Follow-up: stared at it a bit and am thinking maybe this is the better way to imply the coil around the neck, no?

These are great! Love the astronaut and the chess pieces!

haha the middle one has so much personality

I am glad that I am not alone in this. Thank you for writing it. Also it is good to know that you have not given up and continue with this course according to your posts.

This is an interesting point and as someone from the more intermediate group I feel like I can add to this. 1. as was said now a couple of times, the course is for beginners and intermediates, so it felt like a great opportunity to brush up on my fundamentals. 2. I never received a formal art-education, only very spread-out courses here and there and self-study. So having this course going from A to Z is great for me. I can see where my assumptions are correct and where I have holes in my knowledge. 3. I guess everybody likes LIKES, but this is not my focus here. In fact, a critique where someone just says "well done" and then goes to the next person doesn't really help me to grow. And since Stan's skill-level is waaay up there above mine, I am sure he always finds something to critique. Which is the way I learn the best. 4. Having many different skill-levels makes the critiquing-process not easier for Stan. People need to get from the critiques what is applicable to their own work and not compare themselves too much to other people. This is a lesson that applies to art but also in general, I feel like. That being said, having an art-goal is a great way of staying on track and not get lost in the day to day struggle of improving. 5. I am here because I feel like Stan is always trying to do the best job he can in order to make the lessons fun and engaging. And having a group-discussion like this really makes the class more lively and I think is good for the community in the long-run. Thanks for reading

I really appreciate you saying this. I’m getting more and more behind because I’ve actually started saying “why bother” when I watch the critiques. It did help to see you voice this :)

Hey Jamie, thanks for your feedback. Point taken, I will try to include more beginner critiques. I occasionally combine the level 1 and level 2 critiques into 1 videos because I thought it would be beneficial for students. When I was a beginner studying at an atelier, our drawing classes literally had people who just started and others who have been drawing for 20 years in the same class. It was tough to constantly be reminded how far I am from them, but also inspiring and they were a great resource to compare my work to find my mistakes. Personally I am grateful for the more experienced students who are here to refine their fundamentals. Their 'showing off' can be a great resource for some beginners. But I understand that for some the gut punch is too hard and distracting to be able to learn from. I will consider not mixing level 1 and 2 going forward unless I hear enough agreement from other level 1 students who think I should continue doing so. Anyone who has an opinion on it, please cast your vote below. Sorry for the confusion if you thought this course was only for beginners. It is absolutely for beginners, but also for intermediate folks polishing their fundamentals. If you can help me make that more clear on the sales page I would greatly appreciate it! "it would be more productive to dedicate more time at the start of each project assignment for a clearer statement of what the assignment is" - I agree with you here. I try my best to make the project announcements clear with instruction and tips of things to watch out for. By the time I finish writing the project scripts, I usually feel like they are too long and I am overwhelming you guys with so much instruction for a project. I feel like it's hard to remember so too much going into it. Maybe I'm wrong here? My strategy with projects is not to help you avoid mistakes. Mistakes are inevitable and an important part of learning. It's not enough to hear me say "don't do this". You have to do it, realize it is wrong, and FEEL how it is wrong. The purpose of the critiques is to highlight the additional things not mentioned in the project announcement. Sometimes I just can't forecast all the mistakes that 5000 students could make 🤷 Anywhoo, thank you for the feedback. I'll keep trying to make every lesson better and better. Sorry if I'm too harsh with anything I said.

Hi there Jamie! I can relate to the feeling of frustration you are experiencing. It’s something I have come across quite often on this challenging journey of learning how to draw. And I’m sure many others have as well. However, with that begin said, I have to disagree with your comment. Now, my counter-arguments here are not intended to shut you down or anything like that. I just think that changing your mindset when looking at these lessons can help you improve quicker and find more enjoyment along the way. To keep it organized, I’m going to address your comment point by point. Also please keep in mind that I’m a student like you, I struggle and make mistakes like everybody else. But I hope that my comments will be of some help. ** 1. Struggling with the initial assignment - “Having struggled with how to approach this assignment at the start…” I understand you’re frustration here. I don’t think there is one assignment so far in this course that I got 100% right from the start. However, I think that this is also the point. Stan explained it earlier in the course. The “short” assignment videos don’t show a lot of examples and don’t really go step by step because it can be very useful for us beginners to try and wrap our heads around the assignment. Even if we might not get it right from the beginning. These exercises and projects are supposed to be practiced a lot, not just once. And that initial step of figuring out what the assignment is about can be very useful to go through. We do get shown, in the demos, step-by-step how to approach things. The good thing is that by then we should have already analyzed the assignment and can now clear up any confusion that might have come up in our first attempt. I personally like to do the assignments 3 times. Once before watching the demos (where I normally struggle the most – which is expected), once after the demos (where I also analyze what I am doing differently this time and why – based on what I learned from the demo), and a third time after watching the critique. Now, obviously doing the assignment 3 times is not enough. That’s why I try to keep these assignments in mind and practice them whenever I have some free "study time" or include them in my own projects. My main point here is that the struggle we experience when first attempting the assignment is a good thing. Especially when we get plenty of opportunities, later on, to discover how we went wrong about it and also understand why. 2. Critiques of people who are not beginners - “does anyone else find it super frustrating that Stan gets wrapped in analyzing submissions from folks who are way, way beyond the beginner level?” I don’t really see that happening. I just watched this critique video and I think 80% of it was critiques of level 1 beginners (in a combined level 1 + level 2 critique video). Yes, some at the end were more advanced but even Stan said at one point (around min. 33) that what a student submitted was a bit more advanced, it was also not in line with the assignment, so he won’t critique it. Also, assuming the people who are more advanced are here to get likes or try to show off is, I think, unfair. If I remember correctly, the course was presented as being for beginners and intermediates who want to brush up on their fundamentals. Not only for complete beginners. There is also a wide range of level 1s and level 2s in this course. And that’s normal. Not all level 1s are exactly the same and neither are the level 2s. Some might be level 1 at line quality and level 2 at proportions. You can’t expect this to be a course where everybody’s skill is exactly the same. Therefore, not all critiques can be universal. Having 10 critiques all repeating the same thing would not be useful at all. I found the critique videos to always cover work from across all skill levels (from absolute level 1 to more advanced level 2). There was always something to learn for everybody. Overall, I think it’s important for us to learn how to analyze our own work, figure out what our weak points are, and focus on improving those. And the critique videos offer an excellent opportunity for that (in addition to having straight-up valuable feedback). 2.2 When the “excitement” happens - “but it feels like he's getting distracted by "ooh this is nice" and not focusing on the actual lesson at hand” I think this is actually quite important to happen. While learning, it’s normal to get frustrated, that’s just part of it. And it's important for us to learn how to accept being in that uncomfortable state (I really recommend The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle on this subject). However, remembering to sometimes take a step back and just be excited about art is also very important. More often than not, I got into a very gloomy mindset about my work. I was not happy with my progress and disappointed with my results. But, whenever I saw Stan get excited, even at the most simple of things (like a silly-looking hippo), it reminded me that having an overall excitement about art and the process of making it is essential for morale and overall enjoyment. If this was all the critique videos were – Stan being excited about work from more advanced students – I would have agreed with you. But there are plenty of critique examples and valuable information for both skill levels (even in those "ooh this is nice" segments). 3. Why bother? - “I could care less if my own submissions are critiqued, but it leaves at least me with a "Why Bother" feeling when we're examining stuff from concept artists...” Well… then don’t. This isn’t a race to see who can finish the fastest and get a critique by Stan. Again, I feel that the critique videos, whether split into two (for level 1 and level 2) or combined, always had a good balance and covered the entire skill spectrum for both levels. I think it's way more important, when watching these videos to look for what applies to your case. What I like to do when watching these critiques is have my drawings for that assignment in front of me and look for critiques that cover work that’s similar to mine. What’s more advanced, is just a bonus - something to keep in mind for when I’m getting to that skill level. ** My conclusion here would be to really focus on the lessons, take notes, focus on the assignments, and then analyze the demos. One at a time. The critiques are a bonus. Don’t get hung up on people who are better at certain things or who have more experience. I look at those who are more advanced with excitement for what lies ahead and with appreciation for the hard work they put in to get to that point. When it comes to learning, first and foremost, focus on your work and try to improve that. If you feel like you didn’t quite understand a lesson. Go back, watch it again, and ask questions. This is not a race. We are not machines who learn the same way and improve at the same rate. Some things might “click” for you faster and others might require more practice than usual. What’s important is to find a way to stick with it long-term. If you do that, eventually, I’m sure you’ll end up at the skill level you want to be. And in my opinion, this is one of the best courses out there to start you off the right way. This response ended up being way longer than I anticipated. :D I hope it helps. Take care and don’t give up! :)