WEEK 2: EXERCISE 1
Almost entirely accurate - just a couple of horizontals missing. My only observation is that you could have made it a little more complex and interesting by moving the Vanishing Point to one side. But you have at least restricted the depth of the letters. That might sound simple, but I think you'd be surprised how many on this course have tried that... and got it wrong!

WEEK 2: EXERCISE 2

You absolutely should have used them for placement, and proportion! And the result shows why...

First, the rows in a brick wall are offset by half, so every joint in one row falls under the centre of a brick above. Yours sort of take a bit of a ramble - and the spaces between the bricks (the mortar) are impossibly wide.

Let's take one of your bricks in the second row.

You've already created the perspective for the rows, so that's good. Now you need three convergence lines (orthogonals): one along the top of your first brick, one along the bottom, and a third midway - all emerging from the original vanishing point.

-- Draw a line at one end (A).
-- Draw another line at the other end (B) allowing for the mortar. I ran Line B up the far side of the mortar where I want the next brick to begin
-- Now draw a diagonal line from the top of the brick (where LINE A crosses the top orthogonal) through LINE B where it crosses the central orthogonal.
-- Where the diagonal line meets the bottom orthogonal (LINE C)... that's where the next brick ends. It fits into the space between LINES B and C. Perfectly in proportion and perspective.

Now you can draw the rest by eye. All bricks on the rows above and below move their joints half way along the row you just drew.

Try it, because it's a lesson well worth learning. And once you're really used to it, you can usually just do it all by eye. But you have to understand it first.

WEEK 2: EXERCISE 3
These are close to perfect! You've definitely got the right idea and just need more practice. The top ellipse is good in the bottom half but a bit flat at the top in the top half.

Despite being the result of multiple circuits, this is almost as perfect. Usually, just to make certain, I copy one half, flip it and lay it over the other half.. but I can't do that in this case,because of the multiple tracks. But I'd guess the differences are minimal and my eye would be happy to accept this as a natural ellipse within a drawing.

Try this to train your hand even more: Print out the PDF page with my drawn ellipse on it, place tracing paper over it and then trace it again and again - carefully until your hand begins to learn the gently unfolding or tightening curve. You've already avoided the most common problems - pointed ends and flat sides - so you just need to teach your hand the refinements.

WEEK 2: EXERCISE 4

Lucky you! Our horse Tom's hobby is breaking fences. Not to escape, he just enjoys breaking them.

I can see this developing into a drawing with good recession, and a subject where aerial perspective will work very well, especially if you employ a little exaggeration. Don't fear exaggeration. These posts are very similar in value, but sequentially lightening them would reinforce the recession. Imagine a light mist that partially blurs the background. I find that sort of approach often presents an unequivocal scene to the viewer.

Just because I can, I checked the spacing. And I suddenly realised that I'm asking you to accept the "spacing in perspective" method without explaining why it works. My line from A to C finds the TRUE CENTRE in perspective at B.

Now knock in a fence post where you know the centre is. Do you recognise anything? The bricks?

When you pass a line from the top of one post, through the centre of the next post, and continue it down to the baseline, it will mark where the third post has to be placed. You are effectively using the first and middle post to determine the position of the third post.

You can use this method to work out any regular spacing that involves recession.

I hope that makes sense. And, as with most things, the more you are aware of this, and practice it, the easier it becomes to place things in recession by eye.