A few seals (or sea lions I'm not sure)!

This project was so fun! I've only done the first part of level 2 so far. Lately I've been trying to do more of my own projects and designs for characters. They aren't very good. So Im trying to improve on that by doing break downs of professional work, figure drawing on top of improving on the fundamentals. Im having a really hard time figuring out how much time to spend on exercises, especially break downs of professional work, figure drawing sessions, and then my own character designs and stories. Then the fundamentals aka this course. Im currently trying to figure out a schedule for myself, but Im finding it really hard to do when I have no rule of thumb for how long I should be spending on exercises and studies vs personal work. If anyone could share how they have managed to balance personal work and fundamentals, exercises etc, that would be great!

My second attempt at this project using a different reference. (I'm a leftie who is a fan of Vaush, but I can't help myself sometimes). I made his jaw too big and his scalp too small. A few other elements are a somewhat misaligned. I made my drawing too large laterally, so the rest of his body didn't fit the page. As frustrating as this project is, I'm finally starting to get it and I've found ways to make it work for me. The main unit of measurement is between the top of his tongue and the top edge his left lense. I subdivided this unit using halves and thirds. I color coded units and subunits to avoid confusion. I then used a second unit using the length of his mouth which is drawn in orange. Even if some units didn't align with an edge, I put it in anyway just as a way to give me more of a reference. Next time I'll try measuring with my ruler instead of my pencil.

I had fun with this, definitely a good exercise for the future. After a few tries (and watching the demos and critique) it began to click.

After Roberto De La Torre, but Before watching Proko Demo. Yeah, I could have used pencil, but there's nothing that makes me more uncomfortable than ink from a Tombow brush pen.

Some new attempts at practicing these concepts:

Line Hierarchy: 1. The Eye, 2. The Head, 3. The Mass/Weight — with Prismacolor Pencil.

Line: Light & Shadow with Fine Liners

I felt I needed some more practice with line wight. I apply line wight fine when I doing exercises to hone it, but after Im done with the exercise I don't think about it so it doesn't get into the drawing. I think some of it is that often I get lost in thought while I draw especially if Im working on my own project. It's kind of frustrating because I'll be working on a drawing and then I realize that something is off and most of the time its the lines or line quality. Can anyone relate?

Fun challenge!

Tried to organize line weight by depth. I wanted to make a little more gradual shift from dark to light, thick to thin than how I did.

Here is my second attempt, For the on the left the light is sitting on the ground underneath the rinos head. This was fun, it definitely doesn't come naturally to put lines that thick though.

I tried drawing Kookaburras again, Im way more satisfied with these! There are still some proportional and line quality issues that I have noted. I think the big problem for me is I'm unsure how to draw the feathers without putting in every single detail. I think this calls for some studies from artists who can successfully simplify feathers. :)

Here is my level 1 attempt at the shadow/light method (hierarchy method in previous post) both of which are before the demo. Would greatly appreciate feedback on both in case I should do them over.

This is my first try at this project, any thoughts?

Both Mickeys on the motorcycle I drew first as a warm up sketch. The lines are a bit lost in some places, but by the end I think they got better. The Minnie was from the "A Mickey Mouse cartoon" I thought the style of the show was cute, so I wanted to give it a go.

These are my drawings from the past 14 days, and here's what I've learned! 1. Creating a thumbnail with a simplified version of a drawing is an excellent initial step. It's incredibly useful for refining composition and ensuring more accurate proportions. 2. I need to remember to air-trace the line before placing the pen on the paper. 3. I noticed that hesitation and attempting overly ambitious strokes (like covering too much distance) result in shaky lines. 4. I still struggle with avoiding getting lost in the details, but that might just be my brain. 5. I realized that because I didn't focus on a specific skill to improve (whether it's line work, simplification, or composition), all these ended up only minimally touched. Apologies for forgetting to take photos of my references... I plan to continue drawing as frequently as possible, keeping these lessons in mind. 🌞

Sketching a still from "Ronja Rövardotter".

Here is one of the drawings I've done this week. This week, I've been doing structure drills with some friends. Next week, we'll be focusing on value drills.

Lately I've been drawing just for fun, This is my drawing of the day! the proportions are off, and I was trying to imply the fathers instead of stating them. I don't really like the way I went about it though. The longer I look at it the more I dislike it.