I followed the video and experimented a little.

I wanted to apply the knowledge learned in class to something outside of the shapes in the video; this is the cover of the Transformers, I traced the outline of Optimus Prime, then I highlighted the lines to improve the line quality and tried to apply crosshatching for the shadows, I don't know if it is noticeable due to the quality of the camera but I think it gave a good result.

These are my attempts for the torso exercise. I had some difficulty with this one, but I am satisfied with the result. Any feedback is appreciated.

Fun assignments

Learning new things.

Loved the design of the turtle so i drew it too ! looks cool, but i had to redo the belly that was too big in my initial blue sketch. Also had harder time to draw clean confident lines when my pen was too sharp and thin. Much more easier when it was dull, it glide more easily on the paper :)

I took quick notes and sketches while watching the lesson.

I tried to do level 2 and it was quite hard. Drawing from imagination (kinda) is my weakness and In this case I didn't know how to place my idea on paper I guess that just takes practice. Any feedback would help a lot!

I started rendering the spheres in charcoal using Conte 2B/White on smooth newsprint, then repeated the exercise in graphite with 2H, 2B, 4B, and 8B pencils. One of my main struggles was pushing the lighter values dark enough, and keeping the gradient transition smooth and even. I tend to start light and build up slowly, but I often stop too early—so most of my spheres end up too light or high-key, even after multiple layers of rendering. Some of the transitions are patchy and uneven as well (which I can see way more when they’re viewed as small thumbnails!) For the untimed spheres, I gave myself between 45 minutes to an hour each. I didn’t change my overall approach much for the timed versions, but I noticed some differences as the time decreased. The 10-minute version felt fast, but I liked how it came out a little more stylized. Since I didn’t have time to smooth things out, the first, more gestural marks remained visible, which gave the drawing a certain energy that I actually enjoyed. In the graphite version, the reflected light came out too light, but I focused on using cross-contour marks to help reinforce the spherical form. In the 5-minute studies, I realized I spent about 50–60% of the time just getting the lay-in right and making sure the sphere looked proportional. That didn’t leave much time for rendering. Charcoal helped here—I was able to lay in darker values more quickly and shift my focus to halftones sooner. I also tried a 5-minute graphite version using a blending stump and a quicker, more gestural hatching approach. The stump helped build value faster, which gave me a bit more time to suggest cross-contours and pull out highlights with an eraser.