Re #7, that is usually what I do, but my biggest weaknesses right now are drawing drastically foreshortened anatomy and clothing on people! So I'm trying to learn to do clothing on people when I have a limited number of available reference models. Usually modeling sessions you can pay to go to are with nudes, and nudes I have no problem with-- I'm great at those because I get lots of practice. But living alone, it's tough to get references for what clothes look like when people are wearing them!

Thanks for the advice on the tablet-- I will also do your drawing tomorrow!