Here are my sketches so far!!

These are my attempts before watching the demo, I worked from level 1 to level 2. I started with blobs inspired from torso and pelvis poses (similar to an exercise in the figure drawing course), then moved to seals and “simple” sea creatures, then to insects (and a snake). My first attempts at seals were a bit stiff and felt flat. I feel that sometimes I failed to find a balance in terms of “line density”. I tried to change the poses from the reference, but only did it marginally for the sea creatures. It feels easier to change organic shape that are more curved as I feel less bound by anatomy restrictions. For example when I tried to change some of the insects I was blocked my lack of knowledge on them. Once again, I love the exercise and I like the freedom that organic forms give. I will watch the critiques and try a few more animals. I also saw someone that did a beautiful work cross contouring a head, this is definitely something I want to try. I keep trying various medium, fine liners can be very punitive but also rewarding. Any comments or feedback welcome :)

I used to overcomplicate things with the Loomis method, but these steps have been helping a lot. Still got a long way to go

Had a go with the portrait. It was so hard to commit to just 5 values! In hindsight I should have used more than one pencil to help keep things clearer for me. I kept changing my mind what bits should be which values. On top of that keeping an eye on proportion is hard enough and trying to stay accurate while also trying to design shapes??? I got a bit lost! I'm rethinking some of the values I chose, particularly that dark shadow round the chin.... Looking forward to watching the demo and critique. If anyone has any specific advice it would be much appreciated!

This is my first attempt with the pear and portrait. It was a lot harder than expected, but I can't wait to keep going! I would appreciate any advice you can give me.