Here my Frist attempt, demo, and the one after Critique hopeful i improved lol

After watching the demo & critique videos, I think I understand the first pear/values assignment a little better. Did everything free-hand this time to help develop hand-eye coordination (rather than "cheating" with auto-straight-line-tools). I'm proud of my own progress! Critique videos are long, but the many examples are very helpful. Watching those is like practicing without actually practicing.

(1st image)My 2nd attempt to draw this pear after watching demo and critique video. I did it on my own, didn't trace what proko did, because I still don't understand the concept of "core shadow". (2nd image)My 1st attempt to draw this pear, I'm sure I got some improvement. Maybe later in this course, I could learn more techniques on how shade cleaner tone.

Tried it a different ways

I think I nearly spit out my coffee when pear face came up. Great sense of humor by whoever submitted that, and Stan immediately just going into critique mode without even questioning it made it so much more funny.

Before and after Demo Pears. I didn't do the portrait one, looks too difficult for now. Might try it later

i know its rubbish , but worked hard so still put it on. it looked good when first two values , then I lost my clean clear lines , going to come back to this next week.

I started this in January and got too in my head about progressing but I am moving on and wanted to share where I am in the process.

hey i did this

1st attempt before watching the demo and 2nd attempt afterwards.

first attempt! trying another one. should focus on the lips.

I had another attempt of a different pear after watching the demo and the critique. Even though I did a better job I liked this picture less when I finished as now I can see all the problems with it! I made some errors with the initial outline and the angels of some of my shaded shapes are off. I really learnt the benefit of walking away and taking a second look at your work. After I thought I was finished I went back and filled in some more shading simplifying my pear further. I wish I had taken a break and waited for fresh eyes before moving on from my initial outlining.

Final attempt before moving on to the next lesson. This one was done after watching both the demo and the critique. Overall fairly happy with it and I'm definitely beginning to see some improvement in my shading.

I had a lot of fun with this. The first one was done before watching the demo and critique. The second pear was done after watching the demo. The pomegranate was done after watching the critique. Would appreciate some feedback :)

Fixed the shadows to a better extent after watching the the critique video. Also after this one I will be trying my own without the reference to see what I can learn and improve on. I see I misinterpreted and exaggerated the sharp black tone like most did. Any extra input is very welcome would love some feed back this time :)

Hi. Here is my third attempt at this project after watching the critique. I changed the rule and added only one value to the shadow. I did this because I wanted to emphasize the plane changes more. Any advice? 😊

Decided to truly sit down and take what he said about value ranges and incorporate them into a digital version this time. Really liked using colors in this as opposed to greyscale!

My first attempt is the one without the value scale.

Second attempt after watching most critiques and demos... I like the added background, I'm a bit unhappy with my midtones still. I used HB, 2B, and 14B and 2B & 14b behaved OK but HB was super sharp comparatively. Maybe just a note to be slower and more careful. I also *still* find finding the darkest shadows a confusing fools errand. Fun though!

I find it pretty interesting that you pointed out how simplifying an image can help an artist learn to portray values, lines, shapes, etc. more effectively. Over the last few years I've been drawing, one of my problems has been that I've gotten lost in all the detail of a reference image and been frustrated trying to capture everything accurately. I've had a hunch that I should be narrowing my focus more for a while, but it's nice to get that confirmation from an expert.