Project II: figure, gestures, and expression
February 21, 2021
Exploring low, medium, and high energy gestures
Initial thought:
For this project, we are exploring the expression of human movements and forms. I think line weight will be beneficial during this project. Using different line thicknesses, we can achieve different tension levels. I also plan to improve my ability to translate real-life proportions onto drawings correctly. This is the area that I need the most work on. I am glad that we explore human gestures through drawing because displaying how humans move and interact will be crucial.
During my process, I relied on both my group posing for me and reference images online. I think they create very different results. For the group iterations, the process is more fast-paced, so the drawing is also rougher. Drawing from reference images gives me more time to alter the gestures to be more accurate. Additionally, the tools that I use also have an impact on the results. When I’m using colored pencils or pens to sketch people, the drawing tends to shift to a more precise path, where I try to represent the subject accurately. But when I’m using charcoal or prisma stick, my lines' movement also frees up a little bit; the results look rougher, but they really capture some of the gestures' essence.
I discovered that drawing people and expressing their gestures is really about controlling the line weight, a frequently discussed skill in the Fall semester. Using line weight helps create tension and energy in the drawing, which is really important for expression. When I’m dissecting a movement, I first use thick line weights to create rough marks that indicate where the head, upper & lower torso, and the four limbs are. Then I use lighter marks to add volume to this frame.
Feb 22
Exploring energy, tension, and gestures
I wanted to explore more on how motion creates energy, and most importantly, how do you capture the energy with lines. I decided to use prisma sticks because they have a wide range of line weights that you can create. Darker line weights can be used to represent bodily tension and emphasize the key features of a movement. After the prominent features have been documented, I would use lighter marks to create and fill the body's volume, which creates a more refined figure. Overall, although this working system is good for doing fast drawings, I still struggle with getting the proportion right.
In this set of drawings, my favorite would be the second drawing in the first row. The proportion is really off in that the legs are a lot thicker, but I think this could also be a good example of emphasizing certain features important to this movement. Still, after completing this set, I feel like there is a lack of a unified system that always works, regardless of context.
February 24, 2021
Understanding proportions
In this class, I learned how to draw people from an orthodox perspective and method. There is a lot of overlap with what we learned last semester that I could identify. Drawing humans also involves establishing a general proportion and later working into its specificity, just like establishing a ground plane for cubes. They start off looking like match figures, but after adding shapes to the body, the volume is created.
Today, we also explored contexts where humans interact with. This is a crucial next step that I hope to learn more about. We talked about why the exemplary proportion is always eight-head-tall, instead of other proportions. It has to do with the design of our surroundings, including door frames, chairs, and desks. The eight-head proportion is the best for
Exploring with perspectives:
This set of drawings captures a person drinking from the fountain. I don’t think the drawing in-perspective worked as well as the side perspective. The one in perspective, although a direct translation from the side proportions, looks really unnatural, especially with the transition from the first to the second movement. I personally feel that I spent too much time establishing the proportion, causing the expressive quality of the movement to be reduced. In the first part of this unit, we were told to create really expressive and intuitive drawings. I think what is difficult for me is just finding the right balance between expression and accurate proportions.
March 1, 2021
Exploring with perspective 2
The previous drawings on the water fountain were made from imagination. In order to create more accurate proportions and spatial relationships, I took reference photos of my classmates to help me sketch.
I think I can see obvious improvements from my last drawing in that the figure has more natural movements. I really the proportions are somewhat accurate and consistent throughout perspectives. However, I can definitely improve my line weights so that the figure doesn't look very flat.
March 1, 2021
Class activity
Today in class, we were grouped in pairs to pose for one another and create drawings out of the poses. I was in the same group as Elise, and I posed with a chair.
This exercise was pretty helpful for me in understanding the proportion of the figure in relation to the surrounding environment. There were a lot more considerations being put to proportions than the previous drawings. Furthermore, as you can see in the drawing on the left, the movement of the figure is also more drastic compared to previous movements that I worked with. I plan to practice more drawings on how figures interact with objects, hopefully in a fully sketched-out space in the future.
March 3, 2021
Objects and movement
Last class, I explored drawings on figures interacting with chairs. Today, I did more drawings on imaginary objects that are vaguer. I hope to improve my judgement on perspectives and proportions through these drawings.
The cube is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about perspectives. A cube can indicate the position of the observer very easily, as well as the perspective of how space is constructed. I know it will be challenging to keep the perspective of the cube and that of the figure consistent, which is why I want to practice more of those drawings.
I am happy with the proportion that I’ve established. However, I think I lost control of my line weight in this drawing. The lines defining the figure are too heavy, compared to the construction lines within the figure that establish the proportions.
Chat with Matt:
Matt also came to the studio later today. After reviewing some of my drawings, Matt suggested me to find the right balance between the construction lines and the outer lines. Also, Matt said that there is too much empty space in the figure, which reduces the volume in the figure. A good example that shows this problem would be the hip and leg area of my figures, in which there is no apparent tension in the area.
I also told Matt that the reference images for my drawing are not continuous. It was based on three different images with different compositions and subjects. Matt suggested me to look for videos.
March 6, 2021
Sledgehammering
The motion of sledgehammering interests me because the entire body is subtly involved. I wanted to challenge myself to capture the tension involved in the movement, including how the weight shifts from one leg to the next.
Here are my reference images from a website called Bodies in Motion:
One thing I was thinking about was the order of drawing body parts. I realized that drawing the head first might not always work, because you might miss out on the overall movement by focusing too much on individual parts. For different movements, the order of what should be drawn first also varies. For this motion, I usually start around the hips or butt, because these areas should be emphasized in hammering.
I also find it interesting how one keeps a good balance between the eight-head model and the reference image, translating real-life motion into communicative sketches. The person in my reference image was around 6 heads proportion; I find it quite difficult to translate that into the standard that we have.
March 8, 2021
March 9, 2021
Using tracing paper
March 10, 2021
Feet & Hand
March 13, 2021
Hand Study:
Feet Study:
Head Study:
Works Cited
“Motions — Bodies In Motion’s Dynamic Photographic Sequence Library”. Bodiesinmotion.Photo, 2021, https://www.bodiesinmotion.photo/motions?page=2&per_page=15&type=motion&isFree=true. Accessed 6 Mar 2021.
