Hi Uku! To get uniform light with lamps is super difficult. For that, photographers use diffusers, but you can try from a corner of a light painted room, and point the lamps to the walls, so your drawing will get reflected light. To correct some difficult gradient, you can use an aluminum film, the kind that is used for cooking, those can be used to reflect the reflected light.  Regarding your quick sketches, they are clear and clean, with good proportions and alive. So, I believe that you should try to use a less analytical mindset if you are interested in gesture practice. I mean, you are conveying a lot of information about the volume and anatomy. Most teachers do not consider gesture drawing what you are doing, though they have good gestures. Gesture is about using the fewer lines possible to convey the pose, so you can add details to it in the following stage. You are drawing the next stage and doing the gesture in your mind, which is an advanced skill. Did you try to do that with more complex poses? Probably in those situations, you will have difficulties seeing the gesture in your mind and you will have to find it on the page by using the fewer lines possibles, long CSI lines, and wrapping auxiliary lines (ellipses) to indicate the direction of the volumes. I have some examples in my profile, and a lot on my IG. (Sorry for my English!) All the best!

Hey there! Wonderful linework I love it :) I problem I noticed is that I feel like you squish or stretch the proportions of the figures a bit too much, and it makes them appear unnatural. To combat that I recommend using bounding boxes, use the negative shapes to find out how much space the figure actually takes, and then you can avoid making the body too thin or too wide. Also, I feel like your calves and feet are too small on most of the drawings, I think you should study it a bit more. I hope I could help. Keep up the good work! :)

Hey uku, the sketches look great. I particularly like the 3rd page filled with a few poses. Not much to say just keep up the good work

I got one of those ring lamps for video calls; they don't cost much, they have a clip that allows you to place them on the edge of the table, and they can be oriented so that they cast a fairly even light on the sheet.

These are great! Very structural, keep it up!

I think these are looking really nice. I love how constructive you’re thinking and the willingness to try the pose over and over. You’re approaching this really logically with the notes and implementing what you’re noticing, this will inevitably lead you to progress more and more. Working with gestures is very difficult, a lot of people simply hate them (but not everyone of course). I think it’s the fact that there is such a limited time and it won’t be perfect that people lose interest in even trying. But this is one of the reasons why it’s amazing in my opinion. It’s pretty obvious where something feels wrong when you only have a few minutes or less. Mistakes will tell you exactly what there is to fix. If you consistently go wide, then you need to consciously focus on fixing that. If the flow feels broken then more effort needs to be placed in that...etc. With such little time I think it’s safe to say we have to learn to be picky about what and where lines are placed. Also, if you’re feeling rushed remember - just because there may be only 30 seconds doesn’t mean we don’t pay attention. Take a few seconds before making any lines to see what you’re even looking at. The speed of getting into it will come more and more with practice. It’s all about the INTENT of what you’re doing, not about the fact that it’s quick. My mantra is something like “do more with less”. We still need to focus and think about what the best approach will be before marking anything. Avoid frantic scribbling. This is about focus. The more you practice the easier it is to find what you’re looking for. When you have such little time there will be some things that inevitably will be pushed aside, and depending on what you’re using the time for will also determine what is too much to accomplish. Also, there is never just one specific way to approach a gesture, explore other artists and try other approaches out.

They are good drawings, you master the construction of the figure quite well, your stroke is quite clean and your sketches very clear but, if I may, it seems to me that you prefer a bit too much the construction in spite of the gesture, your figures are hieratic, they seem sculpted in marble (I don't know if I can explain well what I mean, I don't have a greatfluency in English, forgive me) which is not a bad thing at all, they are strong, imposing, but since these studies are on gesture maybe you should focus a little more on dynamism and a little less on solidity.

These look really good. There is quite a bit of information in them like you said. Your exercise in attempting the same pose side by side and making notes is something I'd like to try out too.

Hi @Uku Kivisild . About the lighting, I am thinking that may be two lamps as a bigger source could be better... But Im not in that situation. About gesture: It is not about the information you get under less minutes, it is about how you aproach each different amount of time in order to take benefit of the practice; it is not to worn out trying to get all what you know and see. For example, in a 30 seconds you can't do too much. So you go for the general flow and may be some land marks to show more the pose in itself. But not more. However, it depends on what you can get in each different amount of time. Which vary on your level, if you get or not fast the visual information needed, which also depends on the pose, if it is hard to read or not. Just remember that "gesture" in not "anatomy". But a quick sketch can be used for everything. It is up on your goal of the practice. If you wants to use it for anatomy, take care of not try too hard to get the most quantity of information - do it calm, reading the figure without the stress of time going to stop. Just make it until wherever you get. It wil improve with time. Hope it helps you. Good luck and good practice! PS: Really nice your work. If you come from the anatomy course, gesture is more about abstraction of the form instead its concrete form as you read it. It is hard but just keep practicing both (separately). If you practice to much one you will see an strugle when going for the other. It needs time to get them

If you are feeling rushed, just increase the time. I still can’t get used to those 1 minute poses. I feel much more comfortable with 2 minutes, and my gestures drawings look unrushed and much better. You might get quicker as you improve, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t!