How to practice figure drawing

Practicing figure drawing is one of the best ways to improve your art. If you're enrolled in a local figure drawing class, that's awesome. If not, try using this free online figure drawing tool: artists.pixelovely.com/

It will show you a timed slideshow of images to draw. I usually set the timer to 60 seconds. Drawing quickly helps you get in a large quantity of work, strengthens your ability to draw poses, and keeps you from having too much emotional attachment to your drawings. Here's some tips for getting the most out of these quick poses:

1. Relax. No one is going to see these drawings, so it doesn't matter if they're bad. You can throw them all away if you want to. So don't get frustrated - what matters is that you're drawing!
2. Draw small. When drawing quick poses, I find that it helps to keep your drawings on the smaller side. I can usually fit about six figures on one page.
3. Don't worry about details. Your goal is to capture the overall balance and flow of the pose. Don't worry about the face, the fingers or the costume. Just draw an oval for the head.
4. Start with the head and shoulders, then move to the hips. Get the angles for those parts right, and it will help inform the rest of the figure.
5. Keep your eye moving all over the figure.  (This is the hardest part!) Don't get stuck looking at one part, trying to get it just right. If you struggle with this, try drawing with a ballpoint pen, so you can't go back and erase things. Also, don't lean in too close to the paper.  

Keep drawing!