you're an artist so you need as much exposure as possible... just know Deviant Art has their own special set of problems too.

*hugs...

Vix

Oh the interaction that started it was in the figure session.

I just needed to defend the class for the use it has!

Someone saying that is confusing the subject matter of the class without knowing the actual reasons for still life and figure drawing sessions. When I was in junior and senior highschool I wanted to draw cartoons, and got some social rewards for making the attempt. But I was becoming aware that my cartoons were good enough for conveying an idea, but my drawing had nowhere near having any style or technical skills. Then I took some drawing classes. The classes started with trying out different art tools, then a class with still life drawing, then figure drawing. It was all required, in a sequence, but I didn't know why it was required. Then it was a year later, and my cartooning started reminding me of the cartoons I had seen in magazines (and I had my own style).
The drawing classes were basic in getting me to "draw what you actually see". I eventually realized that that slipped over into "more accurately drawing what you want to see in your imagination". At that point I was also able to see (as I drew) that I could be making small adjustments (even in abstract styles) to make the image more "real". Practice trying to draw what I was actually seeing (even with built-in limitations) started to make my cartooning better.

Exactly!!
You put it so nice and succinctly!

I remind myself- I can't break the rules if I never knew the rules.
IE- I've always been told I have naturally chosen good composition. I didn't know what I was doing though. Later, in college I did learn about what makes those compositions good. Now, I can choose more deliberately, to improve them. Or I can deliberately throw it out and choose the opposite in a way that it's clear I chose to do so.

Thank you for sharing your experience! I rarely get to hear from people about their path!