaneously.  I wouldn't think that they'd completely carve one model leaving the rest of the marble in tact.

There's a relationship happening when there are more than one model or person on the street that you're sketching.  An electricity that goes between the two (Or more) subjects that we need to notice and capture in our work.That's the spark of life and interaction that we are trying to catch.  Some of my favorite art has this storytelling in it and draws us in. It can be anything to illicit an emotion- a coy look, a smile back and forth or one chasing another. 

Here's to a new year of lots sketching!

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!

Egg heads and head shapes

When working with drawing the heads and faces I've usually told people to use the egg shape method by Walt Stanchfield. It's meant to quickly sketch in the construction of the head because many times people forget the volume. It's an excellent way to lay in the head and figure out the perspective by using the nose and the eyes.

Objective aesthetics come into play as we draw in the nose/eyes placement. We all have our own way of sketching a nose or eyes but this quick sketch beginning should be loose. Plus the intersection of the two egg shapes allows for an easy ear placement.

Inevitably once you've become comfortable with the egg equation you graduate to the next level of attitude and acting that's specific to the model. Our drawings become more unique and individual as we push the acting and attitude given to us as the egg shapes morph into caricatured versions of reality.

A particular jaw shape versus a forehead shape, mixed in with a nose shape builds on all the simplistic scaffolding in the beginning of the sketch. The trajectory.

The idea with all this is to try and sketch economically direct! You want to use your construction lines as your final lines. Or at least lines that are going in the direction of final lines. Which means hopefully you won't have to many lines that are aimless.

Here are a few examples from one of my sketchbooks, hope you like'em.


Cafe smug




FIDM girl


Woman on the train


Eukenuba Judge

Disconnected drawing

Usually when we draw, we go through a cycle of looking at a model's head, then our drawing pad, sketch sketch, look back at the model's body, look down, sketch sketch sketch, look at the arm, sketch sketch....etc.  This may be a problem.

Obviously we need to look at the model or subject to sketch, but I'd like to impress that we are impressionists and not realists when it comes to our sketches.  

Looking up and down TOO much can lead to disconnected shapes.  

We concentrate on a head, a torso, a leg or any part individually and forget about the gesture as a whole.  The truest example of this is when the time is up and the model has moved and we only have a partial sketches done.  

What I believe is happening is the brain is trying to capture shapes of the body in segmented thinking because we worry about the correct shapes of anatomy and it bogs us down.  We should be starting with large shapes that cover the whole pose first then work over that trajectory with more detailed work.  

Remember the gesture is the whole complete idea of a pose.  It's not a gesture of an arm then a gesture of a body, then the legs.  It's everything in one!

My advice is to record a complete mental picture into your mind by studying the model or subject for a moment.  Then go down to the paper and draw until you've forgotten that mental pic and go up for more info.  This will help you draw your impression of the whole pose and not get caught up in segmented sketching.

I was at my son's first Tball game yesterday and sketched a few pieces.  It was so rewarding to experience such young kids playing America's oldest past time.

Coaching the batter

Assistant Coach

Paying attention to the game

High noon happy accident!

About a week ago I was walking into work a bit late and ran into a rugged mean looking cowboy  He had on a black hat, black vest and black villainous mustache.  It was the gesture model John Tucker who most of you know or have heard of on my blog or twitter feed.  

Then moments later a western saloon skirted, high heel boot wearing girl came down the hall and she was very excited to model in the class.  This was Rachel Bailit, one of the most bubbly actress' I know.

I was a bit nervous at first but quickly figured we had a happy accident of having two models pose this day.  Which of course I loved!

One tip I'd like to share about two models in gesture drawing is: Remember the beginning of the sketch is all one big mass shape.  You are definitely trying to capture two different subjects but when you approach the building of the sketch

you want to draw them together as they relate and connect to each other.

Sometimes we start drawing the sketchy gesture lines for only one of two models trying to figure out how they're posed and time is ticking away.  Suddenly the models have moved on and we're left with half a sketch or a ghosty image of the second model that doesn't really allow for a true relationship expressed between the two models.

In the few minutes we give ourselves to get the sketch done we really need to encompass the whole pose in the first few lines of trajectory.  It's not easy!  The challenge is tough but I know that you are passionate and are ready to take it on!  

Here are a few inspired quick sketches I did after noticing that even though these two models never met before- they hit it off like they were old saloon pals.

two minute pose (on twitter I said one minute because I started drawing late into the pose. let's break even at about a minute and a half)

Two minute pose 

Five minute pose