Cafe Sketch In-Class and Homework Gestures I

     I am taking a class called Cafe Sketch this semester, which is all about getting quicker and more skilled at drawing figures in motion.  Animation is an art where speed and the ability to communicate movement are key.  I am excited to be taking this class and producing massive amounts of  gestures.  Here are some of my sketches from last Fridays class.

     Most days we will be drawing figures on location.  Living and breathing people going about their lives.  However, since Friday was the first class, we had a slightly different approach.  We started by making gestures based on pictures from Pixelovely, which were timed to change every two minutes.

Then in the afternoon we drew from a live model.  We started with two minute gestures, then one minute gestures, and ended with 30 second gestures.

Finally, we did a few in which we looked at the model for two minutes without drawing her and drew her pose afterward from memory.  Memory is an important part of drawing gestures, because in the real world people never pose for you, but are always moving.

For Homework I had to do at least 50 drawings either from real life or from video.  We were supposed to choose a subject matter that we were passionate about.  I chose to watch The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (2011).  I have always loved this musical and also wanted a chance to draw some of the dancers in it.  Being a past (if not very graceful) dancer myself, I have a certain appreciation for dance.

 122 In-class gestures

65 Homework gestures