these critters are so cool and awesome, swords are too!!!
also, i agree with what you said at the end, practice makes perfect when you do something once and learn from the mistakes instead of erasing them completely. if its not working out and youve been going over the same mistake for a couple minutes, maybe leave it as its unsalvagable. that was a big hurdle i had to beat as an artist (and still have to remind myself to keep in mind lol). awesome book!