I'm a very anxious artist. There isnt much I get anxious about any more. But I gotta say, The whole concept of intuition and allowing my self to trust my self really makes me anxious. Even watching Stans video about this master study i was anxious the whole time. It feels so big and mysterious even if at some level I think i understand. Letting my self not make a perfect copy of the master i'm studying. At times when i start to copy a piece i'm not sure if i'm doing it right, Am I just mindlessly copying a piece of art? Or am I learning something important from it. I have been attempting to copy the works of other artists better then me for a while. But I have difficult time taking off those training wheels and allowing my self to draw something from imagination, while using the shapes, or designs, or lines that I should of learned from the masters i studied . This is just getting some of my thoughts out. I'm super anxious just thinking about it, i hope one day I can throw aside my anxiety and just draw.

Thanks for the critique video. However I was wishing for more pencil drawings. All the examples discussed were digital.

Hi there. I’m not sure if I’m level 1 or 2 so I’m doing all the assignments. 1 Heirarchy 2 Light and Shadow 3 Change the light direction 4 My Hand 5 My Hand 6 Tissue Box I have so many questions: 1 With the second (closed) hand, the underneath fingers were in shadow so I wanted to make them dark but they were further back so should they be light? Also they are not part of the silhouette so shouldn’t be as dark as the outline? 2 With the tissue box. I wanted to make the tissue light and thin to show its flimsy-ness but what about the silhouette? The bottom of the folded tissue is in shadow so should be dark but if I make it too dark then it would look weightier than the box. Im having trouble integrating the three methods into one drawing. Thanks so much for your advice and for the course. Moyra

Hi - I wondered if this challenge has been judged yet? Maybe I missed the email? I'm interested to see the video and the results.

My second entry for the Tiffanie Mang/Proko Challenge 'Bellarine Sunsets'. Five tiny 5 x 5 cm, oils. They are all scenes from close to where I live. In winter we have short daylight and we get some amazing skies in the late afternoon. I haven't included reference photos because I would like to work some big paintings from them.

Hi Tiffanie This is my first final entry ' Bellarine Skies' - 5 x 5 cms - oils. Fun challenge. These are all scenes from close to home. I haven't included reference photos as I have copyright concerns. I am planning to work big paintings with the references I used. I hope this doesn't make me ineligible for the challenge?

Hi Tiffanie I have completed the paintings but I am wondering whether we must share the reference photos? I have copyright concerns as I am planning to work big paintings with these references.

Hi Andrew. I can’t work out how to get the ref photos. I’m on an I pad.

This was a great discussion. Marshall - you mentioned sketching kids and I wondered if there is an etiquette around sketching people in public such as on trains, cafes and the beach without their knowledge?

Proko is not left handed.

@Moyra Le Blanc Smith, here's my thoughts on this: if you're still a beginner, it's better that you start with the Figure Drawing course. Alongside with it, it's possible that you might also need to study some form, construction and perspective. With that base, you'll have a much better enjoyment of the Anatomy course (which is really too much for a beginner indeed, so you might wanna save it for after completing Figure Drawing). As for Bridgman's books, they're really not geared towards beginners. It's not that a beginner "can't use them" - I guess anyone might find it pleasing to look through Bridgman's drawings, and some of the information might even stick, but it's just not recommended because Bridgman's way of dealing with anatomy is so more advanced that it doesn't make much sense to use it to learn the basics - it would be like trying to understand mechanical engineering without previously learning the basics of math and physics (hopefully this makes sense). But since you already bought the book, just know that it was not wasted money, it's likely that you WILL find it helpful at some point in the future. And if you have questions about any of Proko's courses, feel free to ask. Hope this helps!

That's interesting. How does it help us to design the drawing? People's eyes don't necessarily follow that angle always?

To quickly find a lesson you're looking for, try using the search bar at the very top of the website. If you search for 'hands' you'll get all the hand lessons.

Hey Moyra, thank you for the suggestion. We just implemented the change. Now when you go to Browse > Lessons, you will see a FREE toggle which hides all premium videos when the toggle is on.

Ya that's something that's been on my mind. Not sure how to prevent people from abusing it. The reason this is even a question is because we have some gamification features that are currently hidden (need to test with real data before launching). As you use the site, you get points for most actions and possibly awarded with badges. If people can manually mark things as done, some will abuse it to try to get more badges. Students who are actually here to study and keep track of progress shouldn't have a worse experience just because some might abuse it. So I think we'll be able to figure it out. Just have to give it some thought.