Joseph's shiny new sketchbook

[JosephCow]

Hey Joseph, I'm loving your figure studies too - nice work!

Just my two pence worth on constructing vs drawing from observation (please ignore as you see fit) - in my own journey I have considered this and come to the conclusion that if I want to draw stuff from my imagination, it is better to practice constructing - but if I want to just draw from observation then I can just carefully place my marks and not worry so much about construction.  I will caveat this with the statement that I believe it is better to know how a thing is constructed even if we don't actually do the construction work.

For me I want to draw figures from my imagination so I have a heavy construction bias in my approach - I will start with a stick figure to get my proportions right and then construct boxes and cylinders and then overlay these with more organic forms.

Hope this helps but if not please ignore - either way - good luck with your journey :).

 Yeah it does help I think. The observation way, which is how we draw almost exclusively at my school, also considers the form and structure,  but it kind of approaches it from the opposite direction. Like you first consider the 2D space the figure occupies, and then hone in on the form as you refine it optically. Whereas the constructive method kind of makes a form first, by using a simple structure, and then approaches the correct outline by refining that form, making it more organic. 
I want to be better at the construction method as it's better for imaginative work. But I'm still working through kind of balancing the two ideas.