In Progress: Gesture Drawing: The Human Figure
In this engaging workshop, students will explore one of the most essential skills in figure drawing—the gesture. Gesture captures the energy, movement, and emotion of the human form, breathing life into your drawings.
Description
In this engaging workshop, students will explore one of the most essential skills in figure drawing—the gesture. Gesture captures the energy, movement, and emotion of the human form, breathing life into your drawings.
We’ll look to the great Italian masters—Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael—for inspiration, learning how their timeless methods continue to guide artists today. This approach, rooted in the Florentine tradition and carried forward through the “Vilppu Method,” helps artists see beyond anatomy to the rhythm and story within each pose.
We’ll begin by studying master drawings and practicing a simple exercise to learn from them. In the second session, students will work from a live model, applying the gesture-based techniques they’ve learned.
We’ll begin by studying master drawings and practicing a simple exercise to learn from them. In the second session, students will work from a live model, applying the gesture-based techniques they’ve learned.
You’ll learn how to:
- Capture movement and energy through gesture drawing
- Build the figure’s weight, balance, and flow
- Use landmarks to understand basic anatomy
- Create drawings that feel dynamic and three-dimensional
This course is designed for intermediate to advanced students who have a basic understanding of figure proportions.
About the Instructor
Domenica is a freelance artist, illustrator and instructor in the Bay Area. She is a graduate from SJSU's BFA Animation/Illustration program, trained in the Florentine method of drawing under Sheldon Borenstein. She loves blending the romance of the Renaissance and Baroque with contemporary painting and illustration. She loves painting, teaching her high school students, visiting SF art museums and draws in all her free time ;)
Supply List
- about 8"x11" sketchbook or sketch paper
- Traditional pencils, or erasable color pencils