Sketching Croquis & Improving Sketching

I've been doing quick poses gesture drawing life sketches from Croquis Cafe the free online video classes on YouTube. (Thank you, Croquis cafe & all the supporters & funders!)

Since I've started doing them starting back in May this year, I've actually noticed an improvement with my linework in my own personal artwork.

Here's one of my Djehkäujaa sketches BEFORE I started doing croquis sketches:

Djehkaujaa Doodle May 001 by BlackUniGryphon on DeviantArt

Then, here's the same sketch I went back to and worked on a bit:

Djehkaujaa Rough Sketches 002 by BlackUniGryphon on DeviantArt

WIP Djehkaujaa Doodle 002 by BlackUniGryphon on DeviantArt

Djehkaujaa Sketches 003 by BlackUniGryphon on DeviantArt

Here's an Example of Some of the croquis I did:

1 Min Sketches:

2 Min Pose Sketches:

I'm still feeling frustrated with my skills. Back in 2001 and for several years after, i could actually draw a whole figure in forms & shapes in 30 seconds, and also draw live people and animals as they were moving.

I do, still, appreciate the kind words of encouragement people have given to me. But, I'm still unsatisfied. But, I have been improving. I often need to compete with my living room to use the easel to sketch from the Croquis Cafe YouTube class on my TV, because my spouse is also doing a lot of painting and sketching, and working on improving his portfolio.

But, You can see that by sticking to it, there's an improvement.

I want to enhance & improve my mental imagery ability to visualize the images & forms inside my mind like I used to have.

I don't sketch quite as much, nor as often, as I would like. There's been several things that came up like several: doctor's appointments, my daughter's birthday, going to the gym, going to University Orientation in Boston, going back to Boston multiple times to fix errors they caused.

I want to work more on developing my characters and work on my story, but I still need to improve my skills. SO, I'm headed in THAT direction.