Hey AndyDB, nice job on those figures. You got those action lines and cylinders pretty neatly! As critique I would say: try to focus less on the contour of the figure. Focus instead of simplifying the forms to simple basic shapes (cylinders, boxes, ovals, with various proportions) and construct a figure with those using the action lines as a guide. As to the 'stiffness' you mention, that could be related to not using enough gesture in the limbs. Use flowly curves rather than straights for those limbs. When you construct your body parts on top of that, the figure will naturally 'stiffen' out a bit anyway. By having a tad more curvy gesture lines you can compensate for that to avoid overly stiff characters. Anyway keep it up! Looking forward to seeing you progress.