How to Draw: Costumed Gestures (Patreon)

So we've gotten pretty confident in our nude gesture drawing...but what the hell are we supposed to do when the model is suddenly wearing clothes? You can't see the body clearly anymore and all the landmarks are covered...

HELP!

When it comes to clothed or 'costumed' gesture drawing, I often see a disconnect happen in artists' minds.

Everything they know about the figure, lines of action, flow, story…disappears!

And the costume takes over.

We can slip into copy mode again, where we just copy exactly what we think we are seeing and what we end up with is a drawing that has no story, no structure and is usually pretty shit, to be honest. Much worse than our nude gesture studies.

• What happened?
• How do we combat this?
• What is the trick to drawing costumed gestures?

Well, the good news is that you already know.

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"The draped figure will be one of the many problems that will follow you like a heel fly throughout your career. The best thing for you to do is strive to handle it in the simpliest way possible.

This is not to suggest simplicity is easy - just less frustrating.

You have to act out the actor’s role, plus the costume’s, which should be done in such a way as to compliment the action of the actor."

- Walt Stanchfield

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I will show you how to approach the costume in exactly the same way as we approach the figure. Because the costume IS the figure.

• The costume is wrapped around the figure.
• It follows the form of the figure.
• It follows the story of the figure.
• The costume is just a pile of fabric without the figure.

Watch the video for an explanation of the process and also some tips for drawing different types of folds common in fabric.

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Check out this Pinterest Board for some fun costumed/clothes poses to draw from. As always, I'd love to see any of the drawings you do from this reference, feel free to send it to me on Instagram @gilliangestures

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All In Gesture Workshop

Every Saturday morning at 10am EST, Todd Bright (Disney Animator) hosts a live costumed gesture drawing session from his home studio.

He has a live model (sometimes two!) dressed as pop culture characters doing short poses. They are untimed but are about 30 seconds-5 minutes.

I joined this class in January 2023, and got so much great gesture drawn and it was really fun to draw characters with costumes. It pushed my costumed gestures and design choices loads.

And about once a month, Todd also gets an animation legend to come in and chat about their careers and their drawing process.

There's also a live chat and an active Discord to take part in.

The class costs $10USD for one drop in or $25USD for a monthly subscription.

Can't make it at 10am EST on Saturdays? Well, Todd records ALL the sessions for you watch at your own convenience. Which means there is an archive of YEARS on the website, so you can do as much gesture drawing as you want! You're not limited to just the sessions recorded in that month.

*I don't receive a kick back from the workshop! I just love it and Todd does a great job hosting*

- GG