If you’ve ever tried to learn something new, breaking through is usually the hardest part.
Where do you even start?
I’ve found that powering through that question, and learning as much about the industry and subject as possible is a good first-place to look.
When I decided to learn about design, I first looked up every principle associated with design — color, typography, shapes, etc.
Then, I looked into application.
Learning something new is 1/2 learning new information, and 1/2 applying it.
I found some free courses on YouTube, and set out to complete them.
Eventually, I stumbled onto a video where a Senior Pixar artist explained how he drew. In the video, he talked about gestures.
That’s where I need to start.
I realized as soon as I saw it.
It related to the reason why art interested me in the first place — emotion and movement and fluidity.
That’s gesture.
Gesture is an exercise artists do to hone their understanding of movement and exaggeration.
They look at an art piece, and try to capture the essence of a form. Usually, they even time themselves so they don’t overthink.
When you look at a great piece of art, you see energy. Capturing life in art is difficult, but I think that’s why gesture is so important.