Vincent van Gogh self-portrait on the far right. My renditions are the two on the left. In doing the thumbnail sketches, I could start to understand how quickly he was working and how confidently because this was a subject he had drawn many times aside from being a master artist. He was emphasizing the eyes and the shape of his nose and his beard. The middle drawing I call Vincent number four. I wasn't crazy about it. It took too long and I was being too cautious and deliberate and I wasn't holding the conte pencil right. I was using a pen grip, not an overhand grip. So I took a piece of tracing paper. And put it over Vincent number four to do Vincent number 5 which is the one on the far left.The tracing paper thing is something I learned when I had a few classes years ago with Jeff Watts atelier. I changed my grip on the Conti pencil and just went after it. I don't know if it's any better than Vincent number four, . But I felt a lot better about it. I still can't get the eyes right. This is the very first time I've ever done something like this. I may have to go do more of it

I this is before the demo. Usually I do a couple of versions, before and after but this is before so I'm going to watch the demo and see and then do an after.

This is after watching the demo period it helps me a lot to see what Stan is doing. I get a lot more clarity out of it. I do attempt the drawing on my own but then I want to go in and make what we'll call a course correction. The VR girl will come later. That was really interesting because I never thought in the entire course of my life that I would be drawing a figure like that ever

After demo much less neurotic . Also used more of the paper and more arm. Not getting involved in detail is hard.

I kmow these boots. They were part of a line and wash project on another course. I will try not to hate them

Good for you. I've been messing around with this stuff since the summer of 2002. But I keep having at it. You can never give up