ariejamesdallas

Hey ALLIPSES,

Good to be in touch again! Glad you got the links.

Regarding the sausages you are correct about the ghosting method being the correct way. I am suggesting this as an experiment to further connect your hand and your brain to "think round sphere end" and draw round sphere end.

For example you could try doing 3 of these experimental sausages to get your shoulder used to making those lines, and then do 3-10 normal sausages and see if your body memory can help you ghost better ones. It's about getting your body to have the experience of "true sausage." Ultimately you are learning to self-critique which means continual adjustments to your approach, with smaller adjustments as you improve on each exercise in spatial reasoning.

As always, just do your best with your current ability.

Hi ALLIPSES!

Here are some videos I tried making to cover specific thoughts about sausages and head construction.

Sausage Construction: https://youtu.be/d_3GSVx5emQ

Head Construction: https://youtu.be/_vYjP5K0QoE

In addition to these video critiques I wanted to mention that your sketches appear at times to be rushed. For example the way that you did not draw the last antler of the deer demo, and instead drew more of a pointy triangle shape. While doing our drawings, we may be moving the pen quickly for confident strokes, but the overall process should not be rushed. Each mark you make is just as important as any other. Each one is worth rehearsing thoughtfully.

Even if you make 5 lines and then step away for a few minutes, that is better than doing the drawing in one sitting if doing so will tempt you to rush through it. How long in general are you taking to do the head demos?

Please feel free to offer your thoughts as you take in this feedback. And keep it up.

You're welcome; My goal is Wednesday!

OK — I see how the answer was there in the text. Thanks for clarifying!

Upon reflection, I realize that there is a there is a huge range in the amount of convergence that a box can have. It can approach almost being 1Pt. and 2Pt. perspective while remaining in 3pt. (Just make sure there is convergence to all sets of lines!)

Hi again!

I do think that you are headed in the right direction with these!

I could mark this lesson as complete and that would make sense in allowing you to proceed to the next section. However, I also think it would be worthwhile to try experimenting with your approach.

I'm going to try to make a little video to explain how to think about the sausages method and the skull method — when I do I'll share it. It might take me a week or so, but I'd rather show it than write it.

Dear DIO — 

Thanks for all your in depth feedback. The 3D pieces of putty critique makes sense.

To answer your question: you had speculated that I was doing an underdrawing/sketch on some of my works. Sometimes on my homework I alternate using hands. When I use my non-dominant left hand I sometimes accidentally touch the paper while I am ghosting.

Extra: In general, I feel a lot of fear when doing these drawings, but am slowly learning to push forward with confidence knowing I am going to make mistakes. I wish I could do the drawings without the use of points, but they seem to be helping pre-visualize the mark. Proportions are not intuitive for me.

Hi Allipses — 

My name is ariejamesdallas and I am offering a volunteer critique. I'm also studying with Drawabox.

First off, congratulations finishing this lesson. It's a biggin!

Moving on to your Organic Intersections you are drawing with confidence! I especially see that in the contour lines you are wrapping around the sausages. You also have your sausages oriented perpendicularly which is helping to make them appear to have weight and volume!

To go further with the Organic intersections I suggest you fill in your shadows in completely. It will help sell the appearance of real weight and light. Try filling in the ones from your homework and see if you can tell a difference.

As far as your animals are going I wanted to compliment you on your drawings where you are taking the time to do individual strokes of fur/hair. I see this on the bluebird drawing that you aren't just copying the same pattern but rather have some feathers swoop up while others swoop down. At other times you do appear to get rushed with the hair, like the gerbal drawing where the hair lines are not fully coming together which is making the illusion of tufts of fur less real.

In your constructions I can see that you are following the process of first building a primary structure composed of ribcage, pelvis, and head. Nice job keeping the forms for the head/ribcage/pelvis simple. As you build forms on top of the primary structure, there are drawings where I'm starting to get the sense of wrapping forms, such as the elephant legs. Or the the muscle that you attach to the legs in the cat drawings.

In other drawing I feel like your forms are not wrapping around the form in a convincing way, and appear more flat, such as the elephant #1 head. I think you have the basic idea of the lesson down, but I think you can push it further to really get a better sense of illusion. Remember each piece that you add to a mass you already have drawn, is it's own little 3D piece that while separate, also adheres to the primary form underneath. This is the whole concept of making things look like they are wrapping around eachother.

I hope this critique finds you well. I've left some suggested revisions in a separate place.

Keep going!

Hey DIO — 

I've been inspired by your treasure chest challenge for a long time, so I'm elated to be getting a critique from you. Thanks for the feedback and encouragement. I understand the points you are making and I will take those lessons with me into the future!

Hi!

I'm not an official teacher, just a fellow student with a couple suggestions — this is not a full critique.

Contour Curves/Sausages — since you have a tendency to place your ellipse curves inside the overall form of the sausage, try focusing for some of them on overcorrecting or deliberately making each one touch. I know it's tricky while also trying to maintain confidence. You are doing a good job keeping them tubelike with spherical ends.

On your louse, good job maintaining confidence with the linework. The 3 legs that face the viewer have sausages that are good. In contrast notice how the smaller sausages on the far side have more wobble to them. Your head and thorax feel solidly fused and have a convincing directionality, while the abdomen feels more flat. I think this is in part do to the way you have drawn the skirt. See if on future attempts you can have added forms more fully wrap on top of the basic constructions. In other words, try drawing the skirt with a little more curve.

We're all on the journey together :)

Hi Tofu — 

Thank you for taking the time to give me this critique :) I am happy to move on to lesson 2.

I am wondering if there is a recommended schedule for practicing the previous exercises and boxes? For example I was thinking if it's good to now start doing 10-15 mins of warm-up exercises before starting any of the new pieces of homework or new technical exercises.

Thanks!