here's a progress shot. Don't really feel like I want to work on it anymore- feeling a bit burnt out on it- although I am excited how it's going.
Probably work on it again in a couple of days time.
When drawing the figure i usually use straight lines that are slightly bent, so as to find the quickest route from point A to B, and so if it's wrong I can erase it easily, whereas if I drew every subtle undulation I would get too precious. It's really hard to get proportions, but it's crucial.
I usually add the variations in the outline at the very end. This is important because sometimes the halftone shapes inside the outline can give the illusion that its curving a lot- a lot of masterworks generallly can have a very simple outline but incredibly intricate shadow/halftone shapes inside the form, which give the illusion of it being quite curvy and undulated.