Life drawing!

This was my first life drawing session since I have started university. I found the session really interesting and I already feel like I have learnt afew things that I need to bear in mind when drawing people.
During the session we carried out a number of tasks, they are as follows:

1. To capture the movement of the model as she moved around the room, I created a composition that included four drawings of the model each of them was looking at the model at a different angle e.g-front, back, side. I would focus on one of these drawings until the model moved and then I went to the next one, when she had gone around in a circle I would be back to making changes and adding to the first drawing. Each of these dawings slightly over lapped one another in order to try and highlight the fact that she had not long moved from her previous position. (We created two compositions like this-approx 10 mins each using charcoal).
2. In pairs- one person holding the top of the pen-the other on the end we had to draw the model together-this did prove hard to do as we didn't know what part of the model either of us wanted to draw so we found it alot easier talking to each other about what we were drawing and what we would draw next. (We used a red marker pen to create this image, the model stood still looking towards us).
3. (This was similar to the previous image) In your group of three- two hold the pen at either end, with the easel facing away from the model and the other person-describe what position the model is in. I was one of the people drawing the model and this was hard to do with someone else and with out being able to see the model made it even more difficult-we all had to communicate well together. It was funny to see what the end result turned out to be and to compare it to the actual model. We had done the poistioning of the arms the wrong way around-misunderstanding whether it was our or the models right and left arm. (We used a red marker pen to create this image, the model was facing forward).
4. Without taking the pen of the page (using a continuous line) draw the model- I liked the way these drawings turned out as when I was thinking about which way I would take the line next the paper absorbed some of the pen-this wasn't intentional but it created tone within the composition-making it a bit more interesting ( we created two compositions like this-approx 20 mins each, using a red marker pen- model was facing forward then to the side)
5. Draw the model-focusing on the scale/proportions. I found this difficult as I draw the model head quite detailed and then I realised that as I was drawing the rest of her body I realised that it wasn't quite in proportion. Next time I need to map out all of the models body parts-to create a guideline so that I don't make the mistake of creating a detail drawing starting from the top of her body to the end and then step back and realise actually its's not in proportion. I need to get all the measurements correct then add the detail last. (We created two using this method-using charcoal-one was with the model facing forward and the other with her sitting on a chair-elbows on knees-approx 15 mins each)
6. Draw the model lying down on a mattress-draw the mattress in proportion first then focus on her. I found this especially difficult-firstly I could get the angle of the mattress correct-I needed to use the method of the 2 pint perspective as this was a cubiod I was creating- I needed to make it look like it was receeding into the background (getting smaller as you looked into the distance). Also I learnt that it is really helpful to use your pencil to make measurements of the models body e.g distance between her shoulder and hip etc, then you can scale up (use a ratio) to put on the paper. When doing this you need to remember to use the same method/ratio for rest of the compositon, to stand in the same place and to stretch your arm the same distance when taking measurements. You can even do simple tests to check the positioning of the drawn parts of the models body on your paper by just thinking-well her nose should be in line with her knee, etc. (Our last composition was created using charcoal-approx 40 min long).

I learnt alot during this session and I want to go back to become more confident in drawing the human body. I aim to be able to create better paintings that include people!!