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frodobolzon
May '19

Yo!! nite's here.

So, serious question, What's more important? gesture or anatomy? what should go first in the process of developing your skills as a draftsman?

The last two months I've been a jugernaut practicing like a crazy man (not that crazy, just drawing everyday as anyone that draws should) studying and so on. And personally I've been focusing on gesture rather than anatomy, I've Bashed anatomy every once in a while for specific matters but that's it.

Every artbook or resource I've found tells me that first comes the basics, and the basics is the Rithym, the gesture and the big shapes. But every now and then when I post my art somewhere I've got critics that focus on the anatomy and strech that anatomy is the most important thing I should learn.

I don't understimate the value of anatomy, If you want to construct from imagination something that seams real you need to have a well stablished knowledge on anatomy. If I haven't take on anatomy straight forward is because I don't feel ready to do that, is an overwhelming subject and from my point of view there are other concepts that you should be able to manage before fighting that giant.

But that's my opinion. What do you think? may I be wrong? Is my approach not the optimal? maybe I'm ready to study anatomy and that's why I'm getting criticism especificly on that area?

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    May '19

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Shanny8
May '19

Both are equally important, but I'd say learn anatomy first. Learn where all the muscles are, the proportions, and how they work and look when the body moves- it makes gesture drawing so much easier.

Pandastrophic
May '19

Gesture is part of improving the overall anatomy of your art. There is a reason every anatomy book puts gesture first then the anatomy and it's because a lot of people make the mistake of focusing on anatomy and all the little details that they forget the bigger picture, that the body has to flow together as well. Which is what leads to poses looking stiff or unnatural even though the anatomy might be correct.
Of course they're both as equally important, and I think the best way to improve is to split your time and work on both, maybe if you have an hour to study, you dedicate 20 minutes to 30 second gesture drawing and the rest of the time to more detailed anatomy studies.

SeraphicMayin
May '19

Gesture should HAVE Anatomy, it's just the speed at which you draw it.

Gesture is a method of practicing drawing.
Anatomy is the system of body proportions.

I think it best to learn anatomy in stages, starting from macro shapes of the torso and pelvis outward. Supported by learning skeletal and superficial muscle structure to understand how things look just under the skin. The ability to recognize the shapes of the body along with the proportions give you an understanding of anatomy.

Now gestures is a method of training yourself to draw fast and accurate. 10-30 seconds is only enough time to capture a pose and basic proportions. You're going so fast that your eyes have to translate what they see to your hands on instinct. It's a good way to loosen up the drawing arm and mind to have you focus on macro shapes cause the thin lines for drawing too easily lend themselves to detail.

I would pair gesture with Contour Drawings where you draw what you see in a single line without lifting the utensil. That trains the brain well too :slight_smile:

But if you haven't studied anatomy than your gestures will be out of proportion. They go hand in hand so the best way to practice I think is the drawing class method.

Many 10-30 sec gestures, Some 1-5minute drawings, a couple 10 min and one 30 min drawing. Or some other arrangement like that.

https://line-of-action.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing84

This is my favorite site for practice. I also study from The Atlas of Anatomy for Artists (a book) for more detailed understanding of bone and muscle structure. I find it important to know it all in realism so abstracting it later for my art style gets easier.

IdiotWithPencil
May '19

both

they aren't wrong but they ain't right either, anatomy is important but what's more important is composition and flow, anatomy helps you make something more realistic but not better or less ridged, which is the biggest problems for starting artist.

as many have said gesture is just as important as anatomy and is commonly done first, you aren't wrong but the ideal is to practice both at the same time, practice gesture and then study anatomy in-depth.

but that's just my opinion

DokiDokiTsuna
May '19

Honestly, I think if you can learn well enough from gestures; you may never need to study anatomy. ^^;

I am one of those who has never really looked at any of that muscle/bone structure stuff. I've never made a serious drawing of a skeleton or abs or anything like that. I DID look at some pictures of human arm muscle once, but that was only for inspiration for an android design.

I don't doubt the value of doing anatomy studies, though. If you have a more realistic drawing style, I don't think there's any way around it, and every artist should at least know some basic body proportions. But there's no pressure to be able to draw a trapezius muscle from memory in order to be called a 'real' artist. You do you; learn whatever you feel you need to.

elyss
May '19

We always started with gestures in my art courses. It gets you used to seeing people's... shape? Best to capture the gesture and then build it's anatomy. It helps one see the bigger picture before they spend five hours on a nose that's actually crooked.

JRHoch
May '19

When it comes to comics, many real cool artists distort the anatomy or give the impression more than the actuality. So I say gesture!

Jenny-Toons
May '19

Hmm...

Well, as a comic creator, Gesture is more important to me. While I do understand Anatomy very well, it's Gesture that helps me with dynamic poses and perspectives. Anatomy helps you to understand the body and how it works, but Gesture -- especially in comics -- helps you distort those functions to make the body come alive.

Though, when it comes to paintings and detailed Illustrations, I would feel Anatomy is more important. Those are more static in nature, so the poses have to look eye-catching in some way. They don't have to be perfectly true to human form, but they do have to still look human.

ZombieOwl
May '19

I feel like you can't have one without the other. I started learning gestures first because it was easiest to do on my own. My anatomy study isn't very in depth; I reference my own body a lot, but that's about it. I think the idea with gestures is to learn how to incorporate dynamics into a figure, while anatomy is how it's built and how parts connect and affect each other.

All gesture, no anatomy can look sloppy or warped(and I'm not talking about a basic distorted perspective here), while all anatomy no gesture can look stiff.

You need both to find that balance :slight_smile:

therippleeffectcomic
May '19

I would tend to favour gesture over anatomy.

There is no order in learning, though. You can learn them both at the same time, do one for a bit, then the other.

If you haven't discovered him already, I strongly recommend you search Proko on YouTube. He's amazing.