Gesture thoughts

GESTURE as RHYTHM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa_2rL1K1mg
Glenn Vilppu talks about this here somewhat. Gesture as Rhythm is the idea that gesture is designing the lines of a picture to lead the eye through a picture. Michael Hampton also talks about this. It's choosing lines, arrangements of lines, and varieties of lines to create a "feel" in a picture and lead the eye through it, like water through a stream. When people talk about "the flow" of a picture, they tend to mean this.

GESTURE as GESTALT

The idea that gesture should be used to represent a whole before its parts. The gesture here is trying to define the whole as greater than the sum of its parts. People tend to draw things as one part at a time, leading to a disconnected mishmash of parts. Gesture as gestalt teaches to see the subject as a WHOLE first and then think of the parts after the whole has been established. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. If you can create a unified whole that looks good, then it won't really matter what details you add on top of it, the foundation of the drawing is already strong.
Thumbnail sketches are about reducing a whole picture down to its largest parts, representing entire figures with silhouettes. If a figures silhouette is strong, then any drawing done on top of it will be strong. If not, then no matter how well the figure is rendered and drawn, the picture will still feel weak.

GESTURE as ENERGY or FORCE

Possibly the most abstract definition of gesture. Gesture used to define _force_ applied _through space_. This is an attempt to draw the forces acting upon a subject or the action imposed by or upon that subject.
Best explained through example.
All objects are pulled DOWN by the force of gravity. Solid, stationary objects stay stationary because the force exerted by them against the floor and the floor against them is EQUAL to the downward pull of gravity. So even when stationary, all objects have force acting upon them. This is why sturdy, stationary things look sturdy. They give a feeling of exerting strong downward force against the ground, but not so much that the ground shall give underneath them.
A tree acts against the force of gravity, pushing UPWARDS towards the sun from the trunk. The branches however push OUTWARDS to grab at more and more sunlight. As, however, the branches grow outwards, they grow weaker to the DOWNWARDS force of gravity and will be pulled DOWN to the ground. Even if they manage to stay horizontal or even point upwards, this downwards force is STILL PRESENT and is just being acted against.
A more flexible tree will push  upwards against gravity but has less central sturdiness. So while it is strong against the downward force of gravity, it is weaker to the SIDEWAYS push of wind. So it will bend in the breeze. But this flexibility is its strength, so the tree's flexibility will pull the tree BACK to its center by the force of its flexibility. A sturdier tree will rely on its rigidness to fight the force of wind and keep it standing straight.
Now imagine a man trying to lift a huge and heavy crate. He will put his hands under the box and with his arms, hands, and resist the DOWNWARDS pull of gravity by pulling the box UPWARDS. However, he will need to be rooted or else he would just sink into the floor. So his feet will also push DOWN onto the ground. The ground will push back UP against him. Eventually, this will create LIFT and the box will move upwards against the pull of gravity and with the pull upwards of his arms and back and the push downwards of his legs.
Good drawings of this action will emphasis the energy being applied on these parts in these manners, emphasizing the downward push of his legs and the upward pull of his upper body, eventually moving the strong and sturdy crate.