Title pretty much sums up everything I have to say. Recently I have noticed that constructing bodies from forms is simply way too tedious, I have tried many different combinations and methods to ease up on myself for example using cylinders/boxes/etc.. and no matter what I do about it, it simply doesn't feel enjoyable anymore. I even tried line drawing but the drawing loses its structure due to that and it does not yield a good result, do any one of you have any way to combat this feeling boredom?

I just feel like constantly having to go through the same process over and over again to construct a body is simply too much to deal with, no matter how easy it is drawing the forms themselves it is still boring and I can't get my head around how to tackle this. I feel stiff when I try to construct things like a human figure and when I try to loosen up a bit more I lose all the accuracy that I had. This might very well be due to the fact that I just need more practice, but when boredom gets in the way I simply don't feel the drive I had to go through it because it feels like it isn't going to yield any results, any advice on sketching in a way that improvises on the fact that it is less tedious but still allows to maintain structure?

The way I see those construction drawings, in books like Michael Hampton's, is that they are to show you how to break things down and simplify in your mind. In the context of an actual drawing you would keep that construction in mind but not draw it all out. I mean it is very impractical to draw out all the forms like this for every drawing, also it would be "tedious and boring" like you are saying. Really the only time I think drawing the whole construction would come in handy is to check something that you think is off or to make sense of confusing situations. Maybe try to simplify the construction and loosen up a bit, draw small hints to the construction(e.g. cross contours, landmarks, etc.) over loose and gestural initial lines and shapes. Draw the bare minimum of what you need.

It is kind of difficult to describe but you might want to try and draw in "shapes" that in actuality represent the forms you want to portray. Kind of like the drawing exercise where you take random 2d shapes and make something 3d out of them. You could also try to forget about the construction for awhile and just do a few drawings without worrying about that stuff too much.

Well, if you repeat the same exercises over and over again, it's only a matter of time before it becomes boring. Ideally, you want to practice construction to the point where you don't have to think about it. You have it so ingrained in your mind that it's actually difficult to do it otherwise.

Here are some suggestions:

1.) Form exercises

I think doing basic form exercises like Aud suggested is a good way to ingrain it in your mind. Take simple shapes and constructing forms out of it with wire frames is one of achieving this. Take a look at these exercises : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHefdroQdDo & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk84EpHmZKQ

2.) Master studies

Another thing you can try doing is studies of other artists who are good at showing form without using construction as much. I think studying animators is a good idea because as an animator you constantly have to think in 3D moreso than other fields like illustration or concept art since you have to be able to draw that character from many different angles and still maintain size, proportion and overall consistency. Yoh Yoshinari is definitely a good place to start

3.) Mileage

It takes time, you just gotta be patient with yourself. Theory can only take you so far, the most important thing is mileage. If you feel bored allow yourself to take breaks and work on different stuff.

Thanks you two. I haven't thought about doing it this way since I thought the only way to draw something was to directly draw the forms themselves which was a bit too tedious of a task for me. Seems like it is going to work out somehow, I managed to do two decent sketches so far with this approach so I am going to explore some more with it and see how I can use it effectively.

@Moe I just have a question regarding master studies, since I am pretty new to this concept but I assume the purpose of the task it to simply replicate what the animators did, I am quite familiar with Yoh Yoshinari since I have watched the behind the scenes of Little Witch Academia and knew he was the art director there. How would you go about doing an effective master study? Like what are the rules for that exercise, is it simply replication?

Watch these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kfK46nruKM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-bRsajdcqw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pvZPpQxGQY


I don't think there are any "rules" to it. I think it depends on the person and different approaches work for different people. There are artists who do master copies through reproduction, other artists do it through mental observation and don't necessarily reproduce anything, other artists will reproduce the drawing and also write notes. My approach is, first I try to figure out what exactly I'm trying to learn. For example, If i'm trying to learn gesture from Yoh I'm not gonna bother reproducing the entire drawing exactly, rather I'm just gonna reproduce the elements that I want to learn. After doing some copies, I apply that to photo reference, to see if I can get similar results. It also shows what you internalized and what you haven't. And then lastly, I take the training wheels off and draw from imagination. Rinse and repeat.

Well thank you for clearing that up for me, I feel much better about this now.