My first try at portrait drawing. It was actually more fun than I have ever expected any classical art to be. I definitely suck at doing shapes with values, not just lines. I am very late to it and I already know some proportions are bad, like the space between her eyes and the overall length of the face. How do I not panic while measuring? I always think like something is wrong even though I am using measuring techniques that Stephen is using? Thank you Stan and your team for doing art education more accessible!

Hi Miko! One thing you can do is to pick poses that are more extreme, they are easier to make dynamic than one where the person is just standing straight like in your third example. And whatever pose you draw when practicing gesture, exaggerate it. If the hips are swinging to the left like in your fourth image, push them out even more! You don't have to follow your reference exactly.

Hey Mikolaszko! These are really nice, you're really making some fast progress. The first thing I'd say make sure your pencil is sharpened correctly. Based on the lines you're getting, it feels like your pencil is a bit to broad. The line variety seems arbitrary is and is all over the place. @Bradwynn Jones has a great video on his YouTube channel for pencil sharpening. It seems silly, but it makes a hugeee difference. The next thing I'd say is start doing drawing exercises. Just spend like 20 or 30 minutes drawing circles, random lines and edges. You're understanding the concepts, but I can tell that you don't have any confidence in your lines. Just practice drawing random lines, with no intention of drawing anything specific. Once you get the confidence to draw long lines, applying them to the figure should be no biggie.