Sadly, this is actually the best version I did. I chose the sketch because I think Raphael illustrates the idea of line weight to indicate importance: his face and hat are done with dark lines while his hair almost disappears. Faces are hard! I have so much trouble with noses in particular. Also mouths. And don't get me started on eyes. Thank god his ears are covered...In spite of the shame this causes me, I felt like I needed to post it so that at the end of the course I can look back and laugh/cringe. Or not. Whatever. Is it too early for a drink?

I did a study of Alphonse Mucha’s “Ivy”. I missed on the profile and ended up simplifying some of the clothing and background detail, but I found it really good as a line quality exercise. The primary organization is around importance and bold outlines that draw attention to specific areas of the drawing, even with so much going on. From the technical side, I found it challenging to get fluid, consistent lines that give the hair texture and movement - more muscle memory and confidence needed, I think.

A page of ears. Any comments or feedback would be welcome. :)

Some sketches of mouths after watching the video. :)

A page of noses. Comments are welcome. :)

A page of eyes. :)

Here’s my first and second attempt at the snail, and also a bonus picture demonstrating some of the struggles I had with this drawing. 😜 The first drawing was way more complicated than it needed to be, and as a result, my line quality suffered and I totally missed the original point of the assignment. In my second attempt, I made an effort to not fuss too much with proportions and details. It made for a less accurate snail, of course, but the line quality is vastly improved. If nothing else, my cat seems to really like this second drawing. 😂

Tried this once, but I felt like I got way to caught up in the details, so I did it two more time, trying to simplify it to basic CSI lines. I’m open for any critiques on how to simplify better, or if you notice something else to critique.

Much harder than it looks, it was very intimidating to even try and START drawing. I did it the best I could. :) who knew shoe laces were so scary!

I cannot wait for the demonstration video. But I wanted to share my picture anyway even though there is so many things wrong with both of them and I might have a bold spot from pulling my hair out to try the shoe laces on the boots.😉😂 I thought the boots were going to be easier than the slug, but man was I wrong.

I tried each of the reference photos (please excuse the watercolour mishap on the camel). I liked focusing on the whole line to make a better shape, but I did find myself getting lost in the details of the laces and Skelly, and had to keep reminding myself to zoom out and be really focused on fitting each line together.

This is my first attempt at drawing a pear :)

I did both the pear and the portrait. The proportions are a bit off on the portrait, but I found limiting to 5 values and keeping the edges sharp to be a really good exercise. It makes every detail a decision point.