the worst feeling about trying to draw is being a mediocre artist. You realize you’re not terrible and family and friends who have can’t draw at all tell you all the time how amazing you are, but you, as the artist, have seen what amazing really is and you realize that it isn’t you.
When you realize that almost every artist feels or has felt like this, even the ones you look up to, the pros and the famous.
Studying anatomy is fantastic. Whatever you do, don’t stop! I’m going to suggest gestures but that is by no means a suggestion to swap. Just start implementing gestures as well.
Okay. So. Look at this.
This is a still from Glean Keane animating Tarzan – and it exactly nails what a gesture is. Just a few simple lines that are full of movement and you can tell exactly what the heck is going on. All with a few simple lines.
Learning anatomy is great – but learning how to implement it is another thing. If I focus too much on nailing anatomy – the drawing starts to feel stiff, exactly as you’ve stated.
Gestures are all about forgetting what you think you know about muscles and structure and instead drawing what movement in a body FEELS like. That might sound cooky but that’s kind of how I approach it in my head. It’s all about those lines of movement and contrast and CURVES.
I think loosening up and forgetting about how technically correct a drawing is and instead embracing something rough and full of movement, and looking at how the lines in the human body contrast themselves will do you wonders. Keep learning anatomy, but look at how we move and look the weird shapes we can make with our bodies. Look at the way we slouch and stand tall. The way we dance, the way we run. Sit in a coffee shop and try to draw the heart of someone’s pose in like 30 seconds.
Observe MOVEMENT AND RHYTHM AND MY GOD THE HUMAN BODY IS POETRY *GESTICULATES WILDLY*
Even just grabbing a photograph from the net and looking at it objectively – how would this pose break down into a few simple lines? It’s so damn simple to look at something this way. You can endlessly improve your knowledge of anatomy and your technical abilities – but I think so many of us (myself included) stumble at the simplest foundations.
My last suggestion is a wonderful book (videos are floating around on youtube as well) from Mike Mattesi in which he talks about Force. It’s fascinating stuff! I love this example of a simple gesture being built up on.
I hope at least some of that was useful! Just start small okay. Think about learning the chords before you try and master Stairway to Heaven.
A Beautiful Monster 