Hi Michael, looks pretty good. First things I noticed: -Your values are really well designed the texture on the black wings looks beautiful -I think it represents the photo very well and looks like a seagull at least to me. Improvements - Comparing the 2 directly I can see the bird is tilted more to the left. - The wings on the reference is bigger on the photo respect to the body - Making maybe a previous study would be better to make consturction - I personally thing the background done with pencil is unnecessary Look amzing tbh, I'm jelous

Hi Michael. I think you show good care in applying the values, even without adding some of the trickier texture. If you are practicing accuracy, I would recommend making some loose sketches to explore the relationship of the bird's wings to the rest of the body and to each other. The reference is more diagonal and the proportions of the wings are slightly different. For example, the bottom wing's black section is never thicker than the part where the wing attaches to the body. By widening it in the drawing, it gives the appearance of being shorter, even though the length in the drawing looks quite close to the reference picture. Hope you find this helpful.

I love this. The shape of the wings is lovely and I really like the subtle contouring to give shape to the body. The only area I might adjust is the tail. It's accurate to the reference, but it would be nice to see a bit more definition to separate it from the background. Well done.

This is a very beautiful illustration! I love the details in the wings. There's not much to critique, but I do have a couple of tips. To design realistic shadows it could help to simplify the bird to simple shapes. Glancing at anatomy can help you in this stage to make informed decisions. You also want to pay attention to the rhythms of the bird and how each part relates to each other. I really love the reflection of the wing in the water. Maybe adding some kind of indication of that can help place the bird into an environment rather than just in space. These are just ideas to explore here. This is a fantastic piece!

Had to really resist going into details and shading when drawing the boots.

Hey Michael, I love these helmets, it's great that you are drawing it. @Moonless_Sky gave an accurate critique of the proportions of your drawing, and your self critique was also pretty correct. What I noticed is that it wasn't just the contrast in your values, but that you are not observing what the light is doing accurately. Notice how all the value in the upper part is all the same? This is not the case in the reference. That part of the helmet is blocking the light and is therefore darker in value. Also, if your going to work on toned paper, you will need to use a white chalk to show highlights. If you don't it makes your drawing look flat. I did a quick paint over to show you what I mean, I hope it helps :)

Hi Michael, looks great! I do think you could push the dark and light parts a lot more. The light on the "forehead" and the lower edge are not that clear on the drawing. The "jaw" of the helmet is a little bit too long. I drew it in the Reference for you, to illustrate the distances. Love the detail and how clean you drew it :) Great drawing! Keet up the good work :)