Critique on my figure drawings

Hello, I’m new to this website and this is my first time posting.

I just started deliberately practicing and study on a daily basis to get more flow and dynamic into my drawings. I wanna make sure I’m going in the right direction and actually improve? So here are some figure drawings I would love some feedback on.

What I noticed is I always try to “feel” the pose and focus on the line of action, but the moment I start drawing I seem to get overwhelmed by details and find it hard to keep the body as a whole in mind…

Also I get bigger the further I get and end up with a tiny head on massive legs :D

Do you have any feedback or tips? Anything else I haven’t noticed yet?

Thanks a lot!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1juMegyYxayJnoLxVQv9gpbcddeViAzBt?usp=sharing

Hi Layan!

I took a look at your drawings and I think they're already very good! But I kind of get what you mean about getting overwhelmed with the details.
I think maybe if you try drawing poses for only like, 30 seconds or a minute a time it'll help you focus on what you need to do quickly and train you to kind of get the whole feel down before the time's up. That's what I've started doing and I think it helps a lot!

Hello there, Layan,

Nice and excellent display of promise, you've got here on your Google. However, if I was to give you one piece of advice or two, it would, and could; be to do 2 interative drawing tutorials on the website. The reason why you could do these is, as a result, it would and could, give your gesture movements in sketching more remotely cartoony and expressive. Good luck to you, and I hope you've found this completely and totally helpful and encouraging.

Hi Layan,

These are looking good. For the proportion problem, I recommend drawing a box (or boxy shape) that defines the entire height and width of the subject. You can divide it at major points, like where the waist falls, but then try to keep your drawing within that box. It does take practice, but it gets you thinking about the proportion early on in the drawing.

As for not getting caught up in details too soon, well, that just takes mental discipline. In my opinion, this kind of sketching practice can also act as meditation to exercise mental and emotional discipline. When you notice yourself getting too caught up on a detail, just say "not yet" to yourself and refocus on the whole.

Both of these things get easier with practice, but it looks like you are on a good path!

Cheers!

Thank you all so much for your feedback and tips!

@Salma66 Setting myself a shorter timer makes me think I get nervous and even more overwhelmed but I'll definitely try it and see if it helps me focus as well. I guess a lot is training as you said and leaving the comfort zone.

@Polyvios Animations Are there any specific tutorial you would recommend? I know Proko on YouTube though I haven’t watched their videos in a while… Cartoony and expressive is exactly want I want to achieve.

@Ai Neander That’s a great idea, I’ll definitely try that. Yeah, sometimes I listen to meditation music when I practice and after a few minutes it really becomes a calming and meditating state. It’s also much more fun that way. But it’s a really good advice to constantly check my awareness and keep assessing the drawing as a whole :)

@Layan Thanks for your response, Layan, but don't you mean two of these tutorials please?

The reason is because, it would and could help out on making more cartoony, expressive, and exaggerated sketches. Hat's off to you, and I hope you'll find these completely and totally encouraging!