Figure drawing. You start with thirty second poses and hurry to finish, jumping between parts of the body until, one day, you slow down and focus on one thing at a time without haste: suddenly thirty seconds feels like a minute and the thirty second poses become better. You continue into one minute poses, and because you have improved thirty seconds the one minute poses are better too. But as you continue to draw them, you begin to sink into complacency and the problematic hastiness' successor is slowness.

Five minute poses improve after some struggle as the longer time brings a new challenge–and wariness–with it. Then the ten minute pose collapse as you become sloppy, ambitious and presume it will work out because the five minute ones limped along.

Along the way you sink into that drawing trance that makes thoughts clear, and a somewhat not unfocused mind means the majority of thoughts (even if that's sometimes skimming it at 51%) are related to drawing. Extended concentration, perhaps the key to effective trance.

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I think the thirty second poses today were much improved and the rest unremarkably, ordinarily bad. The first five minute pose was split into two two and a half minute poses because the first attempt felt wrong in the proportions. The ten minute speaks for itself quite strongly.

Proportions are strange. One day you think you've got them and the next they range all over and make a real mess. To me, this suggests a deeper understanding of the subject is required.

I've found drawing the shoulders as a rectangle and the ribcage as a box helps a lot. Good shoulder placement and proportion is difficult, and addressing it right off like so is easier.

30 second

1 and 5 minute

5 minute

10 minute

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In life, I suspect mistakes compound. A minor lapse now may in ten years grow into a fissure, and small compromises reveal themselves further down the line as courses in life. To live greatly, one might need be unyielding and uncompromising in all things that matter, that have that sensation of heart.