I think the first thing that's in order here, is simply to relax. Mistakes are a common, normal thing, and while I understand that you felt it necessary to explain why they were occurring, it's all fine. All that matters is that you put forward your best attempt, based on your current ability, and I can see that you have done that.

I can also see that there are clear ways in which your approach can be altered to yield better results out of the capacity you have now - that the way in which your brainpower is doled out is inherently inhibiting your abilities, causing your line quality to suffer because you're very focused on figuring out something else entirely. We will address this, and you will get better.

So. Starting with your arrows, what's most important here is that you're executing those marks with a great deal of confidence, so they're flowing very fluidly through space. Now, there are some things that can be improved - for example, you can exaggerate the rate at which the gaps between the zigzagging sections compress as we look farther away, as shown here, to better demonstrate the depth in the scene. Still, the main point I'm looking for here is being well done.

That sense of confidence and fluidity carries over nicely into your leaves, where you've captured not only how they occupy space, but also how they move through the space they occupy. The essence of how you're approaching adding the more complex edge detail is also correct - you're building upon the simple leaf silhouette with individual marks, defining each bump coming off the previous edge and returning to it - but this can certainly be improved.

Most notably, the issue is that as seen here, your lines don't create a seamless addition to the existing edge - we can see where the tail lifts off, and where you accidentally pass inside the silhouette, then cross it to create the bump outside the silhouette, then dip back into the silhouette. As shown here (mind you you're not making that mistake, but I want you to take a look at the way in which each bump is drawn in the diagram), it's important that we ensure that each stroke flows right off the existing edge, and returns to it. No zigzagging, no overshooting, and no visible tails.

To achieve this, it merely takes the investment of time (specifically in the planning and preparation phases of the ghosting method), and more specifically to understand what kind of mark you're looking to make. It's tempting, when you have a ton of these bumps to add to your drawing, to rush through them - after all, who's going to care about a mark that is really just 5% of a drawing? But that's not the way to be thinking about this. Regardless of whether it makes up a tiny fraction of your drawing, or if it is one of three lines that need to be executed just so, it needs to be given all the time it requires to be drawn at your best.

The ghosting method is the key to this, because it forces you to regard every individual mark and its individual purpose, one at a time. I actually talk about this notion in the ghosted planes exercise's purpose section, about how students will feel tempted to put less effort into a single line if it is one of many. If you're forced to go through that three step process for every single mark, then the perceived complexity of the overall drawing doesn't matter - because your only job at that moment is to focus on one mark. To assess where it needs to go, what it needs to do, and what you need from it.

Remember - you are not expected nor required to complete a single page, or a single drawing, in any set amount of time. You take as much time as you need, and you can split any drawing or exercise across multiple sittings or days, as needed.

Looking through your work, that is going to be the main takeaway for this critique. As you tackle these complex, real-world objects, it's completely natural to respond with an amount of panic. It's overwhelming, asking you to work through so many things, and the human brain's response is generally going to be to just dive in and draw, and to get it over with. When you feel overwhelmed, instead make the decision to step back and take stock of the situation. Don't let your brain think six steps ahead - think about the next mark you need to draw, and what it demands of you. Focus on that, and only that. Nothing else.

Moving onto the branches, you've followed the instructions well. There are two things I want you to try to focus on when doing this exercise in the future, aside from simply taking more time with the use of the ghosting method for each mark:

• Right now, you're drawing the next segment where the previous one ought to have been, regardless of whether the first one went off track at all. I find that while it makes things a little more challenging, it can help you develop more quickly if you use the tail of the previous segment as a runway, overlapping it directly with your next mark. This will force you to take any previous mistakes into account and to deal with them directly, and will help you learn more quickly than leaving those strokes sticking out individually.

• Remember that the degree of each ellipse represents the orientation of that cross-section in space. As such, the degree of your ellipses will widen as we slide away from the viewer. If you're unsure why this is, you'll find an explanation in the newest version of the lesson 1 ellipses video.

Continuing onto your plant constructions, I think that while you are following the steps correctly for the most part, it is that reaction to being overwhelmed - the panicking where you just jump in and draw instead of taking a step back to assess the situation - that is holding you back. For example, if we look at the sunflower, you're very clearly drawing back over your lines multiple times on the leaves, and the petals on the head of the flower are decidedly more rushed than the simple leaf silhouettes you drew in your leaves exercise. It all comes back to the "feeling" that if something is a small piece of a drawing, it should be completed quickly.

Speed is not a factor in this course, and as we move further into it, you will find that the drawings will demand more and more of you. At their core, they're just lines, and you do have it in you to execute them well - but you need to calm your mind and simply accept that whatever expectations you have regarding how long a drawing should take, are not based on any reliable source.

Instead, focus only on applying the principles introduced in the course so far. So for example, back in Lesson 1 we talked about the importance of executing one mark at a time, only as the result of planning and forethought. So the sketchy, erratic execution of the leaves/petal structure around the opening of this pitcher plant is definitely a mistake. Not a mistake as the result of a lack of skill - but a decision that was made. We can also see that along the length of its tube-structure, you've applied the branch technique incorrectly in two ways: the ellipses are misaligned to the minor axis, and many of the edge segments are not extending fully halfway to the next ellipse as explained here - something you did more correctly during the exercise itself.

Also, looking at the edge detail you added to this hibiscus, it seems you did start falling into the mistake of zigzagging your details.

The last thing I wanted to talk about is how you approach your cast shadow shapes. In this rose, I think you did an especially great job - the cast shadow shapes themselves are specific, intentional, and designed. Their edges are clean rather than erratic or messy, and I think that is because you did one thing that you didn't put as much time/effort into in the cactus and daisy: you clearly outlined the shapes ahead of time, then patiently filled them in. That is key to a clean shadow, and as with everything else, it just takes time.

So! You're not going to be asked to redo the lesson, but I am going to ask for some revisions. I'll list them below. For all of this, I want you to focus on one thing: take your time.