This is my first attempt pre-demo and pre-critique. I have to say I was quite lost on what to do. Simplify, I know, but I would've still appreciated a more detailed explanation/demonstration. I didn't really know what to do with the shoelaces and I struggled a lot with the proportions. I managed something, I guess. I hope the demo will make more sense to me.

This is my second attempt. I really enjoyed drawing the pear the first time, but after watching the demo and the critique video I felt overwhelmed. It took me almost a month to gather up the courage to try again. I try to remind myself that it's okay to be bad, I'm only learning, but I still struggle. When I draw something I don't like, I feel discouraged. When I draw something I do like, it feels like it happened by accident and I won't be able to recreate it. Anyway, here's what I tried to focus on for my second attempt vs. the fist: + No dark outlines around light shapes (though I was confused to what extent this applies to the contour) + transitional shadows between the lightest and the darkest areas + no/less symmetry to keep the shape more interesting + sharp edges, clear shapes I wanted to chose my forms in a way to make the planes of the fruit more apparent but it was too difficult for me.

Like most people, I used to draw when I was little but other than that I'm pretty new to everything here, especially the more structured approach. I've always wanted to learn how to draw, maybe this time I'll be able to actually get somewhere. I think I struggled most with preserving the sharp edges. I had to go over the darker areas several times because I started out with an HB pencil, so the dark areas weren't dark enough and the light ones were too dark. The darker area of the shadow under the pear and the one on the pear itself kept merging together as well. I didn't know if the contour of the pear was still supposed to be visible. Maybe I should've shaded horizontally instead of vertically? It just seemed easier to hold the pencil this way. Overall, considering that I struggle a lot with proportions as well whenever I try to draw something, I think it turned out to be a pretty recognizable pear. :) (It definitely helped me to use the photo as reference instead of an actual piece of fruit — might have to give that a try in the future). Any feedback at all would be very much appreciated!

When you convince yourself you can justify the cost of this course only to find out you have to pay 20 % VAT upon adding it to your cart... Yeah, I don't think I can justify it after all. Maybe that's for the better.