Qritique for 2h figure drawing, thankful for any pointers!

I have been doing these exersises for a while now, and would lake to get some feedback.
I am not sure what I should work on, although I know I still need a lot of improvement.
Am I getting the movement right? Are my proportions good enough? What about my line of action?

http://larissaschoeler.deviantart.com/art/Figure-sketch-582413590
http://larissaschoeler.deviantart.com/art/Figure-sketch-582413962
http://larissaschoeler.deviantart.com/art/Figure-sketch-582414311

(Feel free to check out the rest of my deviantart to give me some pointers)

I would be very thankful for any kind of critique or feedback :)

Hi Larissa,

I've just got back from your deviant site.
I like what you're doing and you certainly should keep up with the good work.
I especially like that you seem to be keeping a journal of some of the practicing work you are doing (e.g. the nose sketches).

What I would like to suggest is that you try a few more ways out to capture the basic gesture. I see you have been using the stick figure approach. You can spend a few days (weeks?) just fooling around with gestures, don't be too strict about the lines. Also attempt to capture more dimension in your gesture sketch. Have you seen the "bean" approach? I don't use it, or haven't yet, but I believe it is a very good way to teach yourself twiss, bends and turns of the figure.

Your figures are good, but very busy with lines. I have found the motto "Less is often more" very tempting and have worked conciously towards reducing my line number on sketches.
Do not attempt to fix a "wrong" line too often or at all, instead, attempt to counteract the effect of the line somewhere else in your sketch.

Anyway, that's my 10 cent's worth.
And as always: practice, practice, practice (even daily) (there are no short cuts)
You may have already been to my website already (I see I've had clicks from Norway over the holidays), if not, you can find the link in an older thread of mine.

Bye,
Stu

Hi Stu,

Thank you so much for your feedback!

I have also noticed that my lines get kind of overloaded, and sometimes a figure can turn out as one big mess of black lines. I have tried to work with it, but I seem to be forgetting it, and get back to old habits.
I have in fact never heard of the bean method, so I googled it, and I am definitely going to try that out!

Yes, I have in fact been on your site, and your sketches really inspired me to keep working, because it seemed as if you always found a little time to sketch, even if it's only on an envelope or something.

(Sorry for bad english skills, they are still developing..)

Again, thanks. I really appreciated your reply,

Larissa

Hello Larissa!

Stu gave some excellent tips there. :) I'm glad you're so inspired!

In regards to your lines problem, you may want to try switching to pencil. You're using a pen right now which doesn't give you much room for pressure sensitivity and controlling how dark the lines you draw are. I think that's contributing to the 'busy' feeling of your work, the amount of lines look about right. :) Pencil is my recommended medium for paper gestures because it's more dynamic with light and dark.

Good luck!