Hi Cornelia, love your work! What’s is like being an absolute talent powerhouse in the world of painting?

Your approach is so soft and subtle, very beautiful and fun to watch it come together. I think maybe I got distracted a bit by some minor details I should not have been giving much attention to, particularly in the eyelid. I am having problems with the left eye and the shape of the mouth, I think the eye is too large and the mouth is maybe too large also, some of the shape is a bit off. I also notice the neck is too wide, I haven’t put as much time into that area as I have the face but I believe I can adjust most of these things as I go on to the next step to refine the shapes. I’ve never used charcoal on a pencil drawing before so it’s a new approach for me. Instead of willow charcoal I have a container of charcoal dust from when I sharpen my nitram sticks that I used instead though, just smeared some on with my fingers very lightly than made sure to wipe my hands so I don’t leave little prints everywhere.

Thanks for the great video Stephen, it's always a pleasure to see you drawing!

I don't feel that this ons is on point, but i did my best. :)

PLEASE CRITIQUE

I have to pop out of stream, thank you for today, was really fun to draw along! This is what I drew, doesn't look a lot like the reference photo but I tried. I struggle a lot with staying with a drawing for longer so this was great practice and I'd love feedback on what to improve

Did this one following the Loomis method. I always have a hard time trying to conceive the perspective in pictures, and I feel like it shows in proportions and likeness not being quite there in the end! :)

Hi Stephen, Well I have to admit that my first attempt at Olivia went a bit awry at the end - I lost all likeness and couldn't get it back before I lost the surface of my paper and my patience - so I put it down for a bit - bought some better paper and had another go - I tried a different pose - and I think I have reached the point where I lost it last time - I think it is still too pale, but wondered what your thoughts were, before I go any further. I'm also struggling with the background - as you can probably tell, I put some willow charcoal at the back and then lost confidence and rubbed it all out again - any pointers as to how to go about this would be appreciated. Thanks Jo.

...and here a few hours later, is my first 2/10 value lay-in in the shadow areas. Any pointers would be helpful - I'm not sure about my eye placement, but when I measure it out it looks to be OK, but when I stand back, I am not so sure

Hi Stephen, I have been meaning to start your course for ages, but got waylaid with other stuff - then I got "gifted" the last two parts for helping with some website feedback for Stan, and so I have dived in. My first thoughts on watching your initial block in - was "how on earth can this take so long?", so when I started to draw, I had your video running in the background and I kept checking to see how far you had got compared to me, and guess what - it took me about twice as long as you to get to this pre-values stage! It was a good thing to do though, because it kept reminding me how fast and softly you move your pencil... anyway, I have got this far - I have used Olivia_5 as my reference. I think my use of my blending stick has been less useful, I'm not sure I've really given myself much information about hard and soft edges as I should have... any thoughts you have would be welcome. Jo