Slinks

Hey there,

Snail and the crab are my favorite! Nice work.

Re: Shadow Construction

This book goes into every aspect of shadow creation.

How to Render by Scott Robertson

To properly construct a cast shadow you need three things:

1. Light Origin

2. Shadow Origin (point which sits directly below the light source on the ground plane)

3. Vanishing Point

The basic Idea is to draw a line from the shadow origin and another from the light origin. You want to draw the lines so they graze the outline/contour line and continue until they hit the line from the other origin. Where they intersect is the outer edge of the cast shadow - do as many lines from each origin as you need to get the outline.

Here's a simple diagram of the technique.

http://studiochalkboard.evansville.edu/lp-shadow.html

Hey @Abeanberry,

Thought I would drop in with a quick critique.

ARROWS

I liked how smooth and consistent your line work was. You really nailed the two parallel lines for each arrow component of the drawings so well done. Take notice of how your arrows are moving in perspective. A few got smaller as they come towards us which breaks the illusion. Several of the arrows are quite flat as well. You've made some very elongated by increasing the gap between S swoops. Some of the straighter arrows without many bends look really sharp (page 1 right middle).

CONTOUR SAUSAGES

Looking pretty good. A few times you drew very straight contour lines which gives the impression of flatness. ALso noticed some of the ellipses were not quite touching the edge which is an important piece to nail for a successful effect. Overall the ellipses look very tight, smooth and consistent.

TEXTURE ANALYSIS

No hatching! The HW guidelines say to avoid hatching for the sake of shading. In your crumpled paper texture you used lines to shade the dark areas. Every mark you make should be denoting something on the form. The effect looks alright but keep in mind the lesson guidlines. The bricks and the basketweave are very nice.

TEXTURED SHAPE

I can see how much attention and time you put into covering all the surfaces of the object. They're very nicely done. One thing to consider is the application of the gradient technique on your forms. This both saves time and also gives the viewer the opportunity to fill in their own details. Remember you don't need to draw every texture on the form. You can simply elude to them. Also, same with the texture analysis, try to avoid hatching and scribbling for the texture. Focus on the unique shadow shapes you see and do more of a two value contrast study. Later you can add in midtones with marker. Alternatively, used a toned piece of paper for the midtones and pick out highlights with a white gel pen or Posca paint pen.

Please take the critique of the shape textures for what they are. Overall the work is beautiful and you give the impression of the subject matter quite well. Really liked the pine cone!

SHAPE INTERSECTIONS

These look neat and tidy. The only things I noticed of issue were the cone points and the ellipse where they intersect a form. These two didn't match up well so I would recommend trying to place the ellipse within the two converging lines of the cone to achieve the effect. Also, some of your boxes had the convergence of the liens off kilter so try and make them all aim towards their VPs.

ORGANIC INTERSECTIONS

I think you went too far on trying to have the sausages concave or have irregular surfaces. These kinda look like they are made of jelly with how much the surface contours. Think about when you lay a sausage on top of another sausage. It will bend, but it has a solid interior structure so there isn't this oozing effect that most of your have.

That's all for now. Good work and keep going :)