My lesson 1 submission. For a number of reasons, I wasn't able to pick up a pencil for 6 weeks. Amazed at how rusty I got. Did a quick gradient practice (at the top) to get back into the flow of things. Settled on 4H,2B and 6B for both sphere. Can't wait to see further instructions on blending between shades because I just can't seem to get it quiet right.

Sadly I had to put down the pencil for a few weeks, so this is definitely not my best work.

I hate 1-5 scales, especially undefined ones. So I took you scale and substituted my own :): 0-1: Little to no use: If there the techniques would not be noticed much by a casual viewer, only by some one studying the art in detail. 2-3: Enhances the perspective but is not essential: The technique is prominent and noticed by the viewer, and if removed it will decrease the appeal of the picture, but NOT confuse the viewer as to the perspective on the scene. 4-5: Essential to the perspective of the picture: This technique is essential for picture to establish the illusion of perspective in the pictured. Removing them would confuse the view as to what the expected perspective they think they are seeing. 01_All-Is-Dust-Art Diminution: 4-5 The rocks mountains in the for ground are bigger than a creature that is depicted as larger than buildings its next to in the background. Convergence: 2-3 The square based of the pyramids converge their (assumed) paralleled lines into a roughly 1 point perspective vanish point Foreshortening: 0-1 Not any long shapes (organic or otherwise) point towards the viewer. Overlap: 0-1 Some overlap in the foreground, but not the focus of the painting. Atmosphere: 2-3 Some atmosphere makes the building appear in haze behind must closer cloud of dust. 02_Battle Angel Alita-Last Diminution: 2-3 The feet are larger than the head, not essential to the perspective but does enhance it. Convergence: 2-3 The convergence of the legs into the 1 perspective background. Foreshortening: 4-5 The legs limbs and barrel all give the STRONG illusion of depth and are major contributor to the illusion of perspective. Overlap: 4-5 The feet overlapping the legs, barrels overlapping the chest are major functions go hand in hand with the foreshortening to bring depth to this piece. Atmosphere: 0-1 Did not notice any fading or darkening used at all. 03_Boros_Garrison Diminution: 4-5 Arch in the foreground is larger than the closer builds that is larger the the background builds that are inferred to be MUCH taller. Convergence: 4-5 Like all good cityscapes, the convergence of building lines to the vanishing point is a very strong indicator for perspective. Foreshortening 4-5 Building foreshorten is there and is tied at the hip with overlap and convergence. Overlap: 4-5 overlapping building OF course go hand in hand with other techniques to describe the cityscape's depth. Atmosphere: 2-3 Haze of background gives a lot of depth of the city scape. But of all the techniques you COULD lose this and still get the complete illusion of depth. 04_lordsoth Diminution: 4-5 The Riders in front are bigger than the rides in the back Convergence: 0-1 There are a lot of organic forms, so all the convergence would have to be imagined (and thus not a things view would seriously notice) Foreshortening 0-1 Not a lot of objects come straight at the viewer Overlap: 4-5 The entire host of riders overlap each other with the those closest to the view being in front. Atmosphere: 2-3 The haziness of the background is great about showing the distance of the background mountains, but those are not the focus of the piece. After looking at these 4, the only odd image out was the 03_Boros_Garrison. Since we are in essence viewing a bunch of 3D boxes in a way a lot of us would encounter in every day life, the techniques used to confer perspective have to be more numerous and of higher accuracy than in the other pictures. Without 4 of those techniques working in concert we would see something immediately wrong with the size, orientation and position of buildings in the scene and the illusion would be shattered.

I wanted to get in this assignment now (even it is it only 2 master studies) because I may not be able to draw until the coming weekend. This was difficult to do because I had to focus on value while still trying to make sure my proportions were still mostly right. It ended up ok. Towards the end I think my eyes adjusted (or may be my squinting skill leveled up) because I could start to see things in 3 tones a bit easier. I'm interesting in trying some more, but maybe smaller thumbnails would be better.

Since I have been spending the better part of 2 years trying to improve my freehand art without tools, this was tedious to do. Also orthographic perspective throws me for a bit of loop (as I want to incorporate vanishing points). Still it was fund to dip into and maybe to return to, but for me it just felt...odd.

Here is my level one. I did most of the work on a Strathmore 300 drawing pad (medium textured) with Staedtler Mars Lumograph Pencils and gave it 3 complete attempts. After some experimenting between attempts 2 and 3, I did a lot better with gradual layering than trying to just rely on pressure. Also gave a shot to a value scale on Strathmore 400 drawing pad (fine texture) but honestly, I found it hard to not get darker overlaps as the scale got darker. Think I will stick with the 300 unless instructed othewise.

I'm an old fashion nerd with mostly old fashion tastes. I have always appreciated fantasy and Sci Fi art to inspire me in my youth. I'm pushing myself in my later years to take up portraiture and character designing. Its a steady, if slow, effort, but it has finally started to become rewarding. 1. I like character art in general, but if a piece of art can use its perspective to evoke not just a story, but an emotion (awe at something immense, frenzy of battle) then it will leave and impact on me. I'll give examples from my nerd hobbies: Magic the Gathering (John Avon, Jason Felix and Quinton Hoover), Manga (Yukito Kurshiro's Battle Angel manga is my example here) and good old Dungeon and Dragons, though mostly from 10-15 years ago or older (Keith Parkinson, Larry Elmore, Jeff Easly and Wayne Reynolds). 2. I am focused on working towards character art right now so I want to be able to map out the features and likeness of a portrait or figure from references, then take that references and redraw them in different poses, expressions and from different angles and with different lighting. A LOT of that involves things beyond perspective (anatomy, composition, etc...) but I know that if I can nail the perspective, I'm half way (or more) there.

Thanks @Michael Hampton! After going around in circles with Portrait drawings for the last couple of year I think your course finally click enough for me not to just learn a rote process, but to actually start developing my own process. I'm sure there are many who feel the same way, so thank you for that! My only parting questions is about the final step is any drawing process, a finished piece. While you give guidance on where to take this from a next step, I assume most of us are taking course like this to create better final pieces. Is it your opinion that after, say, we put down shading, that now a piece would be in final Rendering and Detailing phase? If that is the case, is it just a matter of final steps are fairly universal and\or medium specific (graphite, oil, digital, etc...) so mentioning them here is beyond the scope? Before year's I'm going to start trying to actually do monthly completed pieces in Graphite and I'm kind of look at how to bridge the last part of this process with a final product, so all advice is welcome.

Have to get these in before my long unplugged vacation, so light was a little bad. The numbers associated with the ref sheet should be on each drawing. putting this together at this stage for me fee like trying to juggle 5 flaming chainsaws after I JUST start to juggle three tennis ball without dropping them. Can't wait for the critique :)

Wish I had more time to work on this, but you caught me on a busy week so this is all I got for this project. Its amazing how much progress I have notice in NOT moderating extreme angle while observational drawing...and how easy it is to fall back into that once we had to add in recalling and imagining objects.