Chayota

Good job with the new boxes.

Hehe, I see you had a hard time drawing these.

Light foreshortening is always a little tricky at first.

Especially because of lines that deviate from their vanishing point.

I've left some comments on the images in your drive folder for you to notice.

You'll want to practice it in your warm-ups for a while.

Above all, good try! Move on to the next lesson when you feel ready.

Hi, thanks for the review!

Quite accurate and clear. I think it will take me some time to correct the things mentioned.

I have tried to simplify my shapes and shadows in correcting the assignment. Here it is for you to proofread when you have time.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SV46IVS8hQ81r1CtnT_ynIsSldYVxx7M?usp=share_link

Wow, I must admit that is a very strange insect.

Even in the photograph I couldn't find a shape for it.

Brave of you for trying : O

Hello hello! I will correct your homework from lesson 2.

Organic arrows:

-You drew the folds of these well, and the illusion of depth is well achieved, You can feel them receding or advancing in space.

• Regarding the lines that indicate their shadows, they could be better. They are not very firm and rarely fit the edges of their arrows.

These lines are as important as the rest of the drawing, make them with more patience.

Shapes with contours:

-The ellipses are correctly aligned to their axis within these, and you can see the attempt in changing them in degree with respect to their position.

-The curves on the second sheet are not bad. Try to make them fit the edges of each "sausage" and not stop before reaching them.

I see that in some cases you tried to correct some lines by overlapping them with new ones. Normally this only increases the initial error, avoid it in future exercises.

Texture studies:

• The annotations of each are quite accurate. They look realistic.

• The transition from dark to light for each one is well worked. The change is quite smooth and never too abrupt.

Also the small details match the larger shapes of the texture very well.

Dissections:

• The texture is nicely rolled over each sausage, which gives it realism. I like the variety of textures used, too.

• Perhaps there is an overuse of areas of black.

Like in the Bearded Dragon texture , where they create unnecessary contrast. The shadows near his spikes are too much. Reserve the large areas of black (shadows) for the edges of the silhouette, where little light reaches or use them just a little where each shape overtakes another.

Intersections of shapes:

• Starting with the position of the shapes, this is appropriate. Most of the shapes are well grouped in the center and feel like part of the same scene.

• Regarding the intersections, most of them feel very real. There is no need to talk about advanced techniques here as you will see them in later lessons. You are doing very well so far.

Organic intersections:

• The basic shapes are still good. And each has its illusion of solidity and weight.

The way each falls on top of the other is somewhat good.

• I'll stress once again that you plan your contour curves better. Here you can see how the wrong ones kill the solidity of the drawing a bit. This will improve with time.

• Finally, the shadows you drew help to give depth. I also recommend you to use lineweight for the sausages in the foreground for more focus, I see that it has not been applied in this exercise.

  • • In closing, I will mark your lesson as complete as the fundamentals are well applied. Be sure to better plan your contour curves and any lines over time. You can move on to the next lesson at any time.

Hello! I'm going to correct your assignment for this lesson.

Shapes with contours:

• Both those with ellipses and contour curves are fine. In both cases they remain aligned to their central axis, and their curvature and degree change according to their position; all excellent.

Insects:

• In general everything looks very correct. Your strokes are clean and the shapes are legible.

The perspective or depth that can be seen in insects like the centipede is quite admirable, also the patience in drawing all its legs, hehe.

• The use of lineweight and contour curves to accentuate the shapes is quite adequate. They gave a great sense of solidity and depth.

Likewise the drawing on the silhouette of the wings or legs gave more character to each insect, very nice.

• A few times you went overboard with the areas of pure black. As in the ant and wasp of this page .

In the ant you drew shadows pointing both on its left and right, which takes away the constancy of the light, we lose a bit of realism.

Also, areas like its eye and pincers (beak... mouth?) should not be completely black. Maybe in your reference they look like that, but in this course we largely ignore the local color of the objects. That way we put more concentration on the three-dimensional shapes.

In the case of the wasp is that the areas of black have flattened the basic shapes. For example on its abdomen, that black stripe did not wrap correctly around the shape underneath and has made it two-dimensional.

As we can see in any case, the use of long black areas can be risky and has to be moderate, very thoughtful.

• I will mark your lesson as complete, as everything is well worked out and looks clean. Just remember to be careful when using pure black areas.

Keep up the good work in the next lesson.

Glad to have been of help!

Oh, and I wouldn't want to leave you in doubt about the wasp. I can tell it's a great example because it looks simple and clean.

Many times that's worth more than a chaos of shadows and details that overshadow the basics of the drawing.

Good day to you too!

Hi. Good job on completing the lesson.

I will try to be concise in correcting it. I will go in parts:

Sausages with outlines:

The shape of the sausages is simple and the correct one. Also the outlines are well drawn, and align to their axis.

Insects:

• The lines are quite clear and crisp, and the use of these is moderate which is efficient.

• The construction method is well applied.

It is clear how the bases have been drawn first, and then new shapes are correctly added on top of the previous ones.

• Your use of pure black areas and lineweight is moderate and clean. It does not hinder the previous construction.

• About errors I can't speak so much.

Problems of proportions as in the shrimp (very large head) will be solved with experience.

• I also see that you have decided to fill the eyes of some insects with black. This is tentative as the reference shows it that way. But during this course we ignore the local color of the objects; so the best way to represent them is just with a transparent sphere. We save some unnecessary contrast in the drawing.

• It looks like you have understood the basics of the lesson, and I notice very few mistakes, so I will mark your lesson as complete.

Move on to the next one whenever you want!

Hello, good day to you.

The reference usage at 50% is somewhat complicated.

For this use can be driven by two reasons:

1- The insecurity of making a mistake in the drawing.

2- An impulse of curiosity or exploration, which is complemented by the use of reference.

If the reference is used for fear of making a mistake, this 50% is not correctly fulfilled, in which no drawing should be judged as a success or failure.

If the reference is used for experimentation - or for fun - there is no problem, as its use is not specifically to evaluate your drawing.

I understand that you being an anxious (not necessarily weak) minded person, you may have trouble differentiating for which reason you are driven. In fact there can be a very blurred line between the two. For a few months, I recommend you to be more inclined not to use references to leave an evaluative attitude that can cause you anxiety when drawing.

With time you won't feel so much pressure in case you make a mistake in your drawing, and you will know if you use references only for exploration; in this case allow yourself. Of course this will not happen overnight, be patient.

Hello! Today I will take care of correcting your homework.

Congratulations on completing it, I'm sure it took a lot of effort.

I will go in parts:

Sausages with contours:

• The shape is simple and the correct one.

• Most of the ellipses and curves are well aligned and change degree according to their position; only once this was not achieved.

• I want you to control the amount of ellipses or curves you add in a sausage. A couple or three well-drawn ones should achieve the desired effect. Using too many gives an artificial and confusing look.

Insects:

• Uhm.. Why are there so many?; the total number of insects should be 10. The effort used in those almost 20 drawings could have been concentrated in only the 10 and achieved more efficient results, that and not overexerting yourself.

Try to avoid doing that in the next lessons.

It is also not very useful to redo the same insect as in the case of the bagworm caterpillar.

• I must criticize the note taking and doodling on most of the pages (even though I like the cute face spider and the fly man...). If you feel you must jot down details about the drawings or just do something for fun, reserve it for sheets that don't contain the course drawings.

Keeping your drawings clean and legible is important for the presentation, and for those reviewing your assignment.

• Going more into insects. The construction is good, and the relationships of each shape to the others is neat. Each insect looks very similar to its references.

• The use of sausages for the legs is just right. Let me remind you that when a leg has a complex design, you should still start with the sausage, and add the complex structure on top of it.

(As shown in this image - bottom section)

• The bee drawing has the right amount of detail. It is simple and does not overshadow the construction behind it.

Contrary to this arachnid whose black details do not allow to differentiate the body from its legs.

Excessive use of details and areas of pure black is common for new members. Always opt for the minimum necessary detail.

• Finally, I will clarify your question about the scorpion's body... Between a very boxy or very round body opt for the former.

The boxy shapes show their sides more clearly than the round ones, which is easier to work with for newcomers.

Round shapes do not have defined sides and edges which can be confusing when working on top of them.

As you gain experience working with more boxy shapes, you will be able to work better with round shapes later on.

• I will not leave you homework or revisions as the basics of the lesson are well applied.

What you have to correct is about process more than anything else:

. Keep your drawings simple and crisp, avoid notes and scribbles on them .

. Do not do more exercises than the ones assigned to the lesson.

. Avoid overloading the drawings with too much detail, and dulling the initial construction.

Hello!

I will start correcting your lesson:

Arrows:

• These are fine; there is a clear sense of depth. The way they fold in space is also accurate.

• Still, I would like you to pay more attention to the shadow lines inside the arrows. You should do them more meditatively, to avoid them going off the edges or being overused. They have become a bit erratic.

Branches:

• Excellent. The lines are almost not out of place, and will get better with practice. Ellipses are well aligned and change degree with respect to their position correctly.

• Branches that split in two are also well done, you followed each step well.

Leaves:

• These fold back on themselves correctly. How you have added the detail on the bases, constructively, is also appropriate.

• Both here and in the other plant drawings, the way you draw their interior detail could be improved.

Things like the "veins" inside the leaves are not to be worked in as mere lines.

What we should project from these are only their cast shadows.

Thus, we do not destroy the three-dimensionality of our drawing by adding details or empty lines.

This diagram may help.

Plants:

• Regarding these, the constructive method is well applied.

Leaves, branches are as well applied as in the previous exercises.

• As I usually tell most people who start this lesson, try to moderate the use of shadows and areas of pure black.

There is always a tendency to overuse them. In your case, the shadows of the spheres inside that cactus are so large that they give unnecessary contrast.

• Which brings me to the consistency of the shadows. In the cactus balls themselves, some shadows are cast to the right and sometimes to the left, breaking the consistency of the light. This destroys the "reality" of the drawing.

If the light comes from the left, all the shadows will go to the right. Of course there are exceptions to this, but let's work this way for now so as not to complicate things at the beginning.

• Also try to be more patient when working the detail of the silhouette and the lineweight that sometimes look a bit rushed, take your time to think about them like any other part of the drawing. If these details look erratic, you lose a lot of solidity of the drawing itself.

. I have nothing more to mention. Above all you have understood the basics of the lesson. The mistakes mentioned can be worked on as you go along.

Move on to the next lesson whenever you want!