I thought it would be interesting to see Stan's finished level 1 and level 2 side by side. It clearly shows that the shadow and light areas broadly established in level 1 are still very much maintained in level 2, despite all the extra details. The only part that I wondered about is on the left side of the head, sort of between the cheek and the ear: I kept thinking it looked almost like a halftone, not a shadow. So I tested it by copying swatches of tone and sure enough, it's still darker than a halftone. It probably feels lighter only because of darker values surrounding it. Also, I wanted to ask about the concept of "contained shapes" that Stan talks about around minute 17. The video shows a couple of examples of artists who use contained shapes but could someone please suggest some counter examples? Artists that use non-contained shapes? It might help to understand the concept.

This was hard but I enjoyed the process. I found that the first drawing was generally the worst.

Brutal challenge! I feel I should have been able to do a better job with the 4min sketches but since I knew I was 'working against the clock' I started rushing unnecessarily. Later on the rushing was quite necessary ;D

I used the 3D model from the Basics Course so my anvil has a slightly different shape but here are my orthos and the three view points. In the first one, looking from above, I feel like I didn't foreshorten then anvil enough and it looks very elongated. I think the other two are better. Also, it really helped starting with drawing cross-sections of the envelope box (in yellow) - this helped me to see the box dimensional and not just a bunch of crisscrossing lines ;) As I was drawing the eye-level view, I started to wonder: how would one do it in three point perspective? Would the third vanishing point be above or below the horizon and what would it depend on? Or would there be two more vanishing points and the anvil would be distorted as if by a fish-eye lens?

I started with some two value thumbnails and decided that I preferred the simpler shapes of the beard in the first one and the volumes of the head created by the shapes in the second thumbnail. Then I did a small five-value study where I tried to combine what I liked from the thumbnails. I feel that my final drawing lost some of the simplicity of the earlier sketches. Seeing how I struggled to control five values, I don't think I dare to tackle level 2 :(

Möbius strip :)

I’m so glad I took this course – especially alongside the figure construction one – they really tie together well. @Michael Hampton's clear, step-by-step approach, with each stage building on the last, helped remove the mystique and took the fear out of tackling figures for me. Thank you!

Trying to follow along.

Following along with the critique. I even gave the last shading part a go but think it would have made more sense if I actually knew what I was doing ;) Will have to get around taking an anatomy class some day!