I got the Conte a Paris Pierre Noire and I love the black color. However, mine tends to have some grit from time to time even after I sharpen it with a razor blade and sand paper. I’ll draw with it for a bit until I get that “scratchy” sound and I have to go onto some scratch paper to work it out. Do any of you have that issue? Or am I just not sharpening it correctly?

This is a spectacular lesson packed with a lot of stuff. I ended up taking a couple of weeks off to before finishing the lesson to let things sink in. I got a bit overwhelmed. I felt that my lack of anatomy knowledge was dragging me down. So I got The Anatomy of Style books (1 and 2) and copied those study sheets for a couple of weeks. Those books are worth their weight in gold! I came back to the lesson and, although it’s far from perfect and I feel mentally exhausted from the wealth of knowledge Patrick poured into this, I felt more confident drawing along to finish the piece. Thank you @Patrick Jones I’m so glad I discovered you.

I have a few proportional issues and probably other issues but I like how it’s going so far. I really like the process and I feel like it’s already made me much better than I was before. However, I feel like I’m constantly having to pause the video to resharpen my willow charcoal stick. @Patrick Jones is that how willow charcoal is or am I just too heavy handed with it? I’m using soft willow charcoal btw.

I like his style of teaching because I get into this relaxed and focused mood that really opens up my mind to what he’s saying as I draw. I feel like my art is getting better because of it. Although it’s far from perfect, this is better than I’ve done before in figure drawing.

i enjoyed every bit of this draw-along. I’ll probably do this lesson again but a slower speed because I caught myself mimicking the strokes in order to keep up rather than doing the “art” of it. But, I’m still pleased with the result. It’s definitely not proportionally accurate but I enjoyed this gestural over structure approach.