How to Draw: Exaggeration (Patreon)

One of the most important elements in gesture drawing (for me) is exaggeration.

We hear it all the time…

• 'This needs more exaggeration!'
• 'Can you push it more?'
• 'Go past the pose!'

These are all the things I am constantly repeating in my gesture classes, because it is essential.

I mention it in most of my videos and it is one of the top tools I think every gesture artist needs in their toolkit.

• Why do we have to exaggerate?
• What parts should we exaggerate?
• What if we exaggerate too much?

Top Tips for exaggeration:

• understand your story first - this will guide your exaggeration choices
• exaggerate with your first marks
• exaggerate the pose not the anatomy
• push the anatomy in opposite directions
• don’t forget the head!

Check out the video for more details about these ideas and some examples of how to apply them to your gesture drawing practice.

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What was your favourite tip?

Do you have any tips that you can share with us?

- GG

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Further Reading:

"Every action has it's equal opposite reaction"

Animation Mentor: 12 Principles of Animation: Exaggeration