Artist - Part 12 - Gesture Drawings – Modern Revisionist Crapola

I’ve always hated doing gestures since high school. Even in college at OCAD they forced us to do these pointless exercises that have become orthodox throughout schools around the world. Why… because of one man and his book…. The Natural Way to Draw: A Working Plan for Art Study by Kimon Nicolaides.

The Natural Way to Draw is one man’s vision on how we all should draw realism in some loose schizoid manner. It’s been selling since 1940, published after his death with questionable drawings from his students. I have yet to see anyone’s drawings improve by doing gestures, blind contour etc... . The most beautiful realism i've seen produced has been done by artists spending time measuring and blocking in.

Why does the old masters technique of “blocking in” work so well? It’s a process learned in the “psycho-motor domain”. The book also tries to make an argument that the old masters did gestures… sorry but not really. The master could draw fast but that was only after they could draw perfectly. Most of these thoughts and facts are not all my own and can be found on the interweb.

Artists that can see past this type of negative modern influence on drawing will be the better for it.