How do you slow down when drawing?

When I do figure studies, I feel like by the time I reach the 10 minute poses I get the figure down within 5 minutes or less and don't know what to do with the remaining time. I'd love to do the longer class modes but I feel like I'd quit by the 25 minute poses because I'm unsure what to focus on for most of the time. How do you guys work through these longer poses? Is your workflow/process different for a 30 minute pose compared to a 15 minute pose? How do you keep yourself aware of your entire piece instead of hyperfocusing and overworking on one limb or line or shape for too long?

Have had similar issues to you!

I'm not sure what your skill level or experience is currently, but you could either try to keep working on ten-minute poses (it might just be a matter of trial and error and coming to understand what 10 minutes "feels" like to you), or you could stick to shorter timers for now if your attention span isn't having it (I know mine doesn't always). You could also try doing poses without the timers at all, which might take off some of the pressure of trying to fill things in.

I've been exactly where you are with the issue of staying aware of an entire piece. What helped me was just to try to get all of my basics down "at the same time", and then refine them later. This site's tutorial is part of what helped me (starting with the two lines of action, one for the body and one for the arms), though I think I'd need more detail to offer better feedback. Would also recommend Michael Hampton's figure drawing book, which provides a good, simplified breakdown in a similar vein.

I try to stay slow even at the first poses, and work methodically through the figure. I vary the exact method from time to time, starting with a different construction for example, (mannequinization versus boxing are my 2 main methods currently), but once I decided the method, I try to stick to a more or less fixed order of what I measure and draw on all the poses. Like, find the jugular, find the solar plexus, connect them, find the lower bound of the ribcage, etcetera...

Deciding the method before I even start the class helps me to prevent hyperfocusing and overworking details early on. I will sometimes use early landmarks to help getting the proportions of the longer lines to match, but the details have their spot on the priority list, after their frame is already firmly established. It's a bit a question of trusting the process. Yes, that particular shadow has a very nice shape, but that shape will still be there, when I am done with construction, and it will be even easier to precisely match it.

My idea is to not hurry the shorties at all, and try to always draw as slow and precise, as if I intended to start a long form drawing.

30 seconds, I am usually not finished with properly constructing the main masses, but 30 seconds for me aren't about finishing anything but warming up to look for the proper lines and indicate them.

1 minute, I have the masses constructed and a first indication of the limbs.

5 minutes I usually have outlines and details of face and hands, and start to look for the shadow edges.

10 minutes usually allow for most of the hatching and details, that almost make the drawing feel finished.

With the 25 minutes+, I must admit, I share your insecurities to some extent. I have done maybe a dozen or so by now, on a lot of days, when I feel, that I am having troubles to get even the 5 or 10 minutes look clean, I won't even bother trying, and rather restart another 30 minutes class. The trigger to go for the 1 hour class is when the 10 minutes look pristine, but still beg for additional detail.

When I do 25 minutes, I am a lot more picky with the reference. I won't spend that much effort on a reference that just feels meh to me, I will skip through references until I spot something that really grabs my attention. Then I will usually slow down even a bit more, like in taking more deliberate breaks to analyze the reference. Around 10 to 15 minutes in, I will usually be done with really every possible detail, and focus on rendering. 25 minutes are usually also enough time to include a background structure of some kind, to give the pose a semblance of being at an actual location, not hovering in mid-air on a white page.

I have finished so far a grande total of 2 (two) 35 minute poses. The decision to go for longer poses isn't 100% deliberate, it comes when I have a phase, when at the end of 10 minute poses I repeatedly discover, that the construction still is precise enough to allow for more detail. If I tried to start one right now, it would become a frustrating mess, and I would probably abort the attempt way before the timer runs out.

The 50 minutes and 1 hour+ stuff to me at the moment still feels like science fiction. I guess, at some time in the future I will be confident enough with the 25 and 35 minute poses to push on, but sadly I can't phone future me, and ask me, what to look for in those.

And, off course, all of the above is only true on a good, productive and focused day. A lot of days, I will end up changing the method with every whim and produce just a lot of messy pages. I guess, that is why some people call drawing a spiritual exercise, you get to learn a lot about yourself.

I don't know if I'm sure if I would and could answer this, but I can and will try......

There's lots of ways to slow yourself down, at least two of them, I think. One, is the quickest warmup method in the interactive drawing tutorial here. And second of all, it's a thing called Line, Speed, Beauty. It's basically from like a Taekwondo martial arts, but with anything you do, first you need to learn the edge, then you can get good at loosening yourself up, and then you need to make it rawest. It's the expertise you want and need to achieve in order to make your sketches simplest. Thanks so much.