Should I be here if I have no training or do I need to come back?

Just started drawing 2 weeks ago. No joke! 40 years old. Always trying to challenge myself. I'm currently using a book by Mark Kistler and some YouTube videos. One of my goals is to be able to draw figures in dynamic poses. Since none of my lesson have gotten to figure drawing, are there any examples of a 30 second sketch? My attempts so far are rather horrid...

Don't lose your confidence! Age doesn't matter, as long as you try your best to improve! Also, yes you should stay here! This is a great resource for learning basic anatomy and proportions. 30 seconds is a very short time frame, you shouldn't expect to be able to make anything beautiful that fast. Mine are often missing parts because I forget the Line of action and then get stressed about putting it in and making it look correct. I tried to put in pictures but the website kept asking for a URL and I couldn't figure out how to make that work so I gave up for now :/ Sorry...

Some other youtube artists with tutorials and art stuff that I like include Biana Bova, H.C. Brown, and Mark Crilley.

I hope this helps you, and I believe that you can become a great artist! がんばって！

30 second sketches are just meant to catch the essence of the pose, they aren't generally pretty, although, they can be in their own way.

Also I agree with Kuraokami, age doesn't matter. ;)

This site has examples of 30 second sketches and some longer ones towards the end, maybe 3-5 mins?

http://startstudioarts.si.edu/2010/07/tips-and-techniques-30second-figure-sketches.html

ckarsanac, first of all, I want to command you for doing something at 40.

Secondly, 30 seconds figure sketches are more for capturing the movement more than being a full drawn figure. It will look stiff and horrid and you will want to erase it/throw it away, but i'd tell you not to.

If you want a good website to teach you from the start, I would suggest Draw a box or CTRL paint.

They are equally good to teach how to draw, in different ways.

The reason I am saying that is that yes, you can draw 100 figures and get a bit loose, but it may not ultimately give you all you need if for example you want to make a full blown illustration.

I would also recommend the Loomis books or the Scott Robertson books (which also have videos), figure drawing and head for loomis, matte painting videos from Scott Robertson.

It is mostly after you've gone through this that you can finally draw a full blown illustration. I won't tell you that doing gesture drawing is bad, but I will tell you to do it everyday. The more you draw, the better you are at it.

Stick to 30 seconds for 15 minutes if you can, then learn a bit more from the other links I gave you, do the exercises, and after a few days/weeks, you'll see something click.

You can then compare your old drawings to your new drawings and look how far you've gone :)

Never give up!