What Is & Isn't A Fundamental.

[OtherMuzz]

EDIT:

missed your edit

What do you think of this approach?
->Loose drawing->Lay in gesture(Connections/Releationships) on top of the loose drawing->Add construction->Add anatomy

I think it's fine, but i'd just suggest a modification, do the loose drawing as a separate image from the construction blockin. So sketch, find the idea, then on a new page, put some perspective guides down for the ground, and build that pose you sketched.

But i still stand by what i said below. Use your judgment, and try out these things, don't just take my word for it.

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Man I really applaud you for giving this a shot!

Abnormal is totally correct with that example, also, krenz is probably the best popular example I can think of right now, he uses dead simple techniques to amazing effect, all of his studies are really what you want to be getting to.

So here is what I would personally suggest, I'm not at all saying these are 100% mega sure they are the best, they are just my best shot at the moment. There are two skills you need to develop, copying and freehand sketching in a 3d scene, and when they are both ready you need to "bridge" them and start doing them together in the same image.

These two categories for exersize both have a very important theme. You are able to check your working at any point and hold your self accountable for quality, in a way where other exersizes don't have such easy checking mechanisms.

img source: Krenz


The first is the form exersizes, provided that you can do cube construction with a ruler with vanishing points; Start off drawing a ground plane, and maybe a box using vanishing points and a ruler, and then you want to attempt to place some objects into the scene freehand.

Start with boxes, then start to turn up the complexity. You can draw little robots made out of cylinders and cubes, and keep turning up the complexity towards a human as soon as you find yourself thinking that it's getting easier. Have fun with it, and really play with the idea of designing things in a 3d space.

If you are having difficulty at any point, you can always grab out the ruler and make sure that things line up, but you really want to be drawing in a situation where you can easily check for errors and correct yourself, because eventually you'll be moving onto drawings where you can't do this checking.



You should also be attempting Loomis Flat diagrams, as a way to learn how to measure proportion within perspective. These are page 30 of figure drawing for all it's worth.


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The second is learn how to copy accurately, just with line for now, and just straight up, 2d copying. This will train you to analyse the world around you with a much sharper eye, and will make your memory and drawing in general a lot more precise and confidence.

There are difficulty levels, and don't feel like you need to start at the very beginning if you can already do some of the easier versions, but always keep in mind that if you are having too hard a time, move down a difficulty level and try it again.

1. grid photo copying dense grid (like 10x10)
   
2. grid photo copying Sparse grid (like 3x3)
   
3. Photo copy, traced landmarks (make some marks for form large forms to start from)
   
4. photo copy
   
5. copy from life
   

One of the key concepts is that you have to hold yourself accountable to quality. if you can't overlay your drawing over the photo, and have the lines match up, you aren't being accurate enough. This sounds ridiculous, but most people can learn this within a week or two of diligent effort.

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Once you have both of these things to a fairly confident level, after a week or two, what you want to start doing is doing photo and life copies, where using the 2d copying laying out the proportions and major forms, and then starting to lay in geometric forms, like boxes and cylinders. This is where you will start to make the mental bridge between construction and life.

If you follow this, I'm confident you'll have a very solid base to build on-top of, and these are actually the basis of my morning studies that i have been doing for the last month.