Here is my attempt at the level 2 reference, let me know what you all think

I struggled even with the gray scale. I had no real difference between 2b, 4b. Now i settled with two HB tones and two 6B tones. Which pencils do you guys use?

Here is my submission for level 2, using toned paper as the lighter mid-tone

Hi! I tried Level 2 and I think the result is okayish. The shirt was to much for me so i more or less only implied it. Maybe I could have gone into more detail with the hair and i know my proportions are off. The face is not narrow enough and should be longer. But i think overall i like it. :) Any criticism or hint for improvement is welcome!

Level 1 pear 1. HB pencil. Things that surprised me or I learned: - Race of the darks: definitely start with the darkest shadows, and get to as dark as you can with your pencil. I didn't have other pencils at hand, so yeah. It was hard to get a light enough value, and especially to differentiate between lighter values. Before I knew it, what was supposed to be the lightest value turned out as dark as the next lightest, so I had to add to all darker values successively, over and over, but then I hit the HB's limit I think... - Coming back to a certain value and adding an extra area with the same value is really hard. I'll have to practice my values with silly filling doodles. - It's hard to draw hard egdes without actually drawing a line, just by shading... - This was a lot more fun than I imagined up front ! Yay !

Hi everyone! I tried to draw a butternut squash and a banana from life and pear #3 from Stan's reference photos. I found it challenging to draw from life because the changes in the brightness were sometimes hard to see. It was easier with the reference photo. Looks like i have to train my eyes for this :D Also it was hard to simplify all the curves and details with straight lines. ( The butternut killed me ... ) Another thing is i tried to see some kind of core shadow and reflected light within pear #3 but was not able to find it. Is this correct or did just didn't see it? Anyway... I will try some more and maybe Level 2 if my kids will let me spend some time for this ;-) Greetings to everyone from germany :)

My girlfriend and I are following along in the course! Used an eraser for the first time in a drawing, really wanted to get the proportions right for the pear but found it a bit difficult. Maybe having my paper at a slight angle relative to the screen was an issue? She said the reference pear gave her great energy, she really likes how it turned out. She wants you to guess whose pear is whose?