Gesture Drawing: Before and After Class

carriecopadraws

@ArtofAleksey I actually prefer to sketch gestures by hand! It just feels more natural to me. I refine drawings on my tablet later.

I did clean these up by redrawing them on fresh paper using a lightpad (a thin lightbox, it was like $25 and it's awesome). I also scanned them and arranged them digitally.

ArtofAleksey

@carriecopadraws ohhh yes i see. I have a small lightbox too. But when i use it for too long my eyes hurt so i might adapt the jake parker method and just print the drawing out and ink over it

Eelwick

This are very cool!.. I haven't taken the class yet but I'll take a look at it. Did you use a reference for each pose or were these from imagination?

Pamela Fraley

@carriecopadraws these are great! Those bottom ones seem so alive! I love it.

Frost Drive

@ArtofAleksey said in Gesture Drawing: Before and After Class:

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Wow that's a lot of improvement!! and they're still pretty cartoony so that's really inspiring to me.

I started the course, but haven't drawn much, now I wanna do a deep dive and get this much expression in my own drawings. Thanks Carrie! ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

Rachel Horne

Wow, that's brilliant, you made a lot of progress. I haven't got around to properly starting the class now but seeing your work has re-motivated me!

carriecopadraws

@ArtofAleksey The nice thing about the newer lightpads is you can control how bright the light is! But the eye strain thing is still a concern, so I only use it for short bursts. Printing out the drawing and inking over it is another cool technique I've wanted to try.

carriecopadraws

@Eelwick I'm using reference! The class includes a big photo library of reference poses (you can use your own too), and each exercise has a PDF with a few specific poses for practice. I like how the class is broken down into bite-sized segments.

Jacy13

Those are some great gestures! It looks like a lot of progress has been made. Awesome work
I can't wait to get to this class! It appears to be an amazing learning experience

korilynneillo

Wow these are incredible! I love the idea of doing a “pre-test” before a class, I might have to steal it (and take this class now!)

baileyvidler

I think the Gesture class may be next for me...

These look fantastic! They're so much more confident and clear than the "before" set. Well done!

carriecopadraws

UPDATE: Here's a batch of cleaned-up gestures from the last half of the Intro to Gesture Drawing class! The last exercises involve 2 characters interacting, something that's bound to come up in illustration.

I got so much out of this course. Instructors in other courses emphasized using keywords to guide your illustration, but it finally clicked in this class. "Naming the pose" has added emotion and action to my scribbles, and I love it!

To recap:
BEFORE: I was basically making "still life" drawings of reference photos.
AFTER: My gestures feel alive!

Kat

@carriecopadraws these are great! Thanks so much for sharing, it's really inspiring.

Coley

@carriecopadraws amazing drawings! I’m doing this course now and it’s awesome

Neha Rawat

Wow! These are great! Definitely super expressive. Love the fluidity in the movements. Great work!