This drawing was difficult but enjoyable.

I found this activity to be very satisfying.  It seems to be a great way to really focus on the skills we've been working on up to now. 

Easier than I would have thought the designs within the body were more difficult

I found the upside down drawing to be effective and not too difficult. I use the measurement technique a couple of times, but mostly I just concentrated on getting each little shape in the right position and proportion. The abstract shapes on the underside where tough,though.

It was difficult. And fun. So hard not to cheat but worth it in the end. Turned out just OK but better than I thought! The head an feet looked pretty good. The wing was not so great but I rushed that part. When I took it slower and gave up on the form it turned out better. Why? My brain is not quite thinking like an artist yet. It was pretty cool to not have to concentrate on creating depth in my drawing. I was drawing flat and it turned out to have depth. Neat.

Completing this exercise was really rewarding.  I see now the value of negative space much more clearly.  Concentrating on the shapes and their relationships to each other made it so much easier to draw. Really fun to turn it right side up and find a Song Sparrow!  Great lesson!

                                                                Drawing the upside down bird required more focus than I thought, but I ended  relatively happy with the finished drawing. Wouldn't say it was the most fun drawing I have done, but looking at it as discrete shapes rather than a whole subject, certainly helped the process. But it was a worthwhile exercise and showed how observation and focus can help to produce a workable piece.

Nice having images to work from since it is a bit cold to sketch outside.  I have moved my birdfeeders so I hope to get a few subjects I can sketch.

  I like this exercise.  Did this when I was in art school - years ago.  This course is wonderful, making all these gests come back.

This was a wonderful exercise. As a self described person with drawing-deficit disorder, I was surprised that a technique like this could produce a pretty decent image! It took quite a while to complete but I was happy with the results. It required a bit of mental yoga to keep redirecting my brain to think of shapes rather than feet or feathers. It was fun and I’ll use this technique in the field.

This was easier  than I thought.  It actually turned out  well.

Such a great exercise! it helps to look more at the details

I found that I was checking the negative space more often. All the lines in the breast were difficult. You are correct my brain just wanted to squiggle.

I enjoyed this more than I had anticipated.  I had to keep forcing myself to only look at what was there and not go freelancing.  I'm happy with the result.

I didn’t even realize that one of the he claws was behind a plant thing!

This was difficult AND fun. I tried to draw the subject as a collection of shapes, and it worked out pretty well! I don't know how I judged the tail to be too short. I really tried to work with negative space and proportions. I'm pretty pleased with the results, as I am a beginning sketcher.

This was a great exercise for me.  It really forced me to forget about what I was trying to draw and focus instead on the process of drawing.  It worked!

My right-side-up (drawn up-side-down) song sparrow. No doubt about it--this exercise forces us to really look at what's right in front of us, not necessarily what we think we're meant to draw. Very helpful.

Fascinating exercise. It was fun; I did notice my attention flagging over time and the drawing shows that. From the example, I enjoyed using the shapes and one-to-another approach. This was the only way to make progress, even though my brain kept (unhelpfully) trying to process the whole.   I then tried again using a photo.   On all sketches, I start with pencil but I am terrible about eventually rubbing the lines. Because of that, I eventually go over the sketch with a pen, trying to make small adjustments as I go.  For now, the repetition feels like a good way to try to gain reps.

The opposite of gesture drawing! This took me three sittings, a bit at a time, and really broke in my eraser. Eventually I was able to surrender to the process, and I’m happy with how it came out. I remember the upside-down drawing exercise from Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain—that’s what took me from stick figures to thinking, Oh, that’s how you draw! This was a lot more exacting, much more of an exercise in patience. Worth it, too.

I really liked this exercise. As I often do I start the video and then stop right away and try to draw what Liz is drawing before watching the video. then after watching the video I apply her suggestions and techniques, and then compare the two drawings. I was liberal with my eraser because I wanted to get the shapes that she used to render the coloration in the body. When I did my first drawing I had no idea how to suggest that colorization on the bird. My post drawing analysis is that I am much happier with the proportions and especially the tail and beak. I hope to have the confidence or fearlessness to render colors on a bird as shapes as I really like the results.