Overlapping shapes does get tricky with pencil and paper. I always found it easier to overlap with digital software since you can always keep it in separate layers

I found those poses very challenging to draw. Any feedback is welcomed! :)

This practice is very useful, especially when I starting to understand where the position of the ribcage and the spine locate, putting a box over it become more visible to me.

Hello again, it's been almost a year since I've done this, but I wanted to return to these lessons as I've been quite inconsistent with my studies. I'm going to try and be committed to learning these practices. Hopefully I can make some good progress before the physical copy of your book gets released.

Here are the drawings from this lesson. Starting from the gesture, then building up the figures by using shapes has been so helpful in my practice so far. The steps in the whole process make it less overwhelming. Developing my anatomy will only become easier over time, the more I try this method.

Notes from the lesson. This was tough but the clavicle/shoulder perspective was insightful. I definitely need more practice with foreshortening as the Loomis books I've studied weren't quite enough.

Finally got some time and focus to complete this, drawing along, and here are the results. Near the end of the last construction, SMH talks about starting anatomy too early without a solid foundation of construction. MAN OH MAN DO I RELATE! I have some examples of single drawings that'd take me hours to complete because I lacked solid construction below and that's on me. I RUSHED to the Anatomy due to time pressure I placed on myself, given my personal situation and it always takes longer. As I move forward and practice this, I think it will be so much easier to add the anatomy and drapery to this rather than spend all my energy and interest in a drawing on just getting it to look convincing.

Here are my scratchy versions. Will work on more elegant lines.

Here are my own versions of the poses on the video.

Some timed studies.

Slow yet steady progress.

oh cool! A lot of the questions I had in the previous few classes have been answered in this video, like the straight masses vs curved ones, or that thing I was asking in my previous comment about the width of the extremities. I’m digging using this process, but I feel I am struggling to “see” the landmarks when they’re not pointed out… like in the practices I’ve been doing separately I’m not sure if I’m seeing the correct placement of things like the scapula or if it’s a cheeky muscle I don’t know about peaking through haha gotta practice more and start supplementing with some anatomy studies haha

Kept myself busy. I'm not used to start live drawing this way - I can see that the gestures are far too weak (in image 2) - but I'm starting to see the simple forms better, so for now I'm happy with some progress.

My notes. One thing you mentioned in the lesson was that you don't like to curve your forms. I agree. I try to make my boxes boxes and cylinders cylinders. If one doesn't understand the simple forms, adding complexity won't make a drawing better. I used to attend figure drawing sessions locally at an art studio. One of the fellow artists that attended was a doctor by profession. He knew anatomy backwards and forwards. What he didn't know was how to represent three dimensional space via boxes and cylinders, and it showed in his drawings. I think one of the most misdiagnosed drawing problems is that when artists can't draw they figure, they think they have an anatomy problem, when more often than not, they really have a form problem. If form were easy, every doctor would be amazing at drawing the figure.

Since you talked about shape based gestures here, Id like to ask you a thing. I apologize beforehand If you feel Im derailing from the context of your lessons. Your basic recipes for gesture have been a blessing for me, using the movement of the spine to build the torso and the relative positions of the 3 large masses , head, ribcage and pelvis. But since Ive been doing it ad nauseum Ive began to compare the looks of my gestures against yours for example, and even if it aesthetics is not the goal of a study, I still came to dislike mine. So I began to drift to some gestural approach that incorporates some shapes and anatomical information, in order to attempt to produce some aesthetic value to my drawings and obtain some pleasure from the task itself, like the ones attached. Do you think those are in anyway detrimental to the process of learning the figure? Again, my apologies for bringing this topic if its unrelated to your course. Thank you for your dedication to teaching.