All right, so digi-painting is still on hold. I'm reviewing a bunch of drawing fundamentals first, before I let myself paint.
I'm starting with Michael Hampton's figure drawing book, which I went through 3+ years ago. I think my gestures are okayish, but could definitely be better, in three areas:
1) Proportion and direction/orientation: aka, am I pointing limbs etc in the right direction?
2) Line quality and accuracy: the marks I make, especially when under the gun, e.g. during a gesture, are rarely what I envision in my head. Angles are wrong, line lengths are wrong, curves are wonky. Ghosting lines doesn't seem to help much. I tend to make a mess and draw over lines many times (on paper) or undo (digitally).
3) Sense of volume and perspective: I understand the concept of wrapping lines. For some reason, they don't seem to help my gestures much. Maybe it's got something to do with point #2.
If anyone can give me pointers on any of the above, me love you long time.
Anyway, some digital stuff. See what I mean re: the above three points? 2-min gestures:
And some constructions: