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Thanks to strathmore 300 series Bristol in this peace!

Tap or click to see all three

Tap or click to see all three

Tap or click to see all three

I like the way the road continues from one page to the next

I like the way the road continues from one page to the next

I had never used gouache before - fun to experiment! Thanks! I got a less expensive set so I could play a bit too.

Thoroughly enjoyed Lesson 1, feel like a child in a toy box. Can’t wait to start Lesson 2!

Thoroughly enjoyed Lesson 1, feel like a child in a toy box. Can’t wait to start Lesson 2!

Thoroughly enjoyed Lesson 1, feel like a child in a toy box. Can’t wait to start Lesson 2!

Hello from Chicago! Let's get this party started! I have sets of polychromos in Faber-Castell, but went ahead and purchased the LYRA Rembrandt Aquarell pencil set for this workshop. Excited to be here, and looking forward to learning more.

I really like these Lyra watercolor pencils, they seem to blend better than my Derwent pencils.

Wow! This is my first experience with gouache. Although this set is quite expensive, I'm very impressed with its quality. Having a lot of fun working with it.

Brandon I started this drawing trying to do straight lines, but then as I progressed, it morphed, and emerged into this final result. I had some struggles but did enjoy how the drawing "emerged". Thank you very much for your useful workshop.

Love the eyes! In my opinion, you did a very good sketch ;)

Thank you fantinepantine I appreciate your comment.

Thank you Fantinepantine I appreciate your comment.

My daughter worked on this task as well. :) Wasn't quite happy with the outcome, though...

Aww I'm sorry to hear that Magdalena. I'll be honest, this was definitely a tough subject to approach and I put it in here because I thought this could be something everyone could strive to work towards. I still struggle with portraits myself these days too. It's always difficult. Tell her not to give up and to keep drawing other things as well. She will improve over time. This is really a great effort and there's a lot of good things about it :) Just focus on having fun and drawing what you enjoy and the rest will come. Just be patient and learn from these kinds of things. Portraits are one of the most difficult things to draw so, for now I would stick to something more simple and then try a portrait again in the near future. Keep striving and don't give up :) Thank you for sharing!

Sorry for reuploading the sketch. Couldn't locate the delete function and wanted to redo the hair a bit. The sketch took me an hour. Once again, thanks a lot for the workshop!

No worries Magdalena and great effort here for sure. I love the moodiness of this one, really captured the lighting and look in his eyes. Great features too! Thank you for sharing. I really hope you and your daughter enjoyed these lessons! Take care

Love your sketch! You have a lot more contrast than I have - looks so much better! when not 'bland'. Good job!

Thank you for the awesome workshop, Brandon. My daughter and I loved your instruction and your calm voice. Wish you many wonderful journeys and a lot of success in all your endeavors, Magdalena

Thank you so much Magdalena, wishing the same for you both as well! Don't give up and just have fun with it :) Your daughter has a lot of skill, she will do well. Mistakes and bad drawings are always inevitable - I still do bad ones all the time haha. Just stick with it and keep going :)

Really great light in these little sketches :)

Thank you Brandon ;)

So cool! Love it!

Really nice sketch! Love the character of it and the eyes and facial features. Well done! Really simplified the values and made them connect. Love it.

Thank you for your kind comments ;)

Nice sketches! Well done :) Thank you for sharing.

Great shading work :) Really nice subtle values and shapes. Thanks for sharing!

I really enjoyed drawing the spheres. Thank you.

hmm need to scroll to see lesson 3 week 3

Great work Lotus, I can definitely see an improvement! Thanks for sharing :)

Yes Thank you. It is nice to see and feel improvements.

This time sharing my daughter's Week 3 exercise. Dear Brandon, if you drop by, could you please share some tips on how to see/create effective values? I have a problem with the middle ones... Thanks!

Hi Magdalena. This is great work from your daughter :) Really excellent! Great details and shading. As far as creating effective values, I can possible share a few things which might be useful for you. I would focus on simplifying the values when possible. So try to imagine your object or scene having only 3-4 main values. Maybe 2 values in the light, and 2 values in the shadow. I would first start your drawing also by separating light from shadow. Determine where shadow ends and light begins. This will also help to create more separation in the values. You can always add more values (like a middle value) later on in the drawing process. But first focus on separating the values and keeping them simple - like 2 in the light, and 2 in the shadow. I hope that helps in some way. You might also have to modify the reference your working with or try a different one. Use one with really obvious light and shadow at first. So that the separation is easy to see. I find these kinds of scenes to be the best for using to create drawings and art :) Looking forward to seeing what else you and your daughter create. Thank you for sharing!

Hi Brandon, you don't know how much your appreciation meant for my 13-year-old daughter, who is very self-conscious and has quite a low self-esteem. Thank you! Also, thanks a lot for the detailed advice. I will try to focus on the simple values (2+2), then. I love drawing portraits (mostly from photo reference) in graphite and white coal/pastel, on Strathmore Toned Tan paper (surprise surprise =) ), and I often find it difficult to translate colors into hues of gray. Apart from the middle values, I feel my darks are not dark enough. I will try to work on the separation that you mentioned. Thanks a lot for the videos, the kind and detailed comments, and for stressing the fact that art should give one joy.

Wow! She's only 13 years old? This is really great work for a 13 year old, no doubt! Very wonderful :) And I'm glad to hear that. I hope it will go well for you. Something else you can also do, is to turn your photo references into black and white if you have the ability. I'm sure there's a site online that will do it for free, or even an app on your phone. I do that from time to time. Also, it depends on your goals for your drawings - but try not to copy the image value for value - what I mean is the photo may overall be darker than your drawing and that's okay. Don't try to match the exact values, but try to create a relationship in your drawing which will make the values look realistic. Hope that makes sense :) Thanks again for sharing and I hope your daughter will keep drawing and pursuing art. She has a lot of skill for that age and has a bright future ahead of her. Keep up the great work!

Wow! She's only 13 years old? This is really great work for a 13 year old, no doubt! Very wonderful :) And I'm glad to hear that. I hope it will go well for you. Something else you can also do, is to turn your photo references into black and white if you have the ability. I'm sure there's a site online that will do it for free, or even an app on your phone. I do that from time to time. Also, it depends on your goals for your drawings - but try not to copy the image value for value - what I mean is the photo may overall be darker than your drawing and that's okay. Don't try to match the exact values, but try to create a relationship in your drawing which will make the values look realistic. Hope that makes sense :) Thanks again for sharing and I hope your daughter will keep drawing and pursuing art. She has a lot of skill for that age and has a bright future ahead of her. Keep up the great work!

You're so kind, Brandon! Thank you! I do feel she's breathing down my neck. :) I just hope she believes this one day. In the past, I did turn some of my references into B&W, but most of the time I like it the hard way. :) Thanks a lot for putting my mind at ease as to the darks. It's good to know that my drawing doesn't need to be as dark as the reference as long as a proper relationship is established. I tried to follow your advice on the 2+2 values. I'm not sure if external links work here, but just in case: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChjwpZusPp9/ . I didn't want to post it here, as it wasn't strictly related to the class. Once again, thanks a lot for your patience, empathy, and expert advice. They're much appreciated!

More sketches ..practicing using the straight lines and angles

Thanks for sharing Lotus! These are great. I can tell it is really benefiting your sketches. I know it might be the camera or photo, just be careful with the darkness of the lines. Try to keep them light when possible and you can clean up the unnecessary lines with eraser. Have fun :)

Thank you for the feedback. Yes my lines are heavy. (not photo ..haha) I was concentrating so much on the straight-line angles, I got a bit heavy handed. I needed to relax. I also left some of the construction lines so that it can be seen how i tried to do the sketches. I am enjoying seeing the improvements in my sketching.

Glad to hear that! Hope it is going well for you :)

I used straight angled lines and some imaginary straight line angles for this sketch.

It's wonderful how subtle your lines are!

This is great exercise Lotus and I recommend doing this one many times with different objects - maybe around your house if possible too. Cups, bowls, vases, etc. You did really well with the symmetry too which is usually quite a difficult thing. I agree with Magdalena too! Very nice linework and subtlety.

Okay, so once again the platform turned my pic sideways, and I cannot edit it. :) Whatever. :) Thank you for the class, Brandon! My daughter and I are studying together. All the best to you and all the fellow students, Magdalena

lovely work, even on it's side

Thank you, dear Pamela! Your kind words warmed my heart.

Wow Magdalena, thank you for sharing, this is really wonderful :) Great work so far haha!

Very good, Magdalena.

It was my pleasure, Brandon! Your harmonious face is such an inspiration. But I promise my daughter and I do the required exercises, too! :)

Thank you, Lotus!

Haha no worries Magdalena, as long you are enjoying yourself and having fun, that's the most important thing I think :) I always try to encourage that.

i always press too hard and break the mechanical pencils-you have a better touch.

No worries Pamela, just takes some time and practice to develop the pressure sensitivity. Don't stress over it too much. Just enjoy the process and have fun! :) Thanks for sharing!

Playing with my supplies. Nancy Johnson

Playing with my supplies. Nancy Johnson

play is good.

Thank you for sharing Nancy, this is some great play. I hope you will continue to explore as the series progresses :)

Nice job!

love it!

love it!

love it!

love it!

Finally got a tolerable take on that candy bar!

The thang in the upper left is supposed to be a half eaten candy bar in its wrapper, so you know. :D

will try the color thang later, I am shakier than I thought this morning

nice

nice

Nice! I like these a lot.

Myra on the left, Sam on the right... WHY did one upload sideways?! Tilt your head to the left... LOL!

cool

oops wrong gallery! Sorry!

Anyone have thoughts as to why these images rotate ninety degrees? Thx

Nice color gradation in the sky.

Thank you.

gorgeous

I like the addition of the seagulls. It really adds to the atmosphere!

I appreciate your comments.

Love this one

nice movement and atmosphere

Found this one tough. I really thought I botched this through over-blending. Glad it could be salvaged into something nice. 3 cheers for acrylics!!!

really nice

Nice sparkle on the water.

really nice, love the water surface

I wish I could realign my submissions. They were right when I hit Send

It seems that vertical photos get tipped into a horizontal format.

thanks for sharing. nice

Nice movement in the water!

like this

love all the surf/spray

I love this series of workshops! I've never really tried painting water before, and these lessons are really inspiring.

i like your colours and the smoothness of the water

Thank you!

lovely

scary

fantastic

fantastic

fantastic

fantastic

Good job making the spray look airy and foamy. Beautiful color transitions in the background.

Thank you. I had fun painting this one and thought it would be easier than the last one, but it was not.

Thank you. I had fun painting this one and thought it would be easier than the last one, but it was not.

love it

Well done! Love the fish.

Thank you.

Beautiful!

lovely

I think it looks more like an alien abduction 🤣

I think mine looks more like an alien abduction 🤣

I think mine looks more like an alien abduction 🤣

Sorry. Did not realize that comment posted 3 times.

Very nice- lots of movement.

lovely

This is my first attempt ever to paint. I am a paper crafter and musician. I did it on paper because I felt I needed to practice at least once. Next i will try it on the canvas.

It really has the feel of moving water. I especially like all the nice texture on the sandy bottom as well. Excellent first painting!

Nice range and transition of values. This is a very pleasing painting.

Nice Job!

Beautiful work!

wet!

wet!

Nice brushwork. It really looks like bright sun reaching for the dark depths.

Well Done