Hi, there. I'm also a senior beginner ... sort of. I'm 62, and I got my degree in drawing and painting 35 years ago. But since then, you know, life intervened, and I feel like I need to approach it as a beginner again. So I started with Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, which I loved 35 years ago and still love today.
Artful Vixen has some great advice, and I'm going to look into some of it for myself. The one thing that I get mixed up on is: learning proportion and perspective are left-brain type things, and that's why I think I fail at them. I know they're important, but I find I do better when I let go of the analytical side of things and just look. (By "better" I mean I feel like I've done something authentic, true to myself.) But I know my drawings suffer from distorted proportions. I keep thinking I need to get further into Right Side - book and exercises - before I try to do anything analytical like Vitruvian Man. (I am also reading the new Isaacson bio of Leonardo, ha.)
Not sure I'm making any sense here. I know I need to learn proportions, but I like my drawings better when I loosen up.
You can take photos of your drawings with your phone, to post them. (I usually get a thumb in mine, but cropping tools are a wonderful thing.) Some of mine can be found here:
http://deardominik.typepad.com/daily_cinnamon/
And I am shy about sharing them.
I will say that life drawing in a group is the best thing I've done for both skill and confidence. Everyone has a different style and approach - like Edwards says in Right Side, it's like your signature. Knowing there's no single "excellent" drawing makes me a lot more comfortable with my efforts. There is a Meetup group in my city that hires live models. I like that better than a formal class because of my erratic schedule and because, you know, I'm old. Art students are young, energetic and arrogant ...
I guess this is more moral support than advice. Good luck and happy drawing!
Kay
