In my first sketch, I mostly measured with my pencil and using relationships between areas of the face, which is the technique I've always used and I think it works well for me. But I still made errors, so I need to spend some more time incorporating other methods. In my first sketch I could immediately tell that the face was too 'squished' (always a problem for me, I wonder if it's because I have my sketchbook flat on the desk, which can alter how the proportions look from my perspective). When I checked the proportions in Krita I could also see the forehead was too short, eyes and eyebrows too low, and the nose too small, among other inaccuracies. I attempted to fix the proportions and I'm happier with how the updated sketch turned out.

Got a bit carried away, drawing Pandas c:

I was getting so frustrated with this exercise that I wanted to give up, but I'm glad I didn't! I actually like how the character turned out in the end. I wanted something challenging so I went with a kangaroo/wallaby, I found their odd proportions so difficult to capture. I started off with a couple of sketches copying from photos then a few from imagination, and I thought about how big the wallaby's feet are compared to its body, so I decided to make him into a sad clown type character. Overall this was a helpful exercise because I struggle hugely with drawing from imagination. Creating this clown wallaby instantly took me back to when I was a kid and I used to create animal characters from scratch all the time.

My boots before and after watching the demo. The coloured pencil version is the after. I planned properly this time and gave myself enough space to draw the boots without squishing them! Drawing the 'envelope' helped a lot.

My attempts at the four projects. These were all before watching the demo. I might try them again after watching. I found the boots the most difficult because of those laces! I did find this technique really helpful though, it made me slow down (I'm too used to sketches needing to be 'quick') and it made the challenge of taking on complicated references actually quite simple.

Before and after following Stan's demo. I was much more intentional with strokes and measurements the second time around, and spent properly 30-45 minutes more than I did on the first. I can see an improvement in proportions, plane/value separations and neatness. When I draw faces I notice I tend to 'squash' the proportions a lot (the face gets wider and shorter), so I actively tried not to do that here, but comparing my second portrait to Stan's I think I still ended up squishing him a bit! Lol. I also need to get more pencils, I only have a B and a 4B for now.