Began by simplifying shapes, trying to capture the characteristic dark patch on the neck and frill. For better or worse, the “sphere with spikes” had a Sonic vibe to it. Not sure if the end result is as sketchy as the assignment called for. Also not quite sure I sold the head tilt perspective on the final piece. But the design forms a relatively pleasing shape. Also maybe it lacks some of the required exaggerated character?

OMG. This is the first time in my life that I draw from my imagination. At first I was going to skip this task because it seemed too difficult for me. But you really managed to encourage me to try and not be afraid. I am so happy that you did! Because I surprised myself so much. I designed the final pose completely from my imagination. And I'm really proud of the result. Thank you!

Here is my attempt at making a goat! I feel like the the first image of the bigger goat had a bit more movement in its shaggy coat that In didn't get across as much in the final sketch. I think this is an exercise worth revisiting for sure!

I'll share how that project went for me. It was quite a journey to be fair. I made 2 attempts at this project, one before watching the demo and one after. The first one was quite messy. I chose to draw a black merle, and thought that I first had to study it, as I don't know what makes a merle a merle, what differentiates it from other birds. So I studied a lot of different pictures to understand that bird better. As you can see I lost some reference pictures, the process was quite messy.

Not sure if it was quite as sketchy as the assignment requested, but I definitely felt more loose doing this than other assignments.

Two physical and two digital. I may have been too loose with the boots and too tight with the skull, but happy with the results on the latter. Great exercise for judging stroke character.

Trying both physical and digital. Definitely tough to master the "timing" of the stroke to get it stronger at the right sections of the ellipse. Naturally my hand would both accelerate and apply more pressure. It took conscious effort to keep the same pace, only modulating pressure. A good one to repeat.

A pencil and digital, one day apart. Have yet to watch the critique. The pencil was an improvement over digital to be sure, but it took a long time to work the proportions. Overcompensated a bit compared to yesterday - the face now too wide as opposed to too narrow. Used a blue pencil to sketch the proportions which helped massively. Fewer pencils were usable than expected to differentiate values. Used the full range at 6B, 2B, H, 4H, and white color, and even still the differentiation isn’t as intense as I’d like. the paper seemed to present its texture no matter how I used the tip. The lips and ear are surely the messiest. Struggled to get coherent shapes. The eyes are also looking at the viewer, rather than the bottom right.

Wanted to try twice, once per the instructions (pear-1), and a second as watercolor (pear-2), which I'd also like to learn! Not entirely happy with my shape selection on the first - a bit too many small angle changes. Happier overall with the second's shapes, but my midtone green came out a bit too strongly, overpowering the more chromatic shadows. Something to consider with this medium going forward - stay fully committed to hue shifts in the future? Also felt a little limited by using only a 0.5mm mechanical pencil. Excited to get my hands on a proper set of graphite pencils for the next assignment. Thinking I'll give the portrait a go.