Ok, I've been struggling to get the hang of bigger shapes and sketch strokes, but I finally did a drawing with them. I even occasionally heard the scratching sound of the pencil that you hear in the demo when Stan draws. I can't say enough positive stuff about the format of this class and how observing the drawing gives me insight into the craft. Started out with a diamond shape for the face and feel like I had so much more ability to put the subject together. I definitely need to practice this lots. I'll prolly be on this step for many months here. I can't wait to "own" this technique more.

Any advice for those of us who have a hard time not making our drawing run off the page?

Hi, I tried again after watching the demo on some other references. Any comments are appreciated.

Good exercise for me! Restarted snail so much due to way off proportions. Excited to watch demos

First post here... happy to receive criticism and feedback

Here is my second attempt at the mushrooms. I am still experimenting with the pencil tool in Photoshop. I figured out that when using opacity with pressure sensitivity, ultimately the value will build up to but not exceed the selected swatch. I find I have much less coordination on the slippery angled surface of the graphics tablet than I do on paper. I tend to hold more tension in my hand and shoulder in order to control the slipping of the stylus. Meanwhile, the side of my hand sticks to the surface, so that if I use it as support, I can only draw from my wrist. Has anyone working with digital managed to overcome this? What is the weird glove that Stan wears?

Simplify portrait after watching demo. I think watching the demo helped me a lot, my first attemp before, was not realy simplified. I chosed another reference for my second try.

Ok, so I did not do the exercise correctly, though I did draw that Korean? dude 3 x. It is really hard to use hard lines without curves and only 5 values. Would you recommend trying this exercise on a computer program where we would truly be limited to 5 values? I also would love to buy markers, but at this point, me and the eraser are quite involved lol. I know there are at least a few big proportion issues that I couldn't sort out by the time I could see it as I was too far along (like that dark nose shadow). Anyway, here's my 2nd attempt at the pear and then a much more concentrated effort drawing the intriguing Mitzi Martin (with way too many sources of light on her (note to self)) to see if I could do a portrait with sharp lines and 5 values. It's a little hard to see without a background, but how would I create the background? What value would work and still show the white and dark properly? Since I've already really stretched myself, I'm calling this good for now.

Is this the exercise? I was doing what I thought was the exercise, to the benefit of drawing lots better than I usually manage. I was going for broader shapes and really trying to have different values. But I'm not sure if this is sharp lines? I also didn't know if I was ready to try the level 2 exercise, then surprised myself w a way better portrait than I've done before. Definitely learning. But should I try to do it with sharper lines? Also don't have a softer lead pencil yet, which I'm looking forward to having soon!