How do YOU do Figure Drawings?

So in college I never learned how to do figure drawings (which is ridiculous for an art major), and recently I've been kicking myself in the but and doing figure drawings every day. I'm having trouble with it, so I would love some feedback.

Which technique works best for you? What techniques do people commonly use for figure drawings???

I've seen a lot of people start off with this technique that I'm doing quite commonly, and there's nothing wrong with just performing the basics first and moving your way up:

I start off figure drawings with an oval for the head and simple stick figure lines for the body, just to get an idea of how the pose will go for me.

Next, I end up using blocks and cylinders to help better define the proportions for my sketches.

From there, I just end up refining.

Remember, allow yourself to make mistakes.
It's part of a growing process to learning, and also allows yourself to become better not just as an artist, but as a person too. :)

I basically start off with a single, c-shaped line for the spine and motion. I find that if I build on such a line first, my drawings come out much more fluid and alive than if I were to draw shapes immediately.

Basically, I follow these articles:

https://line-of-action.com/gesture-basics-1-line-of-action/

https://line-of-action.com/gesture-basics-2-torso-and-hips/

https://line-of-action.com/gesture-basics-3-joints/

And I love doing that! :)

On the other hand I start with a detail and go on from there. Adding here, adding there, at last some shadows.

breaking down the body into basic shapes works great for me. That and treating the separate parts of the body as points to work on.