How many times have you heard people say, "I can only draw stick figures." 

LIke that's bad???? That's a foundational first step of drawing figures! Tamas sure proved that in this class!

I was attracted to this class because my drawings are too stiff and need to express and move more.

 Here are some of the exercises from the class...

I have not yet had the courage to try the figures in pen like Tamas and students do. I get too insecure about the positions and have to erase a lot. I'm in awe that people can draw in pen and get such perfect positions on the first try!

 

Know what really impressed and influenced me with this exercise we did in class? Tamas knows those yoga/pilates poses well.....names and poses of each position....which tells me he probably has studied and practiced yoga/pilates and possibly still does. This fed my soul cuz I was a dancer long ago which is probably why I hunger for my drawings to move and express more.

Proportion has always been a challenge, as the measurements are as varied as who teaches it. And it's an easy formula to forget.

My "group activity" class exercise had spatial challenges cuz of such a small paper size. And what an active, entertaining world Tamas invented for us to learn from!

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I loved seeing what students did with the assignment! They truly invented their own unique expressive world of stick figure characters!                                                                                                                                    The following expressive stick figure attempts I did didn't exactly follow the assignment. They weren't from my imagination or invented. They were from photos or a program from the show or an album cover. It was hard to stick to the stick figure. I kept wanting to fill in the body parts and had to resist. So, that was a struggle.      

I wanted to be in this show so much in the 1970s. I auditioned twice and got to do my timestep and double pirouette. But, never got in the show. For the assignment I chose to stick figure draw this photo of this show cuz I love how each character's pose expresses who they are.

 

 Couldn't stick with the stick figures here either. Kinda felt filling in the body parts helped it express and move more....and capture the jazz pants or tan tights look we wore in the 70s.

Tried to get back to stick figures here. Still a challenge.

This was an excellent class! That kind of class that sticks with you for the rest of your art life. Usually, for me, gesture drawings are too large and when timed they go too fast to be happy with them. This made them teeny and very user-friendly. Doing small gesture drawings makes you simplify and focus on what the move is trying to say about the character or situation, creating a story. The skills this class taught makes you want to keep going and try more and more ways to capture emotions and situations in your drawing. And maybe, one day, I'll even be brave enough to try them in pen. I really like Tamas' teaching style. On to more of his classes!