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.  

It was hard for me because I couldn't find the exact scene that I was drawing, but I tried my best to refine my gesture drawing. I think that it helped that I had a different reference picture instead of none. The technique that has been most helpful for me was the ways that you can shade the drawings because it was useful because the bird that I was drawing had lots of shadows and different colors.

This was a surprising exercise because of the noticeable change from the original. Unfortunately the original has been erased . Using negative space and checking proportions comes most easily. I still have difficulty separating shading from colours.

Proportion is still difficult for me and so is shading. Refining from a sketch is very helpful but definitely need a photo to look at.

I am having trouble getting a 3 d look

I too did the refining from a photo.  I'm going to try a bird next.  This is a friendly squirrel that loves to pose while eating my bird seed.

All techinques were helpful. The negative space to set proportions, the stippling to shade the reed, the hatching and contour-hatching to fill the shadows, even the blending for some effect on the back and wing of the Wren. I'm happy with the final result overall.

This is actually two different exercises.  The larger sketch was an attempt at proportion, while the more detailed woodpecker (a different species) is an attempt at demonstrating depth.  I feel good about the proportion of the smaller drawing.  Shading will come, in time.  I'm having difficulties concentrating on two different skills at one time.

Taking a gesture drawing to a refined sketch is not so easy.  I found that drawing from a reference photo gives one the opportunity for getting a pretty good drawing as you can use your measuring techniques for putting proper perspective on your drawing and getting negatives spaces accurate makes for a more realistic sketch.  I followed Liz's suggestions as she was drawing, then looked at my drawing with blurred vision and tried to get my darkest darks and lightest lights correctly demonstrated.

Negative space and relationship, proportion and perspective are very difficult for me.  My brain seems to throw a mirror image of what I am looking at.  Often my angles are completely reversed of the actual subject.  Breaking it down to those elements and revising my original drawing is very helpful - to my eye/brain connection ( which is somewhat impaired I think) as well as to the drawing itself. Practicing copying things upside down is helpful as well.  I often draw from memory rather than observation so I have to train my brain to do otherwise.    

Today’s exercise.  I am having some difficulty drawing at such a small scale but getting there.  This subject was heavily textured so the texture and the shading techniques were getting mixed up.

I have worked on the marsh wren and here is my refined and detailed drawing.  I'm sure as you say that I could keep on adding but this is my newest version.

Using the gesture drawing to support a more detailed drawing was helpful.  By incorporating proportion  and negative space As I was drawing allowed me to develop a more accurate sketch of the warbler.  Using a variety of marks allowed me to add definition to the form and textures and patterns to the feathers.  I am wondering how I would be able to do this without photos.  My memory would not permit me to add as much detail as I did here.

I found starting with the gesture helpful.  It provided an anchor  from which I could make corrections using the proportion strategy as well as the negative space.   I used a variety of marks to define the the texture, direction and value of the feathers. I was able to add so much detail because I had a photo to work from.  I can't imagine doing multiple gesture drawings and finding time to take photos but I also can't imagine adding the amount of detail I did using the photo.  

Working from the gesture was a help.  It had laid the foundation for using the drawing techniques.  techniques.  Using negative space and proportion definitely helped with accuracy.  I really enjoyed using a variety of marks to help define the movement , texture and dimensions.  I felt successful because I could use the photo along with the gesture to capture this image.  I wonder how to get this type of detail during outdoor sketching.

How does one know where to shade and highlight when working on a quick gesture that was gone in fractions of seconds?  It was okay when I was able to go back and replay and pause the video and see the highlights and shadows that weren’t captured in my sketch, but otherwise, it’s just guesswork.

I'm not sure how you refine your sketch from a live model. I have some gesture drawings but once I am back at home I do not have that bird available. I assume you also take a photograph when you are in the field so you have a reference when you go to refine? Because even a lot of notes won't help me with shadows and tiny details unless I am one heck of a note taker.

It was very helpful to let me "watch over your shoulder" as you refined and hear your thought process. I'm still having a lot of trouble with shading as I tend to want to color in rather than draw lines close to one another.

A difficult technique for me is the proportion of the birds body. The most helpful has been to draw thin lines to see if it is ok and then go on with refining.

......getting true 3-d is tough. I can highlight, so show 2-d depth, but not really getting true 3-d, scientific illustration quality. Guess I am an impressionist. btw- both exercises, from up above, are on next page, on 1 sheet of paper. b.k. upside down parakeet, and a cardinal in x-,mas ivy.

These are my 3rd and 4th attempts to refine the gesture drawing of the marsh wren. I found that quickly drawing the outline by contour drawing helped get the overall shape, then used some hatching and sketchy lines to fill in and add some depth. I struggled with getting the bill shape, proportions and eye to look right, but repeated practice helped a bit, and using  negative space helped with positioning the bird on the reed. I would say that quick sketching is coming more easily at this point. I need more practice with shading and adding depth and accuracy in details. I am so happy with the confidence this course is giving me to sketch everything.