In this video, both tangible and conceptual aspects of gesture drawing are presented through a series of demonstrations, exercises and critical examples. Not only does gesture drawing provide the essential basis for the development of the nude body in works of art; but it also disciplines the eye, hand and mind to capture that elusive life-like essence of humanity. Ellen Soderquist is a recent addition to LOA Productions starting this video on Gesture Drawing. She has been teaching gesture as well as other graphite based techniques for 19 years, including courses taught at Brookhaven College in Dallas, Texas and private classes in her studio near Coit and Belt Line, Texas. In this video, she teaches by demonstrating with a live model and then letting her students apply their hand at various exercises. Ellen then follows up with critique of their work so that every level of artist will see themselves somewhere among her students. Ellen Soderquist has exhibited her drawings of the figure and taught life drawing since 1979. As an artist, Soderquist creates intelligent and sensuous pencil drawings of the human body. As a teacher, she advocates that her students not only learn the techniques of life drawing but that they also understand the history of the nude as an art form, and that they communicate their ideas about humanity through their work. As a lecturer and an author she delves into the past to bring the complex relevance of the unlothed human body to the consciousness of contemporary culture.