First time getting started with figure drawing. Help, or ideas with improvement.

First of all, for a beginner you're doing a great job! Not a lot of people think to keep in outside details when figure drawing, and it's fantastic that you're already getting into the habit of doing so. It's also great to be using a variety of poses and figures early on.

It would probably help to focus on getting the gestures down before focusing on details. Putting the base down in fewer strokes, and then building on those, might help to get you more used to posing. It also could be useful to work less with boxy shapes and instead used curved lines, circles, etc. to keep your figures from coming across as stiff - you can always add the angles later on!

Beginning is always the hardest part to learning, especially when you don't actually have anyone to guide you along. It's awesome that you're committing to learning! Good luck!

Hmmm, I kinda think that you're really on the right beginning, eh, Starcursedmass? Nice range of movement and really solid foundation for a truer start.

My suggestion is that there's not enough clarity, and not enough simplicity in the strokes. Would you kindly free up your gestures and expression, with a 10 minute study of a figure drawing pose?

The reason is because, your body constructions will become the least stiffest, and the most solidest, fluidest, liveliest, and more importantly, energetic, in terms of the 2-legged construction and lines of action, and the lines of rhythm. For more details, be sure to look into this video.

There's always something for anyone on the Internet.

Good luck to you and your very first goal.

Good night,

Polyvios Animations

We all start somewhere. Don't let that get you down.
To start with: every single pose has whats known as a "line of action". Its the essence of the pose, where the entirety of the contours of the body's action originate from and follow. Finding that line when examining a picture or model helps tremendously when making your drawing because you've found the essense of the bodies posture.

The feel I get from you is that you are attempting to get those contours down in as few strokes as possible. This is an approach to figure drawing that will become available to you the more you do it, but at your present stage you are severely limiting your ability to practice freehanding. Figure drawings can range from neat to messy. Where you are you would do well to work fast and messy to allow your hand to develop muscle memory when capturing a pose. Too much concentration on the pose is, interestingly, not too great for learning purposes. Free yourself to be sloppy and make those mistakes, and tighten up as you go.

Start with examining Youtube videos on the subject and above all KEEP AT IT. Trust me, the number one thing that will ensure you get better is repetition. I would strongly recommend that you look around your immediate area for any sort of in person figure drawing seminars.