This one is much improved. I can really tell that it's more informed--details, shadows, subtleties of color. Still looks as wooden as the original, but hey, practice practice practice. This morning I woke up to the song of a yellow warbler in the bush outside my window. Coincidence?

I spent more time in the 1st one to get as much detail as possible. This was my 1st time using watercolors and its definitely harder than what I thought. I learned so much in this amazing course and I definitely need to continue practicing and developing patience with the watercolor. The talented people posting their work here is very inspiring !

It looks like two different people made it. It's almost unbelievable - indeed it would be if I wasn't myself the person behind both the drawings - that I managed to do it in just two months. Liz wasn't kidding when she said she had taught students that knew nothing of drawing. I'm truly impressed with her work. And even knowing I still need to get better at wet-on-wet, proportions, and negative space, I'm proud of mine!

Comparison between my two sketches (I chose not to use color for the second one either): - both heads still need a bit of work - my shading and line usage is SO MUCH BETTER - everything is far more proportional in general, looks more realistic - drawing with more confidence My drawing has improved so much. I've always loved art and nature, but haven't ever had anyone really break down all the art skills and strategies. I'm hoping to take some more photos of landscapes and paint those too. Really enjoyed this class and can clearly see the progress. These sketches are EXACTLY two months apart.

I held off on this exercise, partly because I didn’t want to mess up and partly because I didn’t want the course to end. I am feeling fairly comfortable with drawing, but need a lot of practice with painting. I am having trouble getting the 3D effects with watercolors. Also, I find handling the brush and paint to do finer lines is very tough for me. Need practice on getting a good background in as well. Practice, practice, practice! But this has been lots of fun and I hope to continue.

My chat turned out much better than the warbler. The body shape and position is better and the coloring. I will try to get better at drawing the warbler, but at least I know I can do one fairly accurately.

There was a long gap of time from when I started the class in October and am wrapping it up in mid May. I wish I had been able to stick with it in a more concentrated way in order to really work on improving, but I've enjoyed the techniques taught and plan to continue to work on improvement. I enjoy the Koi watercolor kit a lot, which is much easier than dragging out my tubes of color and large palette. I really need to work on showing a tilt of the head towards the viewer rather than everything looking like it is in profile!

I had not drawn any nature in 50 years, however I did draw insects at the California Academy of the Sciences in the mid sixties.  This was all brand new to me. My hardest issue is the landscapes. They all come out looking very impressionistic. You will note a big difference in my warblers.  The first one I only had colored pencils, so I had to order the watercolors. The last one took me a while to complete waiting for paint to dry.

The one  on top was take 2. I think I will re-sketch it and attempt to apply watercolor, but I'm struggling with progress and need to learn more techniques.

• Pleased with gains, really pleased. Feel good about proportions, layering, details, and ability to provide context/setting. Still not able to capture gesture of head partly turned toward observer. First sketch was 53 days ago (preCovid shelter-in-place), and I’ve had lots of time every day to work on exercises. Thanks for the good instructions.

     

Before After I can definitely see improvement!! I'm so happy!😁

I tried to put color to my drawing

I tried to use most of my new learned techniques.  Loved layering of colors,  I spent a lot more time on the sketch itself, focusing on shapes, negative space, measuring to get proportions.  I  really struggled with the beak and eye, did not feel I got it correct.  But happy with the rest of the drawing, better depth, color and value to my picture.

I think it shows progress. First drawing was a flat bird. This one is a much more rich bird. But you can say it better than I.

My first drawing is on the left. Current one is on the right. I see improvement in use of color and some details. What this course taught me is priceless. I learned about negative space decades ago. Now I am constantly reminding myself on taking another look for the details. I really

Certainly no LCF but I feel pretty good about my progress in the course. Three months ago I had never held a watercolor brush in my hand so anything is progress! But I am feeling better about some of the color blends I am getting and I plan to keep sketching and painting.  Thanks Liz!

-   So I did the first one (on the left) back in December. The one on the right I did just now.  There is certainly some progress.  I am going to try the watercolor next, but I do struggle with that a lot.  We shall see!

After some delay, I am working through final exercises.  I tried the reflection drawing two ways and will post the watercolor example as that was a skill I had never tried before this course. I started at "how do I hold the brush; how much water makes the watercolor 'work'?", to at least trying some levels of color match and brush control.   My second (unposted) repetition was to sketch the same photo using colored ink drawing over the pencil sketch.  In the watercolor, I was pleased that the elements of background, tree, leaves, and bird are represented well enough to be pleasant to view.   In the repeat ink-sketch, what I noticed most is that my attention to the "whole" was better than in my original sketch, where I focused only on the bird and slightly on the branch but without detail. Overall, wonderful course and experience. I hope to keep access to the course for a bit longer as I might want to review occasionally.    Thank you!