I wanted to do this level 2 because making up birds has always been a favorite for me. There are some thumbnails in my album for more, but this were my favorites. Finally practicing drawing with whole arm. A bit pale, but probably I’ll darken them afterwards. I just want to see the demo and critique and start the next module…

Finally posting the final works for this project. I started watching the demo and quickly realized that all the work I had done was geared towards the 2nd level (inspired by the monkey live drawing) and that my shapes were not as simple as wanted. After incorporating the circle exercise to my warmup, I have completely changed my workflow. Stan’s insistence on the need to have confident lines has me filling tons of scrap paper… 😁

I liked this a lot. My weaknesses are legion. Line stroke quality is an issue, though I keep practicing. The overhand grip seems years ahead of me, though I am learning to use the arm and not just the wrist. In a way it’s analogous to learning a new alphabet, or to write kanji with a brush. But my biggest block is to focus on the objective of an exercise , specially when the image is so compelling that my mind can’t give up on the right proportions or making it “look right”. I seem to lack a switch to turn in or off (I’ve recently discovered I have ADHD-TI..) I wonder if this will change once I’m more comfortable making proportions. Ok, this is starting to sound like a journal post.

The pear without the spiral binding was my first attempt. The second pear was done after watching the demo. The lighting is a bit weird

First try on drawing the hand. Pleasantly surprised, it's been a while since I've drawn hands. I first used a red pencil for the lay-in and then a HB-pencil for the more refined lines.

One more entry for the master studies assignment, both from the same picture (the hands), and a cheat one (the face, using a brush marker). This time my focus was on line quality. I ignored proportions and let go of my attempts to replicate the face expression. (For the previous posts I worked with grids). I did sketch before committing to lines - (otherwise my lines would have been way more I secure). When warming up or doodling from imagination my line quality is way better. Drawing from observation (with or without measurement) my lines show all the I security. Drawing over my sketches is the only way to compensate that insecurity.

Master: Alberto Breccia. He worked with pen and brush. Before watching the demos, I focused on his use of line weight, but didn’t feel the need to reproduce the strokes (I was too I obsessed with proportions, specially of the eyes, in order to retain the bewildered expression. The last attempt centers in part of the face. Before watching the demo I worked two hours on it, and after watching the demo I reworked to approximate the quality of the line strokes, but the sheer size this parity made it daunting. The way I hold my pencils as left handed forced me to work upside down. Si that took me an additional hour and a half to correct. Lessons learnt: when the aim of the study is to practice the quality of strokes, I need to -adjust size to match tools - be aware of how my left handedness might impact stroke quality; - not to focus on faces where both details of stroke and proportions will impact the overall expression.

Finally submitting.Done before watching the demo, but decided to maintain the blackened nostril and ear.

Finally submitting.Done before watching the demo, but not too bad.