This last weekend, our America campus in Red Bank, NJ, held a portrait workshop for local teenagers. During this two-day event led by instructor Victoria Steel, eight teen artists between the ages of 14-18 learned new skills and enhanced others to create better portraits.
On day one, they worked from reference sheets and attempted to replicate features as closely as possible. They finished the day by trying to replicate a portrait from a photograph.
On the second day, they had the opportunity to have two models sit for them. They began the day with creating gestural portraits. The quote below from lead instructor Anthony Waichulis explains what a gestural drawing is:
Gesture drawing is a very quick form of drawing that uses a “wandering” line (a continuous line created with a drawingtool that rarely leaves the surface of the paper.) Imagine that you are describing an object with your hands as you talk tosomeone – those hand gestures (the ones that describe the most basic visual “parts” that you feel are most important)are very like the marks you make when Gesture drawing. The marks can wander and flow but should ultimately bedeliberate. While Gesture drawing can be used for any type of subject – it is most often used for figure or “life drawing”. In addition, Gesture drawing is a great way to “warm up” before a drawing session
-Anthony Waichulis
After using the gestural portraits to warm up, they spent the rest of the day on several long form sessions where they attempted to draw the models from life. This effort built upon the skills that they learned the day before.
