Predominating Shape

Leaning For 5 Minutes
Predominating Shape (5-Minute Pose)
19 February 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
35.5cm x 28cm (14" x 11")

The Predominating Shape exercise from Section 23 of the Natural Way to Draw is a gesture study based on 1 and 5 minute poses. It is a variation of the Straight and Curved Lines exercise. Instead of looking for one straight or curved line that runs through the entire figure, you look for a predominating two-dimensional shape. The shape may encapsulate the whole figure or an important part of the pose. The predominating shape does not have to be a perfect geometrical shape, but I think it has to be a relatively simple shape.

After you have identified the predominating shape, you continue in the same way as in the Straight and Curved lines exercise to add complimentary straight and curved lines. The exercise is performed at the same time as an ordinary gesture drawing and each feeds from the other. The instructions are not clear, but I’m pretty sure the intention is they are drawn on top of each other.

Leaning For 1 Minute
Predominating Shape (1-Minute Pose)
19 February 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
38cm x 26.5cm (15" x 10.5")

Unintentionally, Elaine and I repeated one of the poses in the session on the 19th of February. This provides a comparison of a 1-minute and a 5-minute study of virtually the same pose. In both poses Elaine has her back to us. In the 5-minute pose she is looking straight ahead. In the 1-minute pose she is looking to her right and is showing us slightly less of her back. It’s interesting (well it is to me) that I chose different predominating shapes for the drawings.

Lying On One Side
Predominating Shape (5-Minute Pose)
19 February 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
38cm x 20cm (15" x 8")

The predominating shape is a helpful tool in identifying alignments and relative proportions. This isn’t the main purpose of the exercise, but it's a feature I will use to improve the accuracy of my extended gesture studies (see Section 13). In Lying on One Side, the predominating skewed rectangle emphasised the alignment between Elaine’s head and knee. It also helped me to realise I had misjudged the length of her torso. I didn’t have time to correct it in this drawing, but in a longer study I would.

Cross Legged
Predominating Shape (1-Minute Pose)
19 February 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
27cm x 34cm (10.5" x 13.5")

I’m not sure what the plague beak is all about in the cross legged pose. It is not a fancy mask or false beard. I suspect it is the neckline on Elaine’s top and I was emphasising where Elaine’s neck started in relation to the predominating shape.