Halfway isn't a Contrast. Observe the contrasts, say them out loud, then write them down before drawing

If a detail crosses a character in the middle - or halfway, it has no contrast. It's even.

50-50 is not a contrast.

60-40 is a slight contrast. You can caricature 60-40, by making 70-30. Get it?


My drawings naturally tend to have strong conrasts, so you don't need to push them much further. But you do have to preserve the obvious and most important parts.

Obvious contrasts in this drawing:

1) Very long arm. It's about 1.5 times the length that he is tall
2) The arm is high up-IT'S NOT IN THE MIDDLE
3) His belly fur is a triangular shape that tapers towars the bottom
4) His face is up high on his head
5) His face is high up
6) His nose is big compared to his little eyes
7) He has tiny ears

Now if Paul had written all that down before drawing he probably would not have drawn this:

Every one of the contrasts I listed above have been lessened.
His arm is shorter
It's lower down on his body - APPROACHING THE MIDDLE
His face is bigger in comparison to his body - LESS CONTRAST
etc.

He noticed some of these problems but didn't write them down.
Instead he just tried to copy the drawing again and made the same mistakes, but not as severely


And he added some more mistakes.
The belly shape splits his body exactly in half now. 50-50. NO CONTRAST

The legs have lost their bell-bottom shapes
The other arm is up too high, it was low in my drawing - which CONTRASTED with the higher longer arm that is pointing

KEEP FORMS SIMPLE AND SOLID-DON'T ADD LUMPS AND WAVY PARTS

Negative shapes have been filled in (between his legs)
Lumps have been added. Lumps take away from the overall statement.
He also has some wobbly shapes - like the feet.

Let's not draw details anymore until we can get the main points-the overall emotional statement and contrasts