Learning Gesture Drawing

I'm slowly learning what I can from Figure Drawing: Design and Invention by Michael Hampton. The first section starts you off with the basics of gesture drawing, or using minimal lines to express the "motion" or "energy" of the human form. Although some people appreciate gesture drawings for their own sake, I'm learning that this exercise isn't really about creating a finished drawing. Mostly it helps you understand how the body moves, and how to draw in a way that's expressive and full of life.

For the most part I'm doing my gesture drawings on throw-away scrap paper. Although I'm struggling with how it's supposed to work (my efforts are mostly coming out looking like vaguely people-shaped balls of lint), it's already starting to change the way I look at art. A drawing of a person can be technically correct and beautifully detailed, but if the pose or attitude is stiff and unnatural, you can feel it.