Students moved from perspective and creating values using ink to different techniques for drawing more accurately and drawing from life. Students looked at examples of gesture drawing and put those examples into action. I love doing gesture drawing with students because it's always a very active class that students really engage in. I ask students to volunteer to be the gesture models and I myself model examples of what good gesture drawing looks like and what incorrect gesture drawing looks like. "No stick figures, no crime scene cut-outs or gingerbread men outlines!" I show students how to keep their lines loose and flowing while they find the correct body positions in the student model. Each pose only lasts about 45-60 seconds.
Next, students look at blind contour and continuous line drawings and try to draw from the still life on their table. Once students complete the challenge of blind contour (not looking at your paper) and continuous line (drawing without picking up your pencil from the paper), students move on to contour line drawings and cross-contour drawings of the still life on their paper. The fast paced exercises and the longer contour exercises were split into separate class periods to keep students engaged and also to gain confidence the more they worked with these drawing skills.