For me, the easiest part was to respect the proportions, I thought it would have been more difficult. The biggest challenge was the wing with all the thin lines. To represent the different textures in the feathers is not easy. I noticed so many details during the process! For exemple how the wing is built in layers and the very subtle circle around the eye. After completing my first drawing, which took me long, I tried to do it a second time now sketching it in two minutes or so.

Hello Liz, here is my drawing. I really liked the picture of this cute bird and enjoyed drawing it. I don't know how to render the shades and the form of the feathers, and I would like to learn how to go from a simple sketch to an actual drawing. Thank you for your nice videos. 

Off and running!  So glad to finally be putting pencil to paper and giving this a try.  I liked sketching with a still photo so I could take my time and really focus on trying to get the proportions right - still have some work to do on that, but not horrified by my first effort.  The heavy paper and graphite pencil were so easy to work with.  I think I'm going to like this!

Drawing from the photo gave me time to notice details and attempt to get them in my drawing.  I do wonder about working with live subjects!  Plants will stay put, mostly, but light will change.  Critters, if I ask kindly, will they stay put just a little longer?  Guess not...  It seems that for now, if I want to really capture details, I may need to work from photos.  Getting the drawing down with pencil was easier than I thought it would be.  Paying attention to the detail in the bird was easy.  I loved the close observation work.  I think I wouldn't have noticed the close details in the plant if I were focusing on the bird while working outside.  And if working outside, I don't think I would have as much detail in the bird.  I'd have been making text notes to come back to fill in details in the drawing later. Thank you for sharing your photos and comments.  We do learn more when we share our experiences.

I'll try to insert the image later - I haven't been able to download the image from my phone. I liked drawing from a photo - it didn't move, unlike birds.  You could look back at the image and see something new almost every time I looked.  Getting the proportions right was really tough for me and I tend to draw lightly with a pencil first and (after lots of fiddling around) got to a place that seemed pretty good.  I didn't think anything came easily.  I added the branches and leaves as an afterthought - which helped. I didn't notice that the bird had cocked its head until I read someone else had discovered it - that was brilliant.  I probably wouldn't have noticed the amount of non-yellow in the Yellow Warbler if I hadn't been trying to draw it.  The difference that journaling will probably make is I will learn how to identify which details are important.  I wonder if it is possible to find important details to include and still draw more freely.  I already learned that I enjoy playing with color and tend to spend a lot of time looking at detail.

I definitely struggled with drawing this photo. I am not great at drawing period, and with my kids around I really struggled to pit in the time I wanted to. However, my drawing was better than I it would be, so I am proud of myself in that sense. I think something I really noticed was the wing patterns, or any patterns in general are a huge benefit when you are drawing.

I loved trying to draw the warbler. I like using a photo as a reference. But I am most used to color pencils and was trying to use watercolor pencils for this one, since I thought maybe that's what would be used in the field. I noticed that the bird wasn't really looking sideways, he is somewhat looking toward us and I couldn't capture that. I noticed the black and yellow alternations in his wing feathers and that the steaks on his chest have some redness to them and are uneven..

I have a bit of a mental block about sketching, so this course will help me with that.  I'm think I'm most interested in sketching plants, so it's great that the first project was NOT plants, but something that is likely harder, i.e. this bird.  I do love bird watching!  This was fun.

First I tried watercolor but found it difficult to get fine detail. So I then drew with graphite. It will be interesting to compare before course/ after course drawings!

Drawing from a photo makes it easy to check proportions, but I still didn't get her all on the page. Missed off half her tail. Noticed that feathers tend to follow the shape of the body and that there are fare more tones in the bill than I thought. Starting doors make you look, especially when the drawing doesn't look right, and you try to figure out why.

Forgot to insert my image.

I enjoyed the opportunity to truly study the bird with depth, but I found it challenging to capture all that I wanted to in especially in terms of proportion and perspective. However, drawing enabled me to see all the variations in color and the exquisite detail of its feathers and the different sections of feathers that I may have overlooked if I was just looking at a photo. I could see how drawing what I see will make me a more keen observer.

I'm glad the course has us dive in right away and get to drawing.  I couldn't quite get the tilt of the bird's head but I like drawing from photos and focused hard on not being too precious with it.  I don't think I would have noticed the difference in the wing feathers as much.  I also never noticed how much black striping there is on the wings, despite having photographed Yellow Warblers several times before.

1. I did like drawing the leaves first and the bird afterwards. It came easily, the body of the bird was challenging to get the right measures. In addition, I found my bird is smaller than yours. 2. I did not notice a piece of wood, when I made the photo bigger, i have noticed it. I believe it depends on the time and experience. I wanted to draw nice leaves, but they are not nice for me. I guess I do not have a technique yet, but it will come. I have added the information on the previous page about the day, time and weather conditions. I did not want to color it because I am too curious to see another video tonight.

Apprehensive to start but then found it absorbing and enjoyable. What was easy was that the image was static, fixed, and thus there was no pressure of time or memory. The difficulty comes with selecting what is important to include or emphasize and what can be omitted ... I would omit detail in the surroundings of the bird, unless they were important data. I find it hard to get the proportions and shapes to come out right. I hope the course will help me with this skill. And the shading due to the play of light is a challenge, not so much in this exercise as the light is directly behind the observer and so the bird is fully illuminated, but often, that is not the case.

I always draw from a reference photo so there is no change there for me. I usually draw either flowers, butterflies, or comic book characters so the bird itself was something new.  I gave myself an hour time limit because I know that in nature I won't have unlimited time with subject.   So, leaving it as a sketch instead of a finished drawing was in itself a challenge for me. If I had taken a photo of the bird instead of taking the time to draw it I would not have noticed that the lower beak seems thicker than the upper half of the beak.

I enjoyed drawing the yellow warbler and was able to observe some of the finer details such as the red streaks on the breast and the veins on the leaves . Also , challenging to get the right angle of the branches and perspective of the bird in relationship . 

The drawing forces you to really look at the details.  I tried to get the correct scale.  My drawing is probably too detailed for journalling, but I enjoyed doing it.  The bird was challenging but you do see the beauty in the bird's feathers.   It is interesting to see how the feet are gripping the branch.  

Rendering in pencil reminds me to be sure to note the colors of the features. A fun and challenging exercise! Anxious to try watercolor. Scrolling down I realized I will need to go back and include the branch and leaves like the others students.

Rendering in pencil reminds me to be sure to note the colors of the features. A fun and challenging exercise! Anxious to try watercolor. Scrolling down I realized I will need to go back and include the branch and leaves like the others students.

Drawing from a photo seems somewhat easy; you can look several times, find details (even if you don't include them!), etc.  I wasn't perfect, but you can estimate distances (where the bird is on the branch, how far the leaves are) etc.  It easy to miss things: the moss on and fungi (?) on the tree branch.  Interestingly, I didn't draw those because I think I don't really know how! Haha! I haven't really done "nature journaling", but I have spent time with a not so spiffy camera, with a slow motor.  It taught me to watch closely/look closely, but I still think I miss lots of details.   This was a nice start.  I look forward to what's coming.

Drawing ANYTHING seemed like a real challenge!  I found the head region the most difficult, and did not worry much about getting the leaves done accurately.  After the initial sketch, I tried adding color with my brand new pencils.  I liked the result, then looked at the others posted here.  I have a lot to learn!