Gesture in Figure Drawing

Whether I simplify my skeleton drawings or not, I always try to keep gesture in mind. These are practice drawings that I have made to try to capture angle, tilt, and thrust of the human body in three dimensional space. I am not that interested in going for accuracy of the anatomy at this point as you can see on the scapula bones that are showing through the ribs on the bottom drawing. I have used the app called Skelly that you can obtain from Proko. The middle drawing is done purely from imagination and purposely simplified.

Introducing Something New From Proko

I have been sitting here wondering what I should say in this weeks post, and I have to tell you that procrastination has paid off. While I have been wondering what to say, I received an email from Proko (Stan Prokopenko), a young artist who is getting ready to introduce an online drawing course. This will be figure drawing so it will be for those who are serious about drawing people. Proko gets into gesture drawing right away, so you won't be drawing any static stick figures. Those are probably good for learning about proportion, but you will learn that from his course as well. I have been watching some of Proko's free videos, and I am impressed. Getting gesture is so important to being able to capture emotion and energy in a drawing or painting. Three things that have impressed me about his presentation:

• Proko is very respectful in his presentation of the human body.
• Proko is so funny and entertaining.
• Proko is either a natural when it comes to teaching, or has had training in ways to help people remember key points.

Proko will begin his online classes on June 17th, at:

http://www.proko.com/figure (for Premium)

http://www.proko.com/videos/ (for free, limited videos)

He is offering both free classes (this will probably be listed under videos), or Premium classes (for a fee). Be sure to check his site out!