Drawing Update

So, I am trying to work on spatial relations and negative space, but Iam not succeeding too well.
I'm at a stopping point with the picture of Grandmuddy Hunt and I also started a new drawing to try and work on space. I was hoping to have five or six levels of space and I have three, but it is a beginning.

Grandmuddy Hunt feels finished to me, but of course my teacher is usually not satisfied as easily as I am. (I'm not sure why the backgraounds are always so grey in my photos, but if I auto contrast, thenthe pencil lines become much darker than they actually are and if I raise contrast  then I usually lose subtleties. (I guess I need to take pictures with more available light.)

What will my teacher say? Probably too much rendering and he rarely likes it when I use dark values.

This one feels like i am going backwards. Iknow it is not about the accuracy of the faces and figures per se, but it feels very much like I would have drawn 40 years ago. We'll see what advice I get.