Critique+ advice to improve my figure drawings

Hello all :) I have been practising figure drawing (30s - 5mins poses) for the past 2months. It would be a huge help, and I'd really appreciate if you could critique what I've done until now. What's lacking and what should I learn to improve my drawings? Thanks a lot in advance!

My drawings: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2LPv5z5LEzouhH6t6

You did a lot of figure drawing. They are good. You need to work on feet and hands for the figures. Line-of-Action has a whole section of feet & hands. Work on heads and faces. L-o-A also has a section of heads & faces. The ability is there, but you have to work on it. Practice makes better.

Nice work on the first 2 minute sketch, artsyrm, that's very greater.-Actually, you've done lots and lots of figure sketches, greater job too!!

If I was to give you something to improve on, then I would please make the gesture the stongest on that first 2 minute sketch, done in 60 seconds. The reason why is because, it'll make you lines more and more economical, while at the same time, your drawing will be less and less stiffer, and more and more dynamic, energetic and fluider. For more information, look up the Ben Caldwell books, Action! Cartooning, and Fantasy Cartooning. So, they'll help you improve the skill you could use for your storyboards and designs.

Hope it's been completely and absolutely accommodating.

Cheers.

P.S. Practice makes possible. And possible makes perfect.

Your lines are very smooth and clean, it really tells me what those figures are posing. I saw in some of your drawings you didn't plan the size so the head was cropped at the page. You can add more variety to your line quality and exagerate some of the poses to give a stronger sense of movement.

Line quality: thick vs. thin, light vs. heavy, dark vs. light, straight vs. curvy

It's a good start, keep working!

Here's a good example I find on pinterest

Hello artsyrm,

First of all, let me commend you on what appears to be consistent practice on your craft. Nothing is more important to your growth than that.

Now, as to your technique, I would suggest studying proportions. On a few of the drawings, I saw that the torso was not balanced to the lower parts of the body (legs were too short or the glutes were too thick, etc.). I know you are on a clock so it is challenging to think about these issues but balancing out the body parts will give your figures a more realistic appearance, assuming that is your desire. Bridgman's "Constructive Anatomy" could be helpful with this issue.

Continue to practice and your improvement is inevitable. I look forward to your future efforts.

Hello all, thanks a lot for your feedback and taking the time to go through my drawings! Also many thanks for the encouraging words, I will keep on practising consistently :) Some comments/questions:

@TxWilliep - I indeed struggle with drawing/ representing hands and feet, I will definitely work on that.

@Polyvios Animations - Thanks for the tip, I will check the book you've mentioned! Hopefully I start focussing on the gesture than the details with my longer drawings.

@PollyJ - really like the example, thanks :) I'm wondering how I can add more variety to my lines..

With a pencil I end up focussing on the details as I just unconsciously switch to the tripod grip. I'm currently using a woodless graphite stick to try and use an overhand grip but I'm not successful with that all the time. Any suggestions on this?

@leofelco816 - I'm yet to get hold of the Brigdman's book, thanks for the tip!

Yes, it is indeed challenging for me to think about proportions even when I'm doing the 5min poses. How does this become 'second nature'? Just by practice? Or are there any methods for this, like marking out some proportions at the start?

Hi,

I want to caveat my review to let you know that it's the first one I have ever done. I am pretty new to drawing but thought I would learn this part of it too. I think your proportions are good; none of your figures appear odd. I also like that you have made some good action out of a few of your poses. It's hard to get figures down in such a short amount of time, I struggle with it, but do you believe you could add more details to the hands and feet?

I hope that assists some,

Kevin

hey, artsyrm. i like your drawings, the lines are fluid and confident, and the poses look good and readable. great job there. i also like your hands, they're very hard to get right and yours are proportional and readable.

however, they do look kind of flat -- not necessarily a bad thing, that can be used to great effect, but i'm not sure that's what you were going for.

there's something called construction -- you might try applying that. ie, thing about the masses of the ribcage, hips, etc and place them before you go for the contour -- or outline -- of the figure. andrew loomis was a bit of a racist (he drew in the 1950s, lol, sorry to bring politics into this), but he has some very good books on construction. fun with a pencil is for absolute beginners, so you may feel bored doing those exercises, but it may help you start constructing forms in 3d. his books are online as pdfs, you can access them for free.

when skin overlaps skin, there's a very signature y shape that usually comes -- study your references and try to look for those y shapes where arms meet the torso, or lower legs to upper leg, neck to jaw, etc.

overall you've got a great start, the figures are appealing, readable, and well-done -- just a bit flat. keep up the good work.

It looks really great practise! But indeed, u need to understand harder perspections as well. Also, when u r drawing, dont make ur lines so smooth or thin. Make them darker, vawier and dont feel aftraid to draw in sketchy style!

Hi Artysm,
Looks like you've been putting in some regular hours. I think all of the figures read quite clearly overall which is a good sign. The one thing that stands out to me is the dominant curved or ovoid nature of all of the figures. which misses out on some of the dynamism combinations of curves and straights. I would look at some of the figure drawings by Charles Bargue or even some sketched portraits by Ingres, as well as some of Michelangelo's figures. All of these draftsmen show examples of how we can include flowing curves alongside harder straight lines to have a more dynamic figure.
keep it up and enjoy the process.

Hey! First of all, these look quite good! I think you did a great job at capturing shapes and smoothness, specially in femenine figures. However, I believe these lack a bit of volume and tend to look a bit stiff. I think you would need to focus a bit more on breaking the joints and pushing the poses a bit far-away. Also, try contrasting your rounded volumen with bit more straight lines, in order to achieve strength and force being made.

Keep it up!

These are extremely good! A few things I would do to make it even better is to add more details (more specific wrinkles, a face, etc..), and also shading (even a little bit) can improve your art a lot! besides that, it's really good! keep it up :)