Nature Journaling and Field Sketching

Revising a gesture sketch is something I've never done before. That aside, I find I was really looking for the negative spaces. This gallinule cries for color, however - can't wait!

This exercise was difficult but I think it came out reasonably well.  I tried the fox and it did not turn out so well.  I can see where drawing from life instead of a picture is going to be very difficult.

SCHLITZ AUDUBON CENTER: Holds a photo shoot every year. Photographers come from all over the country to participate. They also have   a raptor program every few weeks. Participants can sketch, draw, paint or photo the birds. I have a few quick sketches from one of these events. My photos are better than my sketches. I have been attending the Audubon's painting classes and hope to improve/ learning a lot about the resident 'Birds'.

I see that I need much more practice here!  I made an improvement over my 60 sec sketch but not quite the quality I hoped for.  Looks like 3 yr old drew it!  Creating darker shading will help to create depth.  I think my original was so out of proportion that it would need to start over completely......but I tried! I

Proportion and negative space were both quite challenging at my first attempts; now I feel they are really helpful and, bit by bit, I'm getting better at using it :)

Kaia's Drawing: 

Kaia's Mom's Drawing: 

I drew this little wren from a photo taken on a hike.  This course has been very helpful—hard to to say what has been the most helpful! I think what has helped me most is to be practical and realistic about what I can accomplish in the field.  If all I can do is make a few shapes and write down how I feel and what I wonder about it—well that’s enough.

What I find most difficult is fitting the drawing on my paper. Unless I use a ruler to go from large to small, and use proportions, I run out of room! The techniques I find most helpful are negative space and short sketchy lines. I  chose to draw the marsh wren because I really liked the photo and my gesture drawing were all done very small.

I took off on a new venture with this assignment. The challenge? To apply the drawing techniques to capture the details of a wolf spider I observed, at great length, in my garden. It was uncovered while I was weeding… by hand, no chemicals or mechanical devices. I took a photograph to work from. It seemed overwhelming at first, however, proportional techniques, keeping negative space in mind, and using short sketchy lines, mark-making, value, and breaking my subject down into shapes and relationships helped immensely.

Using negative space to find the distances between things is coming naturally, but shading correctly is posing more of a problem to me. Or, maybe it's not the shading so much as shading but also retaining details while doing so. Once I shade something it all seems to get blurred and the details aren't crisp and clean like they are in nature. Finding and using negative space has probably been the most helpful technique in this course so far. It helps a lot when something looks wrong but I can't tell what. 

I really enjoyed refining this drawing. Getting the values right is always the most challenging and it is important to know when to stop and not overdo it. I think the use of a Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black 6B and 8B pencil on top of a drawing done primarily with a mechanical 0.5 F pencil helped me a lot in achieving this.

The initial sketch is coming naturally, but refining it with more detail - especially shading, is difficult. I like the technique to imply patterns and texture, I would have been hung up in the past with trying to sketch every detail as I focused on specific areas and parts of the bird.

The general shape of the bird has come more easily to me, but the difficulties have been making the bird look more realistic and feet have always been a struggle for me, but luckily this one's feet are more hidden. The most helpful technique I've learned so far is the gesture sketching itself, it gives the bird such a natural look.

I chose one second of the `Red Fox P&K on an Alaska Beach´ to do my draw, I said one second because the amazing hyperactivity of the fox cub it´s only comparable with the tenderness that the video demonstrate, but deepening in the feeling that provoked in me, I think I found this emotion like the best technique that I need to express it, helped and using the skills that we learned in past lessons, of course, I just hope I got it.

I loved this practice. Starting with the quick sketch allows for such freedom and a loose quality. Following with refinement makes the piece really pop and highlights the bird's natural beauty and motion. I find focusing on negative space invaluable! It's such a fantastic, easy way to confirm proportions and accuracy. Getting the right position is still a struggle for me but the negative space really helps with that.

Getting the proportions right.  Sketchy lines has helped me with this.  

I am finding the mark making and value shading is coming more easily the more that I practice it.  I find myself naturally shifting into looking at the negative spaces more often too.  Taking proportion measurements is something that I would need to do more intentionally.

I really enjoyed re-learning gesture drawing. That is the key to field sketching success! My big ah-ha moment! Drawing is definitely a skill. Although I consider myself to be a life-long artist, I am very out of practice and I feel rusty. One of my goals with this course is to establish more regular drawing time back into my life. I like the cross-hatching inside the mouth for darkness.

Going back to the quick drawings and correcting the details was fun - I was amazed at how many things needed tweaking. But was also pleased that I could see the problems and fix them.

Assigning value is hard but practice sessions like this are helping. Most helpful has been to focus more on the negative space.

I would say the two most helpful techniques refining the sketch were  proportion and negative space as not only in the drawing but also in the adding details of the seagull sketch I was doing. The shading helped with depth and bringing out the wings.  Proportion was so helpful in getting body length, head and legs in sync.

I really have trouble with depth. 

I am learning so much and renewing some of the skills I acquired in art classes decades ago.. 

My polished lizard

Putting the techniques I've learned was lots of fun.  The easiest for me to use was proportion and negative space.  The hardest is shading.  I still have touble seeingwhere the shadows are and  I have trouble using the right technique and getting the right value.

The techniques I found most helpful are proportion, negative space and breaking the subject down into shapes and relationships.  But I find myself using all the different techniques at different times.

I am concentrating on working quickly, adding detail later during commercials on television. I viewed a Chevy truck commercial a number of times getting a little more detail in the quick sketch each time because it was a very amusing story. 

I find the proportion tool useful as well as simply going back several times after stepping away a bit to add more detail. The more values (light, medium, and dark) shades I give the drawing, the more 3D it becomes.

It is tough to be in the field and trying for the full gesture drawing before the subject leaves.  The Cedar Waxwing flew in a blink but in that moment, I could not see the flat shape of the top of its head.  The feathers seemed tucked down as it flew.  Does anyone know why this bird has a red spot on the tertial feathers?  What adaptation could the red color be for and in only one small spot?

I continue to battle proportions in my viewpoints but feel better at observation details. Short strokes help a lot. Always willing to walk away from the drawing and then come back to refine again and again.

Still sometimes dealing with proportion of viewpoint. Sketchy lines approach has helped me over the course rather than just aiming for shapes. Still working on the details always...

Gesture Drawing Exercise:  Not much detail just a basic outline, I didn't really get in any shading and proportions of parts are all wrong. Refined Drawing:  I was able to add a lot more details to this drawing.  I had to do a lot of fixing of proportions and shading of light and darks.  The proportions still need work I think, there are still more details that I overlooked when I took a step back at my drawing.  It was fun though!    

I have learned more about balancing proportion. Looking back at my sketches I can see where measuring makes a huge difference. Blank space has made a difference  

I am pleased with my progress, knowing that I will never be an artist. All the skills have been useful to me. I taught biology and zoology and always told my students I flunked art. I think noticing the open spaces has been very helpful.

Took  a quick sketch image and tried to make it better.

I’m happy with this. But there was a lot of rubbing out !! 🙄

The points I jotted down about drawing skills helped a lot to do this drawing. I felt more confident when I started drawing. Using sketchy lines made it easy to depict subjects on paper. Looking at negative space is more naturally now. The challenging aspect of the drawing was the proportion/ Yet. by measuring techniques it became more easy. Looking at negative space helped so much.

The proportions were so wrong on my gesture drawing that I ended up nearly redoing the entire drawing. Looking at negative space really helps.

I think looking at the negative space has been the most helpful.  It's something I didn't think about before but it has really helped me get my proportions more accurate.

I feel like I still need to work on shading to create depth and contrast. I think putting in more hours would help! I found the squint test to be the most helpful. I'd never really thought about using a technique like that to see the lights and darks when drawing. 

Looking at negative spaces has probably made the biggest impact in my drawing. I think switching to a harder lead may help (currently using 0.5 mm HB .. may switch to an "F" or an "H"). BEFORE: AFTER:

Still too afraid to lean in on the picture.

When creating depth I find that concentrating on negative space, and shapes is really important .  However, shading with the side of my pencil the way that I would do in “chiaroscuro” exercise works best for me.  So I always lean on that technique. I find hatching and cross hatching very difficult even though I like the look in drawings .  I guess it’s something I really need to practice to add variety. I recently tried using a pencil or small ruler to judge proportion .  I’ll carry a ruler along in my art tote now.  I use to guess for my proportions.

I enjoyed this! I found myself thinking about the similarities of this bird to the Carolina wren - a bird I see often in my bird feeding area. It's one of my favorite birds because of its overall delicacy, perky tail and rich rust coloring.

Feels like a complete make over... lots of erasing...and the bill...and I have gotten to know the marsh wren a lot better...fun!   b

My gesture drawing was a bit of a wild exploration.  Today's drawing more controlled.  I still didn't 'get it', but it's fun to try!

Proportions seems a bit of a challenge in my sketching.  The challenge lies not solely in measurement, but more in that when as adjustments are made to correct, other areas and angles begin to be thrown off. Here are a couple that I got mostly correct.

I tend to want to draw in sections and I need to remember to try and focus on the shapes and then refine from there. the negative space and proportion skills are so useful but I always get deep into the drawing before I realize I forgot to use them. all of these tool have really been helpful!

Enjoyed this, but it was tricky distinguishing between the darker coloured fur and shaded areas. More practice!

I found the exercise so helpful.  The use of negative space and relativity really helped improve the proportions as did the mark makings and shading.   I think it will be a useful tool to do quick gesture drawing but then come back and refine.  And to give myself the permission to erase and improve upon first sketches.

Went ahead with the bird in demonstration. I tried to follow the information but will need practice.  

I feel like I didn't refine so much as totally redraw, though I suppose I worked from the base negative space I'd captured pretty accurately in the gesture drawing and worked from there, but I basically erased the entire original gesture drawing. Still, pretty happy with how this one turned out. 

When I started with the quick gesture drawing of a still object timed I found that much easier and I liked it better than trying to capture the moving image.  I found the Pintail Duck impossible for myself and gave up.  The Mourning Doves at the feeder were ok because they sat long enough to get something on the paper.  When I refined both the Wren and the Coyote original gesture drawing I was pleased to see that the proportions were not too bad. With the Wren I could see right away that the space between the head and tail ( the negative space) was not large enough and I corrected that distance. Over all I got the head a bit too big for the body but decided to leave that as a reminder to myself. The bulrush and the bill were out a bit and I corrected that. A few other corrections were needed too but they were obvious and easy to change. I liked doing it this way. I used all the techniques you have taught us, first the quick gesture drawing, measuring the negative space between parts of the object, using my pencil to gauge proportion and slant,  the shading teqnique for depth, short strokes with my pencil......I also used all the same techniques with the coyote to refine and I could refine more, I think the head is a bit small but it wouldn't take much to enlarge it a bit. Using negative space is very useful for me. When I use it to refine, I can see at a glance where I need to refine.

Shading and texture are coming more easily - though I always feel I am drawing with lines that are too dark.  I need to "lighten up!"  Also, proportion seems to be getting better.  I find gesture drawing with moving objects really difficult.  I captured a gesture of the pintail from the video and then went back and refined it with the video paused.  It was great practice.

I'm finding the negative space and value techniques are really helpful. I am worried that I won't have anywhere near enough time in the field to capture enough information to fill in detail later, once the subject has moved on. I guess with practice comes confidence!

Yes this was pretty interesting.  But tedious.  I wasn't sure I had the attention span but I kept going and completed the pix.  As true as I tried to be with the interior lines, they are still wonky but look ok anyway.

Certain shading techniques now seem suggested by the the subject, for example, hatching for the markings on the wren's tail feathers or stippling on the cattail reed. The negative space concept (ingrained by the upside down drawing) was very useful in getting proportion and shape of the wren to reed areas. My biggest downfall is with rapid gesture drawing (my third attempt at a one minute wren yielded woefully inaccurate proportions). There seems to be inadequate time to hold out the pencil to measure and still get the shapes and essence down. Hopefully it will improve with practice.  In my refined drawing the wren appears to be more in profile than the photo depicts. Perhaps a problem with the eye position or shape or the beak or neck shading...?

The exercise made me look more closely at the bird and identify some of the markings that I had not seen before.  the Wings were very hard until I decided not to put so much detail into them.

Was a challenging exercise.  I chose to do the wren.I think I would need a reference photo for a more finished sketch from a field sketch. Not sure my phone camera would get the detail. I'll have to see. The birds/animals wouldn't sit still long enough to get something refined.  Most useful is the negative space concept and getting the general shapes.

Challenges: distinguishing drawings to illustrate the bird's "marks" (like dots & feathers) from shadows. Techniques: chiaroscuro, cross-hatching, blending, contour hatching, paying attention to shapes & negative space.

Contour hatching and short sketchy lines come easiest to me. I find that proportion and breaking subject down into shapes and relations are most difficult.  Making short sketchy lines is most helpful.

This was fun. I have been watching an "eagle cam" to practice gesture drawing and decided to use one with the Mom (?Dad) incubating the eggs (2), adjusting the grass lining of the nest.  The most difficult for me was the feathers. I am still working on techniques for just giving the suggestion of feathers, not having to draw each one.

The shape of animals always messes me up. It always takes me a long time to decide what the shape is. However, adding small, distinctive details helps me see what the animal is, like spots on feathers, bumps on skin, etc.

I really enjoy going back to this sketch, I usually work with watercolors, and working with a pencil, gave me a different way to see those little details.

Negative space and portion are the hardest for me. I was wishing I had a blending stick for this on.  The quick gestures and upside down drawing seem to be the most helpful.

I've gotten interested in seeing and drawing negative space now that I better understand what it means. I also used the squint test to assess lights and darks. Getting proportions right is still difficult. Sighting with my pencil remains tricky. But I am trying to look more for how parts of the subject relate to each other. Above all, I think I need patience! Do a little. Set it aside. Then do a little more. I may not like what I am working on. But if I set it aside and come back, it may not seem as bad and I can see what I need to work on.

I am using all the drawing skills you have introduced.  I can see progress and improvement in seeing and capturing more detail.  I am using negative space along with proportion and relationship of shapes and lines and feel it is coming together for me.  I painted when I was younger but didn’t seem to have the time to work on it too often.  I retired in April 3 weeks after the stay at home order.  I have very much enjoyed sketching and working on my art again.  I am having so much fun and I am sketching on a daily basis.  I think this is the most helpful impact, just taking the time to sit and try to capture the birds or whatever I see. Pat

Not finished yet, but progressing.

I think drawing negative shapes is by far the most helpful skill for this exercise in my opinion. What was more difficult for me was measuring proportions.  

This course has just been so wonderful. I have never drawn a thing in my life but decided to take this course as a nature lover, and as covid pastime. It has opened up a whole new world to me on so many levels. Here is my fox:

I was wondering, are you drawing these images the same size as you see them? Or scaling up or down? is your image right next to your paper or in front of you? How might these ideas change the difficulty level of these drawings? I have trouble drawing something a very different size from its actual size.

Getting the shapes and proportions right are the hardest aspects of sketching for me. I find I am using negative space more and it is helpful, and I like adding texture and value. My initial gesture drawing of the fox was very rough but had a certain dynamism which I am not sure is there in the more polished sketch.

Sketches  and refining a sketch. Proportions are very difficult

The most helpful technique for me was using short sketchy lines

I find the right proportions difficult to achieve. The different ways for shading were most helpful.

I found that by adding depth to a drawing I observed the highlights & lowlights and overall more detail on my drawing . Still refining the shading technique.

This was fun.   Slowly getting better at drawing what I see.   I’m still finding that drawing in the field is very challenging, photos are easier.. they don’t decide to leave just as you get started 🙂.   Jen

Looking through my journal, I decided to refine the 30 seconds gesture sketch of the Road Runner (June 15, 2020): I wanted to compare how I looked at & sketched an image/subject in 30 seconds then how I looked at it and sketched it with an unlimited time (took me around an hour and a half to finish it). I think when I did the quick sketch the “feeling” of its speed was visible n the sketch’s crown, however, In reality it isn’t visible as much. I’m wondering now, how much do we add from our own memory and interpretation of a behaviour while sketching? If there was no photograph would I be able to sketch at such accuracy? The most important and helpful technique was the measuring proportion and the lighting and shades. I used fine liner pens (0.05 & 0.1) for this sketch, which were 7  colours: Grey, Black, Dark Grey, Sepia, Bright Sepia, Red, Blue + a yellow coloured pencil for the eye. I tried to be aware of other techniques while sketching but I couldn’t. I was thinking of looking at the overall subject without its details, but I’m not sure if i did it consciously or i missed - cause the moment I start sketching I  went deep into and I lost track of techniques used! This is the final image:

I enjoyed the process of going back to refine the sketch from the gesture drawing session. Make me realize how hard it is to get things down on paper accurately in such a short period of time. One of the aspects that really drew me to the course was learning the skills to draw birds in the wild. Now I feel like practicing gesture drawings and then refining them with photos of that species will help make my drawings spontaneous, lifelike and accurate. I must agree with the others that this bird's bill was difficult! Had to refine many times. It's perspective and dimensions are just a little off what your brain wants them to be.

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.  

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.

I can definitely see the drawing skills all coming together as I refine. I still have trouble with angles and proportions. I really like looking at negative space to see if I have things rightm

Getting the basics shapes and form is coming naturally. Filling in detail is hit or miss. I sometimes don't know if I take it too far or too little.

This refining was difficult for me. If it weren't for the negative space practice I would have been in big trouble. I decided to color it since I couldn't define the light from the dark on such a small scale. I'll keep trying.  I found that the upside down exercise was very helpful and surprisingly accurate. Kind of hard to do in the wild though. So I think it finally helped to get this bird to look like a small marsh wren which I think it might be because of its environment. I looked it up and confirmed that ID by the wide open mouth and its other markings. I'm so glad they sing or we would never find them.

I am more aware of negative space and looking at positioning of areas.

I can definitely see the progress I've made since the beginning of the course...not only in the sketches themselves but the speed and accuracy of the sketches has also improved.  So thankful to have returned after a brief hiatus and thankful for the content.

I did a new gesture drawing for this one, because the only semi-usable one from earlier lessons was the wren, but it wasn't very good. I think I'm progressing in all areas generally. I like the way the dove proportions came out, and I think my "eye" is being trained to see the details. The many wing feathers were hard, though.  I also did a goldeneye from a digiscoped photo using an iPad and Apple pencil. Interesting to compare the digital techniques, which are very similar and in the end very powerful. Looking forward to the watercolors!  

It took a lot of erasing and my page is messy. My gesture drawing had some proportion issues but it did have some good negative space and angle relationships to work from.  I continue to learn how negative spaces and relationships are so important for accuracy in drawing.

I spent some time refining the tree frog gesture drawing. Even though the original was just a bunch of scribbles, I was stoked to see it kind of captured this frog's "gesture". Anyway, I took some time and refined it using the proportion and negative space lessons a bunch. I wanted to do a before and after but I drew over the original gesture!

I revised the lizard picture from the timed gesture drawing exercise. I find that using proportions comes easily to me. But drawing negative space is still difficult. For example, I redrew that membrane that hangs down from the throat several times focusing on negative space and it is still not right. I also need to work more on breaking the object down into shapes; I think that would help me draw objects more quickly when I am observing live, moving animals.

I found this exercise to be somewhat of a turning point for me in this class because I came to realize that my 60 second gesture drawing was VERY useful in rendering the subject at a later time.  In the past, I may have considered quick sketches (more like scribbles!) as minimally useful and more of a "throw-away" drawing.  After doing this exercise I feel I can trust the gesture phase to be a foundation for further development, especially if I'm choosing from a series of gesture drawings.  Some of the other students commented that they felt they had captured something special in their gesture drawings (bring out some of the vibrancy, personality, even Life of their subject). I'm finding the "negative space" technique helps with critical portions of a drawing as does "seeing and drawing shapes" instead of say an "actual feather" (which is overwhelming in its detail!) gives me the confidence to keep working on the drawing.  One challenge I've found, that was almost comically apparent to me was that I put considerable detail into the head of this bird before moving on to the body and when I was approaching finishing, I realized I had the proportions wrong and the bird looked "off" to me.  But I really liked the head (especially area around and including eye) and didn't want to erase it.  For kicks, I opened the image in Photoshop and made the head bigger. YES! I was right about the proportions.  I left it as it was here, and in my notebook, wanting to archive the process and remember the lesson learned...they'll be plenty more bird drawings in my future! AND:  This subject didn't originally have a discussion section and I reached out to Liz to inquire if it could be added. Liz agreed it was a useful addition and quickly added the opportunity for us to share (so come on, SHARE!) Thank you Liz--your "live" presence makes this course Extra Special!