Copying drawings

Part of the homework I do for my cast drawing class is copying some classic drawings by great artists, such as Ingres and Bargue. I'm doing this to help improve my observation skills. Here's a copy of a Rafael drawing in progress.

Venus

I hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day. We enjoyed watching the Richmond Spiders win their first game in the NCAA tournament.
Here is a more finished cast drawing of a sculpture of Venus:

Cast Drawing

I am taking a cast drawing class at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. The cast hall is full of beautiful sculptures, mostly copies of Greek and Roman figures. For at least the past couple of centuries now, art students have been dutifully drawing them in charcoal to improve their technique in representing proportion and form. It has been a fun, challenging, educational experience so far. I'll post some images along the way. Here is one I did the second or third class.