Figure Drawing: Measure Twice!

I grew up with my grandparents. My grandfather loved to make random things out of wood. He'd have a saying, "Measure Twice, cut once." I didn't realize it at the time, but that phrase goes so far beyond woodcutting.

My first figure drawing class was at my junior college. It instantly became my favorite class.  One of the reasons was my boisterous New York bred teacher. We would start out working in charcoal, then move on to pastels on toned paper. The purpose of this technique was to allow the paper "breathe" through.  Here is one of my drawings:

Model: David

Here, at San Jose State, figure drawing is the building block to everything! And much to my dismay, it is taught 120% differently than I originally learned. Yes, I learned about foreshortening and form on the body, but I was never properly taught the laws of proportion! It was always "draw what you see".  Here, it's almost like a mathematical process of the torso equals 2 heads, etc. I am happy that I am learning this but what a learning curve!  I must say tho, my figure drawings are looking alot better. Here is a picture from this semester with the same model from the above picture from my junior college:

My teacher at my other school would KILL me if he saw this drawing. He would point to a line on your drawing and say, "if that is a straight line on the figure, I'll buy you a house/car".  The proportions though are alright on this one. The calves and everything below it are a bit grande, but this is one of my first drawings learning this new style so I won't beat myself up to bad. But you know....measure twice....