I struggled with the first few penguins as I was fixated on making tapered lines. Then I rewatched the instructions and realised that wasn't the focus of this exercise. When I loosened up and started using A3 instead of A4 my drawings improved a lot. I've always loved drawing hands and animals so I was a little nervous about the VR girl as it's not a style I gravitate towards. I ended up enjoying this one the most! It was a huge confidence boost to find I had the skills to successfully attempt an unfamiliar subject. I used all the techniques I've learned in the course so far and was ecstatic to find a recognisable VR girl taking shape before my eyes like magic. The proportions of the legs were slightly off but I was able to course correct and am happy with the final result. Things to work on: - lighter pressure with my pencil - have a tendency to bear down too hard - use my shoulder and elbow more, loosen up my hand

Attempted the boots first and gave up on the laces in desperation. Did a bit better with the snail. Then watched part of the demo and realised where I'd gone wrong. It was especially helpful thinking about comparing the relative widths and sizes of the different parts of the subject. Took everything I'd learned into my camel attempt (without watching the demo first) and smashed it! It may not look like much, but I felt so much more confident and sure of myself while drawing. I sketched out an envelope, then lightly put in the curves for the face, hump and belly. Added the legs and realised the head was too low down on the neck. Erased it and measured out the distances using my pencil as a guide. Glad I erased rather than starting over as once I had the head in the right place, it all seemed to come together well. I like my little straight lines for the ear, and the haughty ellipse for the eye. I decided against including the mane and all the wrinkles, as I wanted the focus to be the awkward stance and the supercilious tilt of the head. My strokes were hesitant and choppy in places so that's what I'm looking to improve with practice. I also think the feet look a little rushed - it seems I was drawing what I think camel feet look like rather than carefully observing the lines.

In the first attempt I was trying too hard to copy the photo precisely. Second attempt I went with the flow and stuck with lines I could draw confidently and it came out with way more character! Almost looks like the Terminator

Harder than expected. I found it especially challenging to vary the pressure of my pencil. Enjoyed the exercise very much and will do it again (probably a lot!)

My first crack at the Level 2 photo, after completing several pears over the last few days. I took the time to go over my darkest dark repeatedly until I was happy with the tone. I struggled a bit more with my light tone (the one just a bit darker than the white of the paper) as I had a hard time creating consistent pressure while keeping my strokes light, AND filling in all the white spaces. My proportions look fairly accurate to me, but if I were to redo this project I'd watch out for my tendency to elongate the face. I made the decision to simplify the angle of the jaw but I'm not too sure about that now. I think I did a good job in capturing the facial expression and the overall vibe of the photo. I learned a lot from this project and especially enjoyed the feeling of flipping between mental states - analysing, comparing tones/angles, measuring...and then entering a flow state and becoming deeply absorbed.

The first two are from the Pear 1 photo and the third is Pear 2. The first was done before watching the demo, and the second two after watching the demo. In my first attempt I literally could not see two dark tones, and by my third attempt I was beginning to be able to distinguish and simplify between the tones. I stopped in frustration in the middle of my drawing and ordered a kneaded eraser and some good sharpeners! Really appreciated the tips on what to buy.. Absolutely loved this exercise and plan on doing it again.