Hi @Andrea M. Nice work! I think you would appreciate reading this critque that I gave another student https://www.proko.com/profile/thosakwe/activity (first post). I attached a paintover where I applied what I wrote in that critique to one of your drawings. TIMING I like to keep the timer mark as a sharp deadline. It helps me move on, and avoid getting lost in detail. But sometimes I give a pose a 2nd attempt without a timer, to analyze it. Giving yourself time to analyze is not a bad thing, I think it's good, but in my experience I find the best ratio to be “a bunch of timed ones : one analyzed” rather than the opposite. I think you´ll learn faster with this approach: "Instead of doing high quality drawings until you can do them in two minutes, do two minute drawings until they reach a high quality." I hope this was helpful :) P.S. I like to share these practice tips with people taking the Figure Drawing Course. Hopefully they can be of some help to you too: "-SOME PRACTICE TIPS: How you practice is as important, or even more important than what you practice. Here are some things that helped me improve faster: STAN´S EXAMPLES For me it was invaluable to look at Stan´s example drawings, following this routine 1. Try to draw the pose myself before looking at Stan´s example 2. Look at Stan and copy his drawing 3. Try to draw like Stan did, without looking at his example I did this over and over, varying up with other poses I found on the internet, trying to bring with me the habits I learned from Stan. DELIBERATE PRACTICE Another thing that was important for me was to be on the look out for things to improve. Improving was simply a long chain of - Doing a mistake - Finding the mistake - Trying to not make the same mistake in the next drawing "

Hi @Petra Brandström, Nice drawings! "Hard to simplify the shapes" Yeah, simplifying is not easy. The Figure Drawing Course has helped me a lot with that. I once made an attempt to start the anatomy course several years ago, but struggled with some of the drawing aspects, like simplification. I suspected something was missing, so I went to the Figure Drawing Course first and it solved those problems for me. And to my surprise the figures felt quite accurate eventhough I didn´t know anatomy. It was like I had learned the pattern of the human body. I realized that rather than thinking of the figure drawing course being an obstacle in front of the anatomy course, it is more like the Anatomy 1 course. Strongly recommend it!

Hi @Warren Bonett, Nice work! I'll try to look for things to help you further: Some of these appear a little flat. I haven't seen the reference photos but I think showing more of the thickness of the eyelids would help with that. I also find it helpful to start my drawings by indicating the sphere of the eyeball. Wrapping the eyelids around it correctly, like the equator line on a globe can give more depth and being aware of the spherical form helps a lot in shading; the eye is basically shaded like a sphere. I attached some images from a critique I did to another student, Tobias Höglund, whom I gave similar advice. I hope this was helpful :)

Nice!

Hi @riham, Nice drawings! I'll try to look for things to help you further: The breast feel a little stiff to me. When studying anatomy I like to exaggerate the function of things. For example if I´m studying a muscle flexing, I try to emphasize it flexing to remind me of how the body works and to give the drawing more gesture. When it comes to breasts, try to show more of how gravity affects them. You can even exaggerate this, to improve your understanding of how the breast functions. What I try to avoid is the opposite, where the breasts are less affected by gravity, than in the photo. In drawing #3 the breasts are less affected by gravity than in the photo. You can think of the breasts as water balloons; the water gathering in the direction gravity is pulling. But they are still attached to the pecs, so they won´t be floating around. (note that thinking of breasts as waterballoons, might make them look unnatural. We´re exaggerating. it´s an analogy when practicing, that you can always move away from when you´re comfortable with the mechanics.) I hope this helps :)

Hi @Gabriel Banos-Valencia Nice drawings! I think there´s a lot of good stuff going on in these; they all have a nice flow going from head to toe, and the arms are expressive! I think you would really appreciate trying this challenge: - Draw a bunch of 30 sec gesture drawings using only 5 or fewer lines (CSI) + head. For me it was really interesting to see how few lines you need to capture the gesture. Being comfortable doing gesture studies with few lines has helped me see the big picture, which in turn has helped me add details in a way that helps the gesture more. I attached an image from my critique to another student, TobeO, as inspiration for the 5 lines (CSI) + head drawings. Note that I´m not drawing stick figures, but the flow passing through the forms I hope this was helpful :)

Hi @CHARLES DEIGHAN, nice work! I'll try to look for things to help you further: - One of the most important things to look for when drawing boxes is the convergence. The edges can be parallell but never diverging. Rather have them converge too much, then diverging - Looking down at a cylindrical object, a glass for example, the ellipse gets more and more open as you go down. - It is always helpful to draw through the forms, as if things where made out of glass. It helps you keep circular forms in check, avoiding sharp corners (see lesson video 07:57), and can also improve the structure of boxes. It wasn´t until recently that I started doing it seriously for boxes and I can already see great improvement. I hope this was helpful :)

Hi @Vincent Duncombe Looking great! Succesful overall, especially how you placed the circle on the side of the head! I´ve got nothing to critique, just a tip: When you get into tough angles it´s really helpful to draw the invisible side of the head too, especially when drawing the jaw. If you can Identify the circle on the other side of the head, you can find important construction points of the jaw by travelling along perspective lines. (I attached an image from a critique to another student). Drawing through can also improve the structure overall. I hope this helps :)

Looking good!

Nice gesture work! I would recommend trying to limit the amount of lines. Try to let the first line you put down be the one you use. This habit will in the long run save you time and reduce the amount of clean up work. If you haven´t watched this video, I strongly recommend it https://www.proko.com/course-lesson/how-to-hold-and-control-your-pencil/assignments I hope this helps :)

Hi @bryan hoe, really nice gesture drawings! My favorite is the one in the bottom right (standing figure crossed legs) because of the energetic flow going from head, through torso, into the hip and down through the legs. Nice! I'll try to look for things to help you further: ASYMMETRY When getting into 2 minute poses things are getting a little more complex. Instead of drawing the flow line passing through a leg, you´ll now be indicating both sides of a leg, using the contour to push the flow forward. When doing that you have to keep the main gesture, the flow passing through the leg in mind, since the contour should be designed to help it. Put simply, if the gesture is a c-curve, bend the contour lines to follow that c-curve. You could also think of the gesture as a stream of water that the contour should push forward from side to side. Beware of symmetry, since it can kill the flow I hope this helps :)

Hi @Marco Sordi, really nice studies! I'll try to look for things to improve on: - The triangular tendon of the lower portion at the scapula looks a little narrow to me, compared to Proko´s 3D model. I think it is because you're attaching it to the top plane of the spine of scapula. It should attach to the bottom edge, making it overlap the body of the scapula at the corner - I think you attached the top portion at the wrong spot on the skull. Both seem to be on the left side base I hope this helps :)

Hi @Winnie Chen, very succesful gesture drawings! I would recommend continuing with the bean! Whenever you feel like diving deeper into gesture drawing, Mike Mattesi has a 3 part series on Force Drawing that I think you´ll appreciate: https://www.proko.com/lesson/improving-line-quality-and-rhythm-force-series-part-1/discussions Keep up the good work :)

Hi @Yi Yu, I spent a lot of time looking through these, and they are really nice! Here are some things that might help: - I like to lightly indicate the It band, to make sure that the muscle fibers are going to the right spot. In your second image, first drawing, the gluteus maximus is a little small. I think this is because of how you placed the great trochanter and It band. - The fat of a butt hangs down past the muscle fiber. Eventhough the fat with it´s gluteal fold defines the boarder of the form, I like to lightly indicate the actual muscle as well, just to make sure that everythings going to right spot and to train my anatomy X-ray vision I hope this helps :)

Hi @Jeremy Carter, really nice studies! I had trouble with the insertion too :) It gets easier once you know the arm bones, and even easier when you know the arm muscles. I attached two images with some home made shortcuts. If I´m not mistaken the pec inserts at about the level of where the deltoid blends with the arm. Find where the deltoid blends; find the pec insertion - I would revisit image 4. Remember that in a lifted arms position everything is rotated; now the bottom edge of the clavicular portion appear highest instead of lowest. The clavicular portion in your tracing hasn´t rotated and is still in anatomical position - Your imagination drawing is well done! Just remember that the pec goes over the cylindrical form of the biceps I hope this helps :)

Hi @Shelvs Fleurima Nice drawings and good gesture! Especially the 5th & 6th image! I think you would appreciate some of the things I wrote in a critique for another student. https://www.proko.com/profile/jahsee/activity Scroll down 12 posts or so and you´ll find a comment of mine Let me know if you can´t find it! I hope this helps :)

Nice drawings! I actually like the rough effect in your 3rd image, but it feels a little blurry, maybe that´s what you meant? I think the drawing will appear more clear by varying up the edges, with harder edges and dark accents at the center of interest, but maybe it´s not possible with this paper... I hope this was helpful :)

Hi @Alexander Nice study! I think you succeeded well with the proportions! It would be nice if you add some dark halftones to soften transitions (in other words: giving more variation to the core shadow), if your goal is to create the illusion of form turning. I hope this was helpful :)

Nice! Very clean!

Hi @Văn Hiếu Võ, nice studies! They are well constructed! And the sacrum is looking much better now too :) -I don´t know what the reference looked like, but in many of these the ribcage as well as the distance from the 10th rib corner to the asis, seem a little long, - I believe the curve on the back should be a little more severe. The thoracic portion of the spine looks a little straight to me I hope this was helpful :)