I'm resubmitting this, because I don't think this registered the first time. This is a great exercise to shift to the right side of the brain and think less literally! I'm sure I also trained my eye to see proportions better, as I worked very slowly and thought as much as possible about shapes and relationships. I did find it a bit tedious, though. At one point, I even thought to myself, 'Wow, one of the stripes on the chest looks like a two headed prehistoric antelope!' (LOL)  I was pleased when I finished it and turned it right-side up and it did look a lot like a sparrow! Great brainteaser and probably a really good anti-aging exercise for those of us over 65:)

This was the toughest task so far! It is well timed to bring us back to truly seeing. I feel proud that I took my time with it.

I think I saw both what it was and the shapes and lines depending on what part I was drawing. It didn't seem any more difficult than drawing right-side up but that is still difficult for me.

I really enjoyed this! It was almost meditative just drawing shapes, and I found I concentrated more on the negative space between shapes that when I am trying to draw the 'whole' subject all at once. It was also exciting towards the end when I could see it coming together. He ended up being a little bit chubby - but overall happy with it!

drawing something upside down helps me to 'not conceptualize' the image.

Was challenging.  I did focus on the individuals shapes but still am not sure of the concept of negative space

A great exercise to try again. Lots of erasing but helpful for me to draw what I see not what I think it should look like.

this exercise is strangely calming. its hard to disassociate it from what you categorize it is, but it gets better as you go along. i enjoyed it!

Fun drawing upside down.  Took forever!

Upside-down drawing was fun, difficult, challenging and surprising. At first, I thought I would not be able to make it, as it looked kind of confusing to the eyes. But I wanted to try it, so I started in the foot area, down to the head. It took me some time to get the angles and lines right. When I was happy about it, I moved to the belly area - and those shapes were difficult! I draw them once, and they didn't look nice; I erased them, took another try and... I was able to do it!! Overall, I think that I forgot that I was drawing a bird, and focused on the lines, shapes and proportions.

Fun exercise. I tried to keep my lines loose. The contour and gesture drawing exercises helped in focusing on the subject. Wondering though about drawing accurate images or something that approximates to the subject.

I became lost in the shapes andlsot the perspective of the object.  It was a challenging task not to think of  the subject.   By trying to do that, I lost the whole! I am going to show you my less than finer drawing.

I’m including the upside down and right side up of the required bird.   That’s was an experience.  As are all the drawings in this class.  Unfortunately I’m not able to get out much to “draw in the field” because it’s winter and weather not conducive for that .  I should have taken this class in the summer.  But my drawing didn’t turn out too bad considering.  Lol..I didn’t include all the squiggly lines in the body. 

I was fine with it but I knew it was a bird image which I was trying not "to see" as I wanted to be more observant. I do this with my middle school students so I was surprised I was that this was not easy as I thought it would be. (This is good for me to review from time to time!) The line markings on the bird took awhile and I do not feel I was as accurate as I could have been. Still, a good review.

I enjoyed this very much. Great way to disconnect the brain from the symbolic drawing trap.

I didn't mind drawing upside down and I didn't view the subject as a bird, more a collection of shapes and lines . Also, I liked finding out how negative space helped me draw the proportions better. I found the exercise hard in that my focus kept shifting and I'd lose where I was going especially in the breast. I didn't get it right and ended with lines with no place to go. My eyes got quite tired trying to focus on the details. That is frustrating and I erased and tried again then gave up.

Pretty cool exercise. I focused on lines and shapes.

This exercise requires patience and focus.  I had the most difficulty with the splotchy belly shapes because they are more irregular and "floating" vs connected by other lines.

At first I really found this lesson enjoyable. But then about halfway through I realized that some of my proportions were really off. I got rather frustrated and and wanted to erase half of what I had done. Then my husband reminded me that this is a learning process and I should just finish it. I can always go back and try it again later, continuing to improve with each try. I stepped away from it for a couple months, then came back and finished it. Overall once I was done I am really happy with the results.

I had fun with this exercise - it forced me to take my time and look at the shapes in relation/proportion to each other - rather than thinking about the whole subject.  It came out better than I thought it would!

This was challenging and fun! I started out seeing the sparrow but after I will I got so focussed on the drawing I started to see only lines relating to other shapes  or lines. A really helpful exercise.

It was difficult, and I had to keep focused!  I was surprised that when I flipped it around it actually looked much like the bird I was drawing.  The details were hard to do (markings on chest).  I guess that tells me that if you really draw exactly what you see and don't be limited by the overall appearance, you can be accurate :)

Fun and hard. Had to really concentrate on the shapes, not an upside down bird : )