Silhouette Drawing Technique

My silhouette drawings (based off of Crustaceans)

In this class I tried using a new fresh drawing technique that I haven't used before. It is easy to over think a drawing before you even put pen to paper. So in Photoshop using a black thick brush I started to draw silhouettes. I didn't have a concept or idea of what I was attempting to draw all I knew is that I wanted to draw creatures inspired by Crustaceans.

After drawing the silhouettes we had to shade them using a light grey. This allows me to burn color onto the layer by changing the layer type. However this requires me to shade the creatures with a light grey brush first. I have been struggling to get to grips with digital painting and I really struggled to even shade the grey onto the silhouettes within the allocated time. I felt that every time I put pen to paper I became inept and couldn't shade. This is a problem I get only while using a tablet. I think over time I will become more confident with a tablet, practice and patience i'm hoping will solve this.   

However I am happy with the result. Its a technique I feel I will be able to take forward and use in future projects.