This was a fun assignment. Mucha is probably my favorite artist and his line work is one of the most notable parts of his style. The first two of my studies are of sketches of his, and the last is of the Job poster. I think the first one gave me a good start. The hand shape is a bit odd and the main outline is a bit thicker than Mucha's, but I think it's good overall. The second one was much harder. The brush I was using for the clothes didn't replicate his markers very well. I think I could have done better at varying the thickness of the "shadow" lines. Her hair is also worth a mention - rather than try to replicate the hair exactly, I tried to think of how Mucha would have approached drawing it and replicate his process instead of his result. It saved a lot of headache and I think it turned out well. Still, I could have made the hair more "dense" and my choice of brush didn't replicate markers well. The third study was meant to be easier after the hair of the second one. The hair could be a bit curlier and uniform in volume, but the focus was on the lines. I think the large gaps in the hair need more thickness, but the rest looks pretty good.

The importance exercise felt easier than the shadow exercise. Both could probably use less dramatic of a difference between the thickest lines and the thinnest. Overall, I think I did okay! Also, first time using my new drawing tablet.

skull what's my mistake

Ordered a pencil set so I'll see what other led hardnesses feel like later. Might go touch some paper later. For now just used a standard #2 (which I think is HB) and a big and small eraser on standard printer paper.

I think I'll be doing the course mostly in analog for now, I do have a tablet, but currently I enjoy the tactile feeling of drawing with pencil. Got myself a few fineliners as well to try out. I guess Ill be adding a few things as we progress through the course, but holding back on buying the markers. Tried out shading a sphere with my materials and then doodling a bit from imagination (castle on the floating islands) and did a sketch of my hand. I need to develop my patience, since I tend to go too fast and the result is of course shetchy rather than 'polished'.

I'm trying to pick up drawing as a non-digital hobby. I've been very slowly working on the figure drawing fundamentals course, but this course will probably serve me better. Here's my "benchmark drawing" to start the course off: my WoL from Final Fantasy XIV! Not the best piece to ever grace this website, but certainly not the worst I've done personally! It's also the first time I've added any kind of shading or color to something I've drawn. On one hand: I skipped a lot of the fine details. I couldn't get the colors I wanted with the cheap colored pencils I had on hand. The head of both the axe and the character are out of proportion. On the other hand: I did well on proportioning the rest of the body and axe! (see the second image for one overlayed on the other) It was fun getting to try out the markers and figure out how to use the different values. I think it's a pretty good start, overall. I look forward to the next one!

I want to add my own two cents about paper based on what I learned from my fountain pen hobby (though it applies mostly to inks): 1. Heavier paper doesn't necessarily mean better bleed-through resistance. Tomoe River 52 GSM paper is famous in the FP community for having an incredible resistance to bleeding. Meanwhile, I have a notobook from Shinola Detroit with 90 GSM paper that bleeds through *two* layers if I use a fine pen on it. 2. Paper affects color and other properties of inks. Some fountain pen inks are particularly good at shading or sheening (sort of reflective with a different color) depending on the amount of ink in a certain spot. Some papers won't show these effects at all. Others with make the effect easier to see. 3. Paper can vary even from the same manufacturer. Referencing Tomoe River again: people were able to detect the differences between paper made on different machines despite the company not announcing they'd made the switch. Machine #7 paper is extra valuable now. I think most of the difference comes from the coating applied to the paper. I doubt that this would have any effect on people who are using a dry medium like charcoal, but it may show a difference for markers or inks.