>>7616372
fuck i wanted to see if i have old figure sketches of mine that i can show you so you can see me struggling in the same way as you are... but sifting through many layers deep old art folders i gave myself an emotional gut-punch of seeing art of a long gone time ;_;

instead you get another bird

>tried like 5-10 mins on each form which is far longer than necessary
as long as you were drawing with focus you can assume that every minute of those were contributing to your improvement

>I guess I need to study proportion and maybe perspective before attempting this because as soon as I get below the ribcage I’m completely lost
yes and no. yes you do need to get a better grasp on proportions and yes you will benefit from understanding / intuiting perspective better... but how do you think you would be training those? the most effective way is exactly this: figure drawing and struggling
you are struggling well! this is what, your first page of figures? or the tenth? when you have a hundred, then you are "allowed" to doubt whether you need to study something else first... and chances are by that time, you will have come to see figure drawing as one of the most intense methods of studying those subjects

those problems you mentioned which you cannot solve during figure drawing, is what you will gradually find answers to by keeping drawing. you will experiment, get lucky, recognize patterns, and find the solutions to those problems. i would carefully advise against following another artists method / shortcuts / landmarks too closely. you run the risk of boxing yourself in a rigid thinking that is not your own and reduce your struggle in the short term (following step-by-step guides to make better drawings) but create a long term, low level discomfort because the steps you follow are not fitting you
[cont]