One Minute Gestures

One minute gesture drawings- conte crayon on smooth newsprint

In the figure drawing class I am teaching this term, we have been giving a lot of focused effort to capturing the essence of a pose quickly. We usually start with one to three minute gestures and then build up to a more sustained pose by the end of the three hour block. One day recently we spent the entire three hours doing gestures including one minute gestures for nearly a half hour straight. The short time frame gave the models an opportunity to do a few more dynamic poses. At first it felt like no time at all with nothing to show for it on paper. By the end, I was surprised how much you could capture in just a few seconds of concentrated observational drawing. Here are a few of my favorite one minute poses.