Heya @lioba These look amazing! Thank you for joining in this week and doing the homework exercises! :)

The portraits were tough as you had also taken quite difficult references i guess. As you said the first 2 you didnt do the lines for, which ofcourse is fine, but they could've perhaps made it easier for you to paint them.

Just as shown in the examples in the original post, just focus on the value shapes (dont necessarily have to be a portrait) we have to try and look past what we are painting and just try to make the correct shapes.
Force yourself to forget you are painting or drawing a portait.. You are drawing/painting shapes with different levels of grey/black/white..

I think that might help with the struggle! :)
Also.. in terms of rendering,, i really dont mind! And neither should you.. when you feel like the values are there you are done! I won't care if the portrait has eyes or not! As long as the values are okay im good!

I mean.. This guy doesnt have eyes or defined armor or whatever yet it works soooo good! (artist Jaime Jones .. look him up ull die! haha!)

I think the still lifes are done really well!
Especially the teapot is really good! I think to really push it out there would be a bit darker dark(behind the handle) and a really harsh highlight to pop it out even further.. but i think with these you already did a really good job!

Thank you again for participating! <3