I've tried this technique before and found that I was more successful if I only revealed one piece of the picture at a time so that I didn't get ahead of myself .  It is a wonderful trick that builds up my confidence and is easy to practice using photos .  I know a wonderful artist who likes to look at things upside down before she starts painting and it sure works for her!

A very interesting exercise.  Great way to train my brain to stop just "drawing a bird" and focus on looking.

It was harder than I thought it would be.  I kept wanting to turn the image and i got a bit confused with the shapes, but it turned out better than I thought.  Interesting exercise.  I'll try it again to teach my brain some new tricks.  

My bird looks OK but it's nothing like the example at all.  I started and erased the entire thing several times.  I started at different parts, the top of the stem of the grass like Liz did, then from the other side.  My bifocal glasses made it hard to do, so I printed a copy of the example to a sheet of paper and laid it flat so I could see it better.  That didn't help much, I must have started and erased numerous times.  Still all in all the picture I ended up with looks pretty good but it's not like the example in many areas.  It was fun but I got pretty frustrated during the process.  I think I'll do it again a few times just to see how different each one turns out.

I found it difficult, at some points a bit tedious but very good practice.

It was so difficult because I always draw like it is in reality. Yeah I always draw as it was. As a collection of shapes.

Upside down is interesting!  It was easier to just deal with shapes and proportion.  This is going to take some (a lot of) practice to sort areas into just shapes while in the field!

This was fun. I think the bird turned out really good and I promise I didn't turn it till the end.

This was a difficult drawing exercise for me.  I focused only on creating shapes and negative spacing between them.  However, I tried to scale up the drawing to use up all of my paper and that caused problems with connecting the wings and other body parts.  Actual size vs illustration is challenging and makes me realize that I am more interested in capturing the form and features and not have to make them to actual size.  

I focused on the shapes and also used the negative spaces and measuring techniques. This was fun!

I viewed the bird as what it was, but I made some lines to  have the proportions as correct as  possible. A good training.

I drew an upside-down parakeet, from a model. next page......with cardinal. getting better at being more time efficient.bk

This was very difficult for me, not because the image was upside down. Getting angles and proportions right is still a bit of s struggle, yet I am grateful for this exercise. This photo is my second attempt. I still learned something even up to the very end where the stomach patterns weren't quite fitting and I had to adjust. I think it had to do with me jumping around on the picture rather than focusing on a section and following it.

Upside-down drawing was fun. I did better than I expected I would, except I misjudged my spacing and ended up running my image into the margin of the book. I viewed a collection of shapes, but it was difficult to not think about the anatomy I was drawing when it was clearly, for example, a toe.

The first image is the upside drawing which I did totally using the method you suggested. It is really hard not to check, but I didn't until I had finished it. After I had finished I did add the color, but should probably have waited until you give us the instruction for that. Sorry. I was so motivated by the color in the entries of other students, that I got carried away. I was surprised at how much more accurate my drawing was than other drawings I have done.

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!