Wow, my proportions were way off! but it does resemble the image, just that the body of the bird was not large enough.  I must not have measured correctly.

This was a real challenge but I learned a lot from the exercise.

This was a really fun challenge! I unfortunately can't break the picture down into shapes and draw from one side to another. I still need to do a general outline and sketch of the subject. I think it looks awfully sad rightside-up. Maybe it preferred seeing the world upside-down!

Drawing upside-down required a lot of concentration. It forced me to look at the shapes. It also required me to use other skills we have practiced, like drawing without constantly looking at the page.

This was a fun task, although the brest design was a bit tedious. The result is surprisingly good, although not all patterns and shapes were completely successful. When I was drawing upside down, I could only see patterns and shapes, not the bird.

I enjoyed this and learned a lot.  I found I used all the "tools" I have learned so far and incorporated it into the drawing.  Parts of it were a little frustrating, such as getting the shapes in on the bird's breast, but it was fun and I was happy with the results.

it was fun and I found it easier once I loosened up. Proportions need work, but I did see it more as a collection of shapes rather than a bird which was really useful. I also probably took my time more than I would, normally. No bad thing! :)

There was a lot of work to do, and I had trouble with long, slender curves and ovals. However, it ended up better than I anticipated.

I thought that this exercise was very difficult.  I tried to look at it as shapes in relation to each other.  I was also trying to keep proportion in mind.  It was very challenging especially the breast shapes. However, my bird came out pretty well and probably better than if I had drawn it right side up.

This was both difficult and fun. I got caught up in the small details, and forgot to pay attention to negative  space and proportions. It's hard to pull everything together!

This was much harder than it looked! It took me a very long time and I think I may have used up most of my eraser… I found getting the perspective correct difficult, and took forever drawing the wing.

Like the previous contribution I found this exercise to be very useful, but to begin with, I was mildly irritated. However, once I worked out that something useful was coming out of it was able to continue and sooner than I imagined this was the result. It might even be my best bird yet!

well this was quite a test for my patience. But I loved the exercise. I was able to focus just on the shapes more and more and even tho I got tired and felt like just giving up on the drawing I pulled through and got rewarded with a beautiful sparrow!

Had great fun just disassembling this into shapes and drawing from there.

Worked very intensely at relating all shapes and sizes. Needed the eraser quite a few times when I realized I has sketched a piece without reference to other parts for size and negative shapes. Had to slow down even more, and look for relationships and negative space to find where I should continue the drawing. Result is very satisfying. My brain was adapting to the process more and more as I advanced with the drawing. A real training in looking for the true information for shapes to draw all contained in the relationships and space between the shapes. Thanks for this great exercise!

It was difficult and fun to see how the picture emerged. I’m also learning that I’m even more impatient than I thought. These lessons are forcing me to slow down and take my time. I could move even more slowly, but I am getting better at paying attention to lines and shapes. I think I still initially viewed the subject as an upside-down sparrow, but as I moved through the exercise, I focused on the shapes much more. When I did that, it was easier to keep moving along. I was counting lines and ovals and not thinking so much about trying to draw a bird.

Difficult but rewarding!

This will be a great help for things that I seem to have a mental block in drawing.

Woah!!! It was suuuuper difficult. My brain fought it the whole time- sometimes switching between seeing negative and positive space in the same place. But the end result was super surprising. Thank you for this! 

Very helpful exercise to turn off what you THINK you see and focus on what you ACTUALLY see!