HI everyone. I'm in my late 70's and just starting drawing. In my grade 9 art class many years ago, due to my inability to comprehend what was being taught, I came to believe I lacked any semblance of creativity or artistic acumen, and so I just avoided it. Accompanying that perception re creativity, I also became afraid of failure. A year ago, I bought 3 courses here which also seemed to be overly challenging for me, so I put them away. My recent purchase of Drawing Basics seems to be the 'medicine' I needed. Stan's teaching is so very clear to me and fun as well. I've drawn 2 pears - one after 'simplify from observation' and one after 'simplify pear from observation'. That 2nd lesson really answered many of the questions emanating from my 1st effort. However, 3 questions please: 1. I'm not clear on shading technique - specifically, what direction should the shading lines follow? i.e. all vertical, all horizontal, random, according to perceived flow of object's shapes, etc.??? 2. I believe the shading should portray the amount of highlights or shade. However, should I be shading according to the non reflected light and dark colors within the object I'm drawing. eg. light green, dark green, etc. 3. How could I improve my shading? Thanx in advance for any help.

My first pear attempt. Any thoughts?

I'm pleasantly surprised with how this looks...but I don't think I differentiated the values enough, and I need to simplify better? More? Also I still haven't figured out how to keep my hand off the graphite after it's on the page 😅. Maybe I'll try again after watching the demo/critiques. Open to thoughts

My first assignment...got this course few days ago but couldn't bring myself to draw thanks to my crippling anxiety...but I'm trying again.

Personally I found this assignment very frustrating. Especially the VR girl. I just don't feel like I am ready to tackle drawings of such complexity and scale yet, with so many proportions to consider. The issues with proportions in the VR girl are so numerous that I just get too frustrated. I personally would've appreciated something a bit more simple to get the core concept (sketching) across rather than having such complex drawings. Especially a hand? I mean come on... everyone knows hands are very frustrating and challenging even for very experienced artists. I dunno maybe it's me.