Hello, Rodri:

I will be reviewing your work today.

Arrows

You got good results there. Try to make more "width changes" when you are practicing with these exercises. Maintaining a consistent width while doing parallel lines is one of the goals of it and it could help you with your branches too.

I think that you can improve the arrowheads with a little bit of planning. Right now most arrowheads seem to point sideways and that contradicts the entire flow of the arrow. Just imagine a line that is in the middle of the arrow following the flow of it and place a dot where you want the tip of the head, it's a similar process to the one used in the leaves exercise.

Leaves

They are good enough. I think you could have explored more with twisting the leaves so I recommend you to try it out in some warm-ups if you can.

Outlines feel a bit plain, especially the bottom right corner one. When adding detail to the silhouette try to make specific decisions on each stroke, you have to visualize what you want to construct from it. The added form should follow the general motion of the entire construction. In this specific case, the central flow line marks a bending away from the viewer, but the spikes on its right are diverging from that flow and bend towards the viewer. It's not that big of a deal because you could be wanting that bending too but I pointed it out in case you didn't.

Branches

You probably need more practice in the fundamentals that this exercise builds on top of. Some ellipses are misaligned with the central flow line and your lines were not confident sometimes.

I think this is just a lack of practice, try to warm up with organic forms more often. Drawing more branches should help for sure. Also, try to apply weight to your lines more often because that's extra practice for this kind of construction.

Flowers

All of them were pretty good. The previously mentioned problems destroy a bit of what you build but the results still maintain that feeling of solidity and 3D. I think you were sometimes afraid of crossing the sidelines of the leaves while trying to twist them, don't worry about making a mess, and cross both lines when you need it to maintain a proportional consistent width.

Also when applying line weight remember to use it sparingly. It's not about making the entire line thicker, but only a segment of that line that needs extra information to tell the viewer it's closer.

Verdict

You are good to go. Try to warm up mixing the branches exercise and leaves exercise because your main problems were related to misaligned ellipses, not crossing sidelines while rotating leaves, and lack of accuracy while joining ellipses.

I think you got all the concepts and practice will do the rest.

Thank you for your detailed critique, it has helped me a lot! I have revisited most of the demos (I didn't practice much with older ones though) and I have added what I got in the submission.

I tried to focus on adding extra masses, improving the head construction, and figuring out how to improve my textures a bit. I didn't spend as much time on shadows as in the first submission because I think it could make it more difficult to critique and drawabox is not centered around learning how to make details.

I think I have improved a lot but as you have pointed out in your critique I struggle at observing the subject I am drawing. More precisely I struggle with the process of knowing how what I see translates into specific lines. The way I have tried out for this revision is taking a paper that is not part of the exercise and trying multiple ways of connecting what I see into a basic scaffolding. I don't draw any of what I've put in these drawings as a "first attempt" thing, I do sketches of everything, and most of the time I don't even end in a final good result, I just continue with the exercise to not keep grinding.

https://imgur.com/a/wIAhaCk

About ghosted planes and rough perspective, I think it's good enough if you are already seeing where you need to improve. You still need more practice on straight lines, there is a lack of confidence and accuracy in your lines that should come with time. My "method" was just a guideline you have to adapt it to how you draw, it's a personal thing and everyone has their way of executing lines. If you remember that smoothness > accuracy, time will do the rest.

Now, with your ellipses. There is a big problem (from my perspective at least), your ellipses are more accurate than smooth. Maybe drawing some ellipses without limits that enclose it could work. You have to work on your ellipses in warm-ups from now on and should be a thing to look to improve.

The rough perspective was almost the same as the previous attempt. The lines of the boxes that are rotated have a similar length as boxes that are closer to the viewer and that's why your boxes never pass 45º of rotation. There is a thing with an easy fix that I previously mentioned in the critique when a box is next to another one, the common side will be almost equal. In your attempt, lines that should be equal, appear diverging one from another which is the opposite of what you should be aiming at. Also, there is no big problem with observing a reference and trying to study it, the problem is that if you try to mimic it without knowing how all it works, you are going to make a big mess because you will make mistakes and those will add on top of each other. Knowing how a reference is built helps to adapt to what you drew.

Verdict

I'm tempted to request another revision because your ellipses aren't smooth nor precise, your straight lines suffer a similar problem and I'm not sure you grasp how you should be rotating boxes... But I also think that grinding the same exercise is not going to help you that much and the 250 box challenge is intended to help you in multiple of those problems. Moving on is part of the drawabox process too after all.

I suggest you work in those areas in warmups. And it could be helpful to keep working on these exercises while you wait for future critiques.

Good luck with the challenge. Don't rush it. I always recommend to do 5-10 boxes a day, because most of what you will learn will happen while sleeping. Also playing around with ellipses, or drawing freely could help you more than doing some extra boxes a day. Good luck!

I think you improved with your sausages a lot.

The construction of the insects still lacks the 3D feel but It was more prominent in the grasshopper. Tarantula and Mr.Beetle were good enough.

In lesson 5 before starting the homework, do the additional work of drawing with the demos. I think that what you are lacking is the technique of building forms with extra masses and animals are easier for that in my opinion.

The thing will be, to draw a leg first draw a sausage joined with another. Then add mases as if you were playing with wet clay spheres. They have to deform so they can take the form you want. The wrapping deformation that extra masses take, is what your drawings probably need to improve another level.

Keep that hard work and good luck in your journey!

I don't understand fully your problem but I think lesson 5 information about head construction could be helpful. From what I understand of what you are saying, the only variety you need to change the angle of the head is to change the point where both lines cross. If you have a circle and both lines cross in the middle, the face is drawn from the front and if you move the crossing point to a side, you are drawing it sideways. If you move the crossing point in a direction the "viewer" moves in the opposite. If the crossing happens on the bottom of the circle, the viewer is on top on what is viewing.

I hope it helps.

Hello, Resunwonknu:

Welcome to drawabox! Let's see where you can improve.

Lines

Superimposed lines have a too spread fraying. Try to ghost more times before committing to the final stroke. Your lines seem wobbly even at the end of the lesson. Try to make ghosting and execution one phase, it should feel as if someone pushes down your hand while you are ghosting.

Also, you have some arching in the longest lines. This is because you are not comfortable drawing from the shoulder or you are still using your elbow as the rotation point. Try to practice against a wall, with your arm completely extended and simulating forms (circles, boxes, lines...) with your entire arm. Note how your shoulder muscles work and then try to mimic that while drawing.

Planes

You have skipped part of the exercise. The second cross is missing on every plane. Try to read carefully all the lessons and do all the recommended steps if you want to get the most out of this course. You are not going to improve more by rushing through the content.

You also seem to stop marking the corners of the planes at some point. Please, use marks. That's how we can differentiate between a bad execution from a bad planning phase.

Ellipses

It seems that you are drawing them too fast. Try to play around with the speed and also the way you are approaching the motion (clockwise or anti-clockwise). Too much speed ends with 2 ellipses far from each other but falling short will end in bumps on your ellipses. As we want to prioritize smoothness over precision, pick a high speed and start lowering it.

Boxes

Here you did a pretty good job overall (you did fall in the same mistakes commented previously tho). Your construction was decent enough. You got the point in the rotated boxes exercise about how to rotate boxes having neighbors as reference.

You could get some useful insight by drawing through your boxes in organic perspective. Try to follow recommended steps, they are usually a must if you don't have a previous drawing background.

Verdict

You seem to rush through every exercise. Take your time for each line you want to draw, patience is one of the most important things you could learn in this course.

You have some practical issues but I think you will solve most of them following the previous advice through your 250 boxes. Remember to warm up before any drawing session with the exercises you are struggling with. Don't rush through it or attempt to finish the challenge in a couple of days. Take your time and let the knowledge sink in your brain. We learn the most from our experiences while sleeping, have that in mind.

I hope my critique was useful and good luck with the 250 box challenge.

Hello, Tedjiart:

Let's see where you can improve:

Organic forms

I feel like these sausages forms were drawn in a rush. Some edges are almost as spiky as a triangle. Remember that sausage forms should be two spheres joined by a cylinder. Ellipses are not wrapping around correctly, they should feel as if the stroke will continue inside the form, you have a lot of ellipses where one of the ends stops pointing outside of the form. Your lines were smooth so good job on that.

Insects

Your construction was great. You built on top of the foundation and applied correctly line weight to communicate the lines hierarchy.

I think you struggle a bit with legs, maybe because of the previously mentioned mistakes on organic forms. Also, it could be the outcome of rushing through the less interesting parts of the drawings (if it's the case, please stop, don't skip your legs day). Try to construct over the legs too, adding a bit of detail as you did with the tarantula helps a lot.

As an improvement, I would add some background details to help both the viewer and yourself believe the 3D illusion. This is because some of your insects have their legs flying around in the air and it's hard to imagine where they are. There are cases in which this is not a big deal, the grasshopper for example feels like he is standing on a flat surface. On the other hand, the mantis feels like is on top of something and would be a great improvement to show it.

Drawing the shadow silhouette could be great too so you can practice a great technique for shadowing without having to worry about filling the inside of the shadow.

Verdict

I think you are prepared for lesson 5. In the end, these lessons are different approaches to construction so you can pick the one that works for you.

1. Do the exercises requested in the revision.

2. Upload them on imgur.

3. Answer to the critique with the link of the new uploaded content (is not needed to be on the same imgur link you posted before).

Hello, Gekki:

It should have been a tough journey but I think it paid it off. You have improved a lot compared to where you started. Don't worry about spending too many days on a particular lesson because most of the learning happens at night when you go to sleep. You have to let the knowledge sink into your brain and muscles. It can't happen quickly and rushing through a lot of content in a short time would have ended in a lot of practice time being less efficient. Being constant is key.

Now, talking about the mistakes I've spotted:

I see that you attempted multiple times the same line. This is not a problem if it's to add line weight to an already established line, if that's not the case, please don't hide your mistakes, it makes them bigger and attracts the attention of the viewer (that's also the purpose of line weight).

There are some wobbly lines in your boxes. Even in the final ones (236 for example). As a tip with the ghosting method (a thing you should be already doing), try to treat the ghosting and the execution as part of the same phase. It should feel as if someone pushes your hand down while you are ghosting. It's a bit tricky at first, especially putting the hand down where your initial mark is, but you will get it in a couple of days. That should avoid your brain from course-correcting. I'm going to let this herein case you need a more visual approach to learn this.

Verdict

I think you did a good job overall. Try to have all the mistakes pointed out in future lessons.

I hope my critique was useful.

Hello, Sargentobigode:

Let's see what you could improve:

Arrows

You did well here. The common mistake was that some of your arrows had constant width so it's hard to believe the illusion of one end being deeper than the other. Also, you struggle following the path of the arrow in the second line you draw but this is normal. Your use of line weight was correct but I would go with a more subtle approach.

Shadow hatching was good but remember that this was an exception and hatching should never replace the contour of a properly drawn shadow.

Leaves

You did great here too! Flow lines are correctly followed (3rd on top and last on the bottom being the exceptions). You added forms to the silhouette correctly adding forms on top of the general form wrapping it around and you did it so subtly that is beautiful despite being an exercise. Texture and shadows were nice too.

Branches

Here is where I found where you most struggle with. Your branches have 2 main problems: you don't follow the main flow line correctly and your ellipses are not aligned enough. I recommend you start warming up with the funnels exercise (lesson 1) so you can practice aligning ellipses in a more controlled environment.

To add on top of that, the branches felt too plain. This is because the ellipses you draw were in most cases the same length (major axis) and the rotation (minor axis) is harder to notice when ellipses are misaligned.

Plants

I didn't see problems here that weren't mentioned before. I noticed that sometimes you draw wobbly lines, try to prioritize smoothness over precision. Accuracy will come with practice. Look at your 5th plant. The wobbliness at the bottom of the drawing rest all the good quality the flower could give.

Here you had the same problem with branches as before. I don't think you have to worry too much about it because seeing your mushrooms I notice that your details hide pretty well the bad branch behind it.

Verdict

You are ready to continue. You got the concepts of this section. Try to improve that branches and cylinder constructions. These are more organic forms and the cylinder challenge after lesson 5 will be centered around straight ones, so you have to practice those apart. I recommend you do warm-ups with organic forms and funnels exercise to work on it.

I hope my critique was helpful. Happy drawing!