Hi All, This is my drawing. I have found very boring to draw birds. There is too much complexity for me to observe and lack of confidence in drawing that a project like this has demotivated me to learn and to progress this course. I have decided to do it and I will see what you have done so far. 

Open beak was bit challenging. Useing negative space technique was very helping thought.

Learning to measure proportions has definitely been one of the biggest factors in improving my drawings. Observation, and taking longer than a very few minutes to finish, which has always been a huge problem for me.  If I didn't take much time I could always use that as an excuse.    

Okay I have tried another one to see what I could do. I am much happier with my results this time.

I decided to use my gesture drawing of the pouncing fox. I have lots of practice still to make the fur look accurate. I need to work on the Chiaroscuro in my drawing, which has yet to come naturally. I definitely love the measuring tool technique which is beginning to come back naturally. I am seeing more of the areas in my drawings that I need to continue practicing on & still learning to be gentle with my results. Drawing is becoming very enjoyable and fun. Thank you Liz!

I still have a bit of work to do on this wren. The open mouth is giving me a bit of trouble. Working with negative spaces is becoming more naturally. The crown of the head is giving me a bit of trouble. Hahaha...meant to go back and work on the wing....I forgot about it....I know it is not scalloped like that.

I love the refining stage. I think its my favorite part of the process because you can really think about the details. All the previous exercises really made the refining stage more enjoyable for me. I love drawing birds and look forward to more practice.

I've learned that by focusing more on negative space and the relationship between the parts makes my drawings more realistic.

I have been too heavy with my shading, so this was an opportunity to lighten it up and make the important things be visible. Negative space helps get the shape and spacing correct, with measuring to make sure you’re on track. I forgot to step back mid stream... and now see my bird is looking further to the right! bTW, we got 2” snow today.

I think the negative space and seeing the shapes rather than trying to capture the whole form at once has been most helpful. And being willing to erase and start again to get it right!

I think one of the best skills is the use of negative space, combined with proportions; it has helped me see so much details! I'm quite happy with the way I'm developing the skills, I know practice and time leads to improvement but it makes me quite satisfied that in just a few weeks, Liz was able to teach me so much! gesture drawing class on the left, with the lizard sketch refined on the right

Building on a basic gesture with all of the skills we've worked with I feel a sense of accomplishment.

This exercise helped me combine the separate skills of gesture drawing, sketching, textures, shapes, etc.

I really liked how this exercise pulled all the skills together.  The proportion and breaking down the subject into shapes and relationships has been most helpful. The most difficult technique for me is adding value to the sketches.

Proportion and drawing upside down figures

I had a real tough time getting the outside shape of the bird.  I decided to draw the marsh wren and fill in the details as opposed to using one of gesture drawings.  I do see where, if I practice every day, I can get alot better at proportions and negative space.  This was a hard assignment; I am not a natural artist but I have really gotten tons better since I started art classes a couple years ago.

I was having a bad day, so I decided an art break was in order! I started from scratch as my original marsh wren was pretty sloppy and it was months ago! I'm not too unhappy with this one, but I've found that I still have trouble creating the idea of looking at something from an angle rather than in profile. As a kid drawing horses, they were always in profile looking right! That's something for me to work on!

First off my original gesture drawings were a mess. So I retimed myself and tried again. With all the new lessons I am learning they turned out better. Then I worked on refining. I have been using a lot of the negative space training. That has really helped me train my eye for getting the shapes and proportions right. I still can't seem to get the bird mouth exactly right but I am really pleased with my red-eyed tree frog!

Gesture drawing was the hardest - I think the clock ticking made me all tense... but it was fun. I still have lots of room to improve on proportions and value. When I went back to refine my drawings, the proportions were often out of whack more often than not, but I found negative space, and judging proportions using the pencil helpful. I just have to remember to use all of these techniques as I draw. These are all new techniques for me, so I ended up spending time in this section just practicing the various techniques that were presented here. I think I will improve as I practice, but I'm going to need a lot of practice for this to come naturally.

Here is my refined drawing. The hardest part was getting the proportions right. I am not sure they are right now, but I am satisfied with the drawing. Short sketchy lines, value, negative space and breaking down the subject helped me capture it.  I still need to work on proportions and value.

Here is my refined drawing! I had a lot of fun doing this and it looks so much better! Using negative space and proportions, I was able to get its position and body just right. Adding some texture and shading made it come to life. I feel like I was able to capture it in motion. I love drawing from photographs I always feel like it gives me the time to get the shapes and colors and values just right.

‘What fun!

I went for the roadrunner. A good exercise for proportions. There were only a few negative spaces to support  me.  Mimicking the stripes and spots was also quite a challenge.