How croquis and gesture drawing differ
The two terms are often used interchangeably, but the emphasis differs a little. Croquis refers broadly to quick sketching against the clock, often trying to get outline and proportion at the same time. Gesture drawing focuses on the movement and energy of a pose and on where the weight sits. If the body's lean and twist come across, it counts as a success even when the outline is a bit off. This guide covers both, starting with gesture and adding form and proportion as the time per drawing grows. For proportion itself, the figure proportion guide is a good companion.
Why draw so quickly
Given plenty of time, people start with whatever details catch their eye. Spend time on the eyes, the fingers or the folds of a sleeve, and you miss which way the whole body is leaning. Cutting the time short leaves no room for details, so you are forced to pick out the one big flow that matters most. Repeating that choice is the heart of croquis practice. Because you do not labour over a single sheet, a failed drawing costs little, and in the same time you get through far more sheets and absorb a much wider range of poses.
Materials and references
Choose something that moves quickly and varies easily in weight. Soft B-grade pencils, charcoal or conté, and broad-tipped pens are all popular. Paper matters less than having plenty of it: a large sketchbook or a stack of copy paper you will not hesitate to use. Do not work too small, so that you can draw from the whole arm rather than the fingers. A live model is the best reference, but if that is hard to arrange, timed pose-photo sets or paused videos work too. When sketching people in a park or café, keep a respectful distance and avoid drawing faces in close detail so nobody feels uncomfortable.
Start with the line of action
Your first stroke follows the longest flow through the body, often from head to foot, in one go. This is the line of action. A standing pose tends to give a gentle curve, a crouched or arched pose a strong curve, and a pose with weight on one leg something close to an S. Trying to make every pose a curve backfires, though. Straight parts, such as a braced supporting leg, need straight lines to contrast with the curved side and make it come alive. Once the line of action is down, mark the tilt of the shoulders and hips with short strokes and check whether they slope in opposite directions.
A session plan by time
Rather than spending all your time on one pose, the usual approach is to warm up with short poses and lengthen them gradually. Below is a sample session of a little over an hour. A timer makes it easier to build the habit of stopping when time is up.
- Several 30-second poses: line of action and shoulder and hip tilt only
- Several 1-minute poses: add the direction of the head, torso and limbs
- Several 2-minute poses: block in the chest and pelvis and mark the weight-bearing foot
- A few 5-minute poses: measure proportions and tidy the main outline
- One or two 10-minute poses: vary line weight and add one or two main shadow shapes
Choosing your lines
Going over the same spot again and again breaks the flow and blurs which line is the real edge. Try cutting it down to one light pass, then one slightly darker pass only where you are sure. When reading the outer contours, it helps to remember that where one side of a limb bulges, the opposite side is often straight or curving in. Make bends such as elbows and knees clearly angled, press harder on the side carrying weight and lighten up where the body is relaxed, and the figure gains a sense of weight. At first, hands and feet can be a small block or an arrow showing direction.
Common mistakes
Even with quick drawings, laying a few side by side afterwards reveals habits that keep repeating.
- Starting with the face: time runs out and there is no body
- Tracing the outline: look first for the flow running through the body
- Straightening every pose: watch for drawing less lean than the model shows
- Fixing things after time is up: learning to stop is part of the training
- Keeping only the good sheets: the failed ones show your habits
Keeping it up
Croquis tends to pay off more with short, frequent sessions than with long, rare ones. Using ten minutes or so as a warm-up before other drawing is plenty. Date your sheets, and after a month or so compare them with the first ones: you will see fewer strokes and bolder poses. Redrawing the same pose at a different length, or drawing a pose once more from memory without looking, are also good ways to sharpen observation. During long sitting sessions, get up now and then and loosen your shoulders and wrists.
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