It Begins with a Gesture - original charcoal figurative gesture drawing on toned paper

Well, at least for me, it always starts with a gesture.  I think gesture drawings are almost as individual as fingerprints and I love seeing how other artists approach their drawings and often, ultimately, their paintings.
Some artists draw from the inside of the figure (or subject) and sort of "feel" their way to the outside of the figure, but others do the exact opposite, working from the outside in.  I have even seen a few artists who put down a single line with few or no 'searching' ones.  Whatever works for the artist is the perfect approach to drawing gestures!
Those starting lines can be so beautiful and I think it's important not to erase the lines with which the drawing is begun - those 'exploring' lines give a bit of life to the drawing.   When I forget that, and  erase a line I think isn't working, I'll often accidentally put it back in the same place, and then it can be too dark and the paper may be roughed up, so I usually try to keep the eraser far from my reach! 
Gestures are such a stream-of-consciousness endeavor.   Some days I think I will just do gesture drawings only from now on - and yesterday was one of those days.  Great things can come from gestures, but even if nothing fantastic develops, we still have an interesting record of what we were seeing at that moment in time!
This drawing is done on Strathmore 8 x 6" toned Mixed Media paper.  Thanks so much for looking!