Great efforts! Thanks for providing a range of drawings - it helped to see the variation in your lines of action and how some of your pieces benefitted from a stronger line than others. Notably, Gesture3 and Gestures5 were very stiff drawings; and even where you had a great line of action (like in Gestures4 and Gestures6), the secondary limbs didn't flow as well.
I also agree with your observation that you use too many lines when you draw. I'd encourage you to work at this, because the short "scratchy" lines not only reduce line quality, but also add to the stiffness of the figure.
I'd recommend two things:
- Exaggerate lines of action and draw a secondary line of action whenever possible. If your initial drawing looks like a flowy stick figure, you should have a good skeleton on top of which to build forms. Recognizing that some of the poses on this site can be pretty stiff, it can be useful to mentally contort the pose for your drawing. This'll help you develop a habit of going more dynamic, which should make your drawings more interesting.
- If you have difficulty focusing as the session goes on, I'd focus very tightly on getting the torso section right, which should at least help you put all the limbs and head in proper perspective and orientation. Many teachers have their own methods, but a simple exercise I'd recommend is "The Bean"
. If you do nothing more than create a bean and build simple cylindrical limbs off of that, you should be set to add more detail as your interest and focus merits throughout the session.
