Can I get some advice for figures?

I'm fairly new to drawing, I've only done little doodles and sketches from time to time in my notebooks but recently I wanted to take it further. So I decided that learning how to draw poses and figures would be good. The thing is when I select class mode for 1 hour it tells me to draw draw 10 poses in 30 seconds, I can't even finish one in 2 minutes. So how do I take this? Should I just stick with it and eventually I'll be able to sketch a pose in 30 seconds (I find that highly unlikely). Or should I go into standard mode and set the time to what I think would be best for me?(that would be around 10 minutes) The sketches I do look something like this ( http://www.willk.com/images/blog/q1s3pose_sketches.jpg ) except more human shaped.

Hi,

I had the same too. Maybe this wil help: Dont think too much about what u draw and just put the lines fast down, in what u see, so not construction. At first it will feel weird, and you might not be happy with the results. But in the long time you will be able to put down the lines faster and faster.

http://boulderdash12.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=scraps

These are 30 seconds drawings.

The best advice for working with 30 second poses is this: Capture the movement. Don't focus on any details, don't shade anything, and don't rush yourself. The drawings can be messy and that's perfectly fine. The drawings don't need to be perfect or anything close to it. Just try to capture the movement and with time you'll start to notice a big difference.

I personally have a sketch book just full of 30sec and 1 min drawings. Whenever I flip through it I immediately notice a steady improvement. A bit of practice everyday will help out big time in the long run.

The sketches in your link are good. You got the right idea.

I think people get caught up in needing to produce a "sketch" in each window of time, and to many a "sketch" is actually a semi-complete picture (although perhaps without color).

Almost no one can actually get a "complete" drawing done in 30 seconds. That's actually sort of the point -- by giving you such a short window of time, you are forced to make some incredibly strict decisions about priorities. It demands that you prevent yourself from getting sucked into the "interesting" or "fun" details that leap out at you when you look at an image and instead absorb and capture the direction and energy of the complete figure as quickly as possible.

If all you get in your 30 seconds is a single line that defines the flow of the energy/the weight of the pose, that is okay. That is a success. If you get a few "bubbles" down that define where the hips and torso are in relation to one another, that is also a success.

You do not need to have something that is recognizable to another person at the end of those 30 seconds. You DO need to try and make a clear decision about what you see in that pose AS A WHOLE, and make one or more marks on your paper that record that decision. These are not drawings you're going to put on the wall, these are exercises in perception that you do to "warm up" and put yourself in the right state of mind before you attempt those longer poses.

There is no mistake more common in newbie artists than to get stuck in the "details" trap, to leap immediately to what is "fun" or "interesting" or what they think will make them "better" in the eyes of others, diving into shading or spending minutes or hours painstakingly rendering a particularly pretty set of eyes or hands only to discover an hour later that that beautiful detail is out of proportion with the rest of the body, or at a bizarre angle that disrupts the flow of the pose, etc. etc. It takes a more seasoned eye to be able to resist working in detail and instead start with much more generality.

The 30 second warmups, and 1 second warmups, before the class mode takes you on to longer poses (where you are more likely to come up with more recognizable sketches), are there to try and make you approach those longer poses with the same eye for seeing the whole, for putting details in the context of a larger line and flow.

My advice if you are worried that your 30 second drawings don't look like anything: Stop worrying. Start putting a single line down that captures the direction of the spine. If you have time, bubble in the placement/angle of the hips, ribcage and head. If you have more time, add some lines for arms and legs. Don't have time? No problem. You're learning more than you realize.

Capture the line of action.. also the arc of the spine and the pelvis.. try to look at it as a whole.. and draw (long) lines without hesitation.. you wont get it in the first try, but consistent practice can do wonders!!