I went to the art store today to look for Red / Blue pencils pencils. I found that for pencils available, I could not control the amount of colour, no matter the pressure I applied, on the pencil to the paper, the colour was sort of just deep ! So that made me wonder what pencil manufacturer or colour material is in the pencils that Stan demonstrates with ? When searching for a line, they appear to have a good range of Red between light and dark. Any advise would be appreciated?

Thank you for making the emphasis on resisting perfectionism!! This is a terrible habit I've grown over the years... and while many may think it's often a "good" thing, where you aim for high quality, it's been a VERY debilitating issue for me. I often was too scared to even pick up my pen, let alone make mistakes that were crucial for me to progress. I feel very behind at 30 because of allowing this mentality to hold me back... However, for the first time in a while, I'm enjoying the process! It forces me to slow down, make the mistakes, and move on! After watching the demo, I found my process much quicker. I used the general measuring technique and went from there. I notice my pen strokes were more confident and I'm getting comfortable with allowing things to just BE, instead of fiddling for hours trying to get it just "right". I even practiced a little bit with line weight. I hope it looks alright!

Thank you so much for the thorough and clear explanation of how I can better distribute the values! I used ballpoint pen, I think pencil would have made it a little easier. In any case, I'm excited for the toned paper projects!

When you can't decide on Level 1 or Level 2. I thought it might be fun to try it on gray paper. Everyone's work is inspiring! Happy to be learning with you all!