Gesture Drawing / 5nd Grade
Overview

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    This lesson intrduces students to gesture drawing. Students are shown an animal or person through a powerpoint slide and attempt to mimic the essence of the form using quick scribbling motions on the paper. Students also take turns modelling for the class, and the class tries to express the pose using gesture drawing.

Rationale

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    Gesture drawing encourages students to look critically. Most of the things we look at everyday are simply glanced, and the shape and form are not considered critically. Drawing helps students analyze, organize, and digest the things that they see. It is also a beneficial psychomotor activity requiring a high level of coordination between the eyes and the hands.

Objectives

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• Students will be able create drawings based on observation.
• Students will be able to break down complex shapes into simpler shapes: cicle, triangle, rectangle.
• Students will produce at least 10 gesture drawings.
  

Addressed New York State Educational Standards

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• Standard 1
  Students will make works of art that explore different kinds of subject matter, topics, themes, and metaphors. Students will understand and use sensory elements, organizational principles, and expressive images to communicate their own ideas in works of art. Students will use a variety of art materials, processes, mediums, and techniques, and use appropriate technologies for creating and exhibiting visual art works.
• Standard 2
  Know and use a variety of visual arts materials, techniques, and processes. Students will know about resources and opportunities for participation in visual arts in the community (exhibitions, libraries, museums, galleries) and use appropriate materials (art reproductions, slides, print materials, electronic media). Students will be aware of vocational options available in the visual arts.
• Standard 3
  Reflect on, interpret, and evaluate works of art, using the language of art criticism. Students will analyze the visual characteristics of the natural and built environment and explain the social, cultural, psychological, and environmental dimensions of the visual arts. Students will compare the ways in which a variety of ideas, themes, and concepts are expressed through the visual arts with the ways they are expressed in other disciplines.
  

Vocabulary

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• Scribble -- Quick movements made with a writing implement on paper.
• Gesture Drawing -- The expression of volume on a two dimensional surface.
• Contour Drawing -- The expression of shape on a two dimensional surface.
  

Evaluation

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Objectives	Excellent	Good	Fair	Poor	Incomplete
Quantity	Student has produced 10 or more gesture drawings	Student has produced 7-8 gesture drawings	Student has produced 5-6 gesture drawings	Student has produced 3-4 gesture drawings	Student has produced 0-2 gesture drawings
Accuracy (Did the student look up often?)	The gesture drawing strongly resembles the volume of the subject	The gesture drawing resembles the volume of the subject	The gesture drawing somewhat resembles the volume of the subject	The gesture drawing does not resemble the volume of the subject, but is identifiable	The gesture drawing does not resemble the volume of the subject, and is unidentifiable
Concept of Gesture Drawing	The drawing expresses volume. The drawing is not outlined.	The drawing expresses volume. The drawing is outlined.	The drawing is an outline of the subject's shape, and most parts express volume.	The drawing is an outline of the subject's shape, but some parts express volume.	The drawing is an outline of the subject's shape, and there is no expression of volume.

Extension

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• Gesture drawings can be put together to create a wild animation sequence. Students can work in groups to create life-size gesture drawings of big animals.

Student Examples

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