Learned a lot from the exercise. Took breaks and looked with a fresh eye when I started again, and spotted wrong negative shapes, or relationships or light areas missing. Lots of erasing. Still to learn to press very gently and not darken too soon for more clarity of shadows and lights. Great exercice. Learning a lot!

Love this course. It's putting the foundations together

As I go through these steps, I’m getting better at judging size and shape, but it is difficult to create white space when the outer lines of the wings are white. I was trying to refine a duck drawing, and the intricate wing patterns were extremely difficult to capture due to the mix of white, grey, and black feathers that crossed over layers of other feathers. It’s the detail that is frustrating to capture. I know that will take a lot of time and practice.

Proportion and details are becoming more natural. However getting the angles accurate is still a challenge. Drawing upside down and focusing on negative space have been the most helpful.

Chipmunk started out as a quick sketch not knowing how long it would sit still.

1. The easiest technique, for me, is the gesture drawing. The technique that comes to me most naturally is also gesture drawing. 2. The gesture drawing, overall, has won my favor. Although it seems crude in the face of prim lines, it is the easiest and most freestyle, allowing you to draw without stressing the details.

thank you for a very good lesson,  I’ve just about worn out the paper from erasing but I’m getting there.

Suggestions on how to capture the 3 dimensional look of this flower?  I’m very new at this!  Thanks, Rebekah

Revising a gesture sketch is something I've never done before. That aside, I find I was really looking for the negative spaces. This gallinule cries for color, however - can't wait!

This exercise was difficult but I think it came out reasonably well.  I tried the fox and it did not turn out so well.  I can see where drawing from life instead of a picture is going to be very difficult.

SCHLITZ AUDUBON CENTER: Holds a photo shoot every year. Photographers come from all over the country to participate. They also have   a raptor program every few weeks. Participants can sketch, draw, paint or photo the birds. I have a few quick sketches from one of these events. My photos are better than my sketches. I have been attending the Audubon's painting classes and hope to improve/ learning a lot about the resident 'Birds'.

I see that I need much more practice here!  I made an improvement over my 60 sec sketch but not quite the quality I hoped for.  Looks like 3 yr old drew it!  Creating darker shading will help to create depth.  I think my original was so out of proportion that it would need to start over completely......but I tried! I

Proportion and negative space were both quite challenging at my first attempts; now I feel they are really helpful and, bit by bit, I'm getting better at using it :)

Kaia's Drawing: 

Kaia's Mom's Drawing: 

I drew this little wren from a photo taken on a hike.  This course has been very helpful—hard to to say what has been the most helpful! I think what has helped me most is to be practical and realistic about what I can accomplish in the field.  If all I can do is make a few shapes and write down how I feel and what I wonder about it—well that’s enough.