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.

This was a good exercise.  I found that I was looking more at the shapes than the subject.

This was fun to do although challenging when it involves patience and self control. I found it difficult to adjust proportions. Everyone has such beautiful post. 

• Not sure how to get vertical, but a really useful exercise and one I will repeat

This was very difficult. I tried to use proportion tricks from the last lesson but really struggled. The chest markings werevery complicated to include

This was fun to do, but I did find it to be a little difficult.  I ended up not getting the wings so well, but I think I started to hurry as it was taking a good deal of time.  The part I didn't rush I was quite impressed with.  This is such a great technique to learn to look beyond what the mind sees!  Love this course!

This was fun, but difficult.  The feet were really hard. I was able to view the subject as a collection of shapes and lines.  I have never drawn anything but stick figures - I hope I can get better with practice. I love this course.

This exercise was a good test in patience. I found myself drawing a lot slower and using my eraser more than usual. It was hard not to sketch an overall shape of the bird to get proportion right, so mine came out a bit more slender than it should've been.

i found this pretty difficult, because i couldn't concentrate enough. It's probably because i'm less excited about contour line drawing, and i'm more interested in gesture drawing, or shading.  i definitely will need to practice more.

I found that my drawing was more accurate  drawing it upside down. That was amazing!!

This was a bit of challenge, my main issue was finding the proper proportion and negative space since I started by the feet and then worked my way up.The patterns on the body was hard to measure since I should have added more space between the legs, but overall I think it helped me understand size and shapes.

The shape breakdown was definitely helpful and insightful. Some of the angles of my lines turned out really wonky though! At some points I felt like I was really concentrating well on what was there, and then I would catch myself thinking of the feathers or the talons as themselves. I need to practice more to see my subjects in many different ways.

A very challenging exercise for me. My brain wanted to see this as an upside down bird. I had moments when I could focus on the shapes and relationships and other times when my mind would freeze up! This made me understand that I need to relax and refrain from drawing something that isn't really in front of me. That was cool!

Very cool exercise! with surprising outcome :-)

I really enjoyed doing this. It kept me out of my head in trying to get the relationships of the background and bird proportional. I tend to overthink it. Used the negative space lesson on this one too, so seeing the other shapes around the bird gave me good information. Your finished drawing would be a good coloring book page.

My body is a little thick but I got the head direction right.  This was hard but a good way of learning how to focus on shapes.