Thanks for completing feedback. I suggest including the plant pot as a part of the construction as well in the future, as it is basically a part of the plant. Otherwise, this is complete.
Next Steps:
Lesson 4
Hi there, I'll be looking at your work today.
The arrows flow and bend in 3D space with grace and fluidity. For the most part, the width of the arrows feel consistent. The arrow in the bottom right corner is a little deformed, but it looks more experimental than the rest, so it is not a particular issue. The main purpose of the exercise to demonstrate the illusion of the arrow getting bigger/smaller as it is closer/further, and on that front, the rest of the arrows show this.
Every leaf feels concrete and looks like it is subject to reasonable outside forces. The only issue I can see is the edge detail for some of the leaves are a little inconsistent.
The branches have very smooth and confident lines, which is great, and there are some areas to address. To start, the edge lines have some visible tails, which is an extremely common problem that everyone struggles with. This is something that is improved with continuous practice. Next are the ellipses in the branch. They are a little wobbly and sometimes appear to be drawn through too many or too few times. Consider reviewing lesson 1's section on ellipses.
The textures are really well done. Good work on that. The constructions are mostly good, with a few areas where they could have been broken down more, such as the mushroom caps on page 3.
The only significant issue here is that there should be 4 pages of plants without any texture. I'm personally of the opinion that this is important, but it is unfair to ask for corrections given that you still did the work (and included extra pages), so in the future make sure to read instructions carefully.
Overall, I think this is well done. I usually write somewhat long reviews, and this one is fairly short for good reason.
Next Steps:
Lesson 4
I recommend branches as an exercise. The most important concept behind a branch is the way the degree of the ellipse shifts. I suggest re-reading Lesson 1's section on ellipses if visualizing them is difficult.
Hi there, I'll be looking at your work today.
The flow and perspective demonstrated in this exercise are good. The individual arrow widths look like they expand/contract with distance, showing an understanding of 3D space. The only issues here are in execution. The curve for the arrow should be smooth with minimal wobbling. Hatching lines should be neat like all other straight lines in this course. These two issues are best solved with more ghosting and drawing from the shoulder. Finally, the arrow heads should begin at the end of the curve such that the curve is not sticking out unnecessarily.
Save for the bottom two, the leaves flow well and have dynamism in their central lines. This is great because a common issue is that this center line is very stiff and straight, leading to extremely 2D leaves. Meanwhile, the two bottom leaves appear to be unnaturally folding and bending, which is the opposite of the common problem (discussed here). Consider using C and S curves with mild bends in the future. Finally, there appear to be a few correction lines, which should be ideally avoided.
Looking at this exercise, there are a few issues to address. Starting with the ellipses, their execution could use improvement. Ideally, they are drawn through twice and have minimal wobbling. Furthermore, the tails of compound strokes are visible. Careful ghosting to the next ellipse is the best way to fix this issue. Alternatively, reduce the number of ellipses in a branch to draw fewer strokes. Finally, consider the degree of the ellipse as a part of these branches (step 1 of the exercise). This is a very challenging exercise, and mistakes are very common.
Most plants demonstrate an understanding of 3D space through their constructional methods. The petals of the various flowers show this best through their bending. Only a few of the forms aren't drawn through completely, which still should be included. Examples include the main stem on the flower on the second plant, and one of the pitchers of the last plant. Constructional techniques are a core part of this course and should not be skipped.
Some of the edge details on petals appear to be rushed and disordered. These details should be conscious and added with intent, so consider how each of the little protrusions and bends belongs to the whole of the subject.
Finally, pay attention to how forms intersect. Many plants, such as the first plant and the flowers with many petals have many different leaves/petals in a 3D world and will overlap with each other. There appears to be some apprehension on how to approach this interplay, but it is better to include overlaps in your constructions and figure it out from there with line weight and cast shadows.
Overall, I think there are a few areas to work on. That being said, this is complete.
Next Steps:
Lesson 4
HI there, I'll be looking at your work today
The arrows appear to be foreshortening with distance and mostly feel confident and smooth. They don't feel like they are lacking in thought in their construction. However, there are a few points that need to be addressed. The line weight and shading are generally used to emphasize which line is on top of the other. In several arrows, these additions do not help with visually clarifying overlaps. Consider the bottom right arrow; the two larger bends have shading on opposite sides. Next, the width of the arrow is sometimes inconsistent. This is usually an issue with rushing, so make sure you slow down and ghost both the initial and matching curves. Finally, some of the arrow heads seem to have repeated lines. This is not a big problem, but make sure to minimize the number of corrections done.
Most of the leaves are flowing and have an element of realness to their forms. For the most part, constructional steps are followed faithfully, with the arms of branched leaves individually planned out and re-joined with the main body. The critique here is that the edges appear to be done without thought on "auto-pilot". Consider how each of the individual bumps have their own place on the leaf as opposed to being just a pattern on the edge. For the leaf textures, look carefully at your reference and understand what on the leaf causes it to have its distinct appearance. For example, note the how the stem leads into the leaf, how it forks, and how light applies to it. This is a similar process to Lesson 2's textures, but with emphasis on what and how along with the study.
The primary issue of the branches is that the degrees of the ellipses are not shifting. This does not have to be completely realistic as this exercise is not the cylinder challenge, but most of the branches look like this was not considered. Additionally, the ellipses appear to have execution issues and are rather wobbly. This is usually a ghosting/shoulder problem, and is discussed in Lesson 1. That being said, the width of the branches and the issue of visible tails are dealt with pretty well, and those are generally the hardest parts of this exercise, so good work there.
Most of the demo plants are done well and have a sense of realism in their structure. The elements of construction are usually identified and built upon, leading to a complete member of the plant or fungal kingdom. There are a few areas of this that can be improved. First, small twigs are usually inappropriately represented with a line. These have volume as space as well, so consider a very thing branch or even just a tube of two lines unless the twig really is that thin. Second, not all the forms are drawn through. Each petal/leaf/thin piece of the plant needs to have its entire form constructively added to be a part of the whole. Not doing so is skipping crucial steps that help you reason about the subject you are drawing. An example of this is the lotus and several of the plants on the last page. And lastly, most of the contour lines on the fruits/spherical objects do not appear to wrap around the form. They look a little flat and unconvincing. Consider using a whole ellipse to define the volume as opposed to just the one curve. Remember that constructional drawing is the main technique in which this course teaches its content.
The plants that are textured sometimes have too much line weight. In some cases, it can make the plant look messier or bolder than it needs to be. The same thing that was said about organic arrows applies here about clarifying overlap.
Finally, there were a large number of repeated plants. That is fine, but please leave those as warm-ups for yourself as opposed to work to be handed in. This is so that grinding, which is discussed here, is avoided. In the spirit of this, I ask for another page of plant(s), different than the ones in this submission.
Overall, there are done well and areas to improve. Consider working on ellipses and understanding the why and how of constructional drawing.
Next Steps:
1 page of plant(s)
Hi there, I'll be looking at your work today.
The arrows have good overall flow and look like they're expanding and contracting with distance, which is great. However, there are some issues to point out. First, the curves of the arrow (both of them) should be single lines and have no corrective lines. Second, the overlapping line weight should be faithful to the original line. These two problems can be solved with some ghosting and extra practice. Finally, the hatching lines sometimes overshoot the original line, so make sure to keep your mark-making controlled and steady.
The flows of the leaves are great. Almost all of them look like they occupy space in a 3D world, and this is the most important aspect of this exercise. The edges look like they have thought put into them, which is great as well. There are two notable areas that can be improved. First, the more complicated leaves with arms need to be drawn constructionally. This is to ensure that the overall context of the leaf is still captured for each of its subparts, which feels like it is missing for the affected leaves, leading to arms that are individually competent, but disoriented when put together. Second, the texture lines look rushed, so please consider slowing down before making those marks.
This exercise is quite challenging, and a great job was done to keep the minor axes of individual ellipses aligned with the line. Make sure that ellipses are drawn through twice as discussed in Lesson 1, and that they aren't too loose. Furthermore, each of the strokes should begin on an ellipse. Some of the strokes start in the middle of the ellipse on the previous stroke, and that is not accurate to the initial construction of the branch. Other than that, there are issues with the tails of the strokes being visible, but this is a very common problem and can be worked on continuously through practice.
Most plants follow constructional methods and look like they are tri-dimensional. An understanding of spatial awareness and how objects relate to each other is developing, such as in plants 7 and 8. Furthermore, some of the textures, such as the lotus, are really neat.
There are a few notable areas that could benefit from following constructional drawing more. The leaves of certain plants, such as plant numbers 2 and 3, should have flowing constructional lines before edge detail is added. When a branch forks into another branch, there should be a ball. This is to make sure how the forked branch attaches to the parent branch is considered. Finally, some of the stems/roots of the plants could benefit from fewer ellipses. It is not always necessary to describe every single bend, and sections that are straight can be simplified. This should help with the tail issue stated previously as well, as making fewer connecting strokes and focusing on their quality will improve them gradually.
Finally, for a miscellaneous improvement, please do not use paper that has the other side already used. This makes it difficult to tell what is going on in certain pictures.
Overall, this exercise shows good understanding of what constructional elements apply to plants. Core competencies are demonstrated and thus, I think this is complete.
Next Steps:
Lesson 4
Hi there, I'll be looking at your work today.
At first, there was an issue with fraying. This is caused by not carefully placing the pen on the initial dot. While this issue is most apparent in the Superimposed Lines exercise, it is also present in the other two exercises.
Consider slowing down before drawing a line to place the tip of the pen on the dot.
Continue to use dots as opposed to circles. That will help with making the lines more precise and straight.
After getting straight lines with one end on the starting dot, move on to getting the line to connect both dots.
There is a small amount of wobbliness in a few lines, but this is resolved towards the end.
The bisecting lines of the Ghosted Planes look like they're missing the dots. Do include them, as they're lines like any other.
Otherwise, these are good. The lines aren't repeated and they do not arch too much.
There is significant wobbliness in many of the ellipses. This is usually a result of not ghosting enough and not using the shoulder significantly.
There is a slight slant with the ellipses in the Funnels exercise. This is a small issue, but something to be aware of. More ghosting will help place the ellipse in the right position.
All of the ellipses are drawn through twice, which is great.
Ellipses generally touch their bounds and stay within them, which is a difficult thing to do. Good work.
The Plotted Perspective exercise's boxes should not have every face shaded. Make sure to read through the instructions carefully.
The boxes of the Rough Perspective have some issues to be aware of. First, the lines tend to be a little wobbly. Second, the back plane appears to be rushed, evidenced by the fact that many of the lines aren't horizontal or vertical.
For the first issue, everything in the Lines section applies.
For the second issue, remember that this is one-point perspective relative to a horizon. For the front face of the box, the lines need to be horizontal or vertical, which was done correctly. The same applies to the back face of the box.
The Rotated Boxes looks good for the most part. Just make sure you're considering rotation more carefully, as a few of the boxes edges look like they're not rotated relative to previous boxes.
Organic perspective is done well. The extra dots are okay, but they should be small marks that don't distract from the rest of the work.
Overall, while there are issues with fraying, I think this is done fairly well. Please continue to ghost through your lines and ellipses, and make sure you carefully put the pen down on the dot.
Next Steps:
250 Box Challenge
Hi, thanks for taking a look at my work. I have the requested corrections, but when I was uploading them, I noticed they were upside-down and the shadings were on the wrong side. I went back to the organic arrows in the original submission, rotated it 180 degrees, and it looked fine. It seems like my phone's weird camera had something to do with it.
Here's the requested corrections (and rotated original organic arrows):
Hi there, I'll be taking a look at your work today.
Line execution is generally confident and competent. This is sometimes lost while juggling the complexities of box construction.
One of the box faces is hatched, and is also done with high quality.
There is a large variety in the orientations and sizes of the boxes. This is great since it helps with reasoning about different kinds of boxes as opposed to just one type.
The foremost issue is that for many boxes, one line is diverging (as opposed to converging). From my experience, this is usually caused by not ghosting enough before the dot is placed. Given that this issue consistently shows up throughout all pages, consider taking some time to look at how you're constructing the box as well. This tutorial might help.
Sometimes, the hatching lines are wobbly. They should be done like the other lines in the box.
A few boxes have repeated lines, which should be avoided.
The biggest issue aside, I think this is done. Consider doing this exercise as a warm-up since there will be more boxes in future lessons.
Next Steps:
Lesson 2
Hi there, I'll be looking at your work today.
The rate of expansion/compression as the arrow moves towards/away from the viewer is done correctly.
There are significant line confidence issues. Just like the straight lines from lesson 1, these should be done from the shoulder, and should have a smooth and continuous motion.
Some of the line weight on the overlapping areas is missing, most notably from the second page.
The ellipses in the first page are not done confidently, shown in the wobbly and mismatched ellipses. Consider re-visting the first lesson's section on ellipses.
The organic forms on the first page are a little bulged in the middle. Ideally, the width is consistent between the two ends.
The contour lines are done very well, good work there.
This section is done very well.
A small issue in the cast shadows on the second texture (the tree) is the transition. The way it is done makes the transition from the moderately lit area to the heavily lit area makes it look very jarring.
This section is also done very well.
Some of the texture cast shadows are done using lines that don't fully convey the illumination at the center. This is related to the previously mentioned issue in the texture analysis section.
The overall compositions are well done, as the forms all appear to be in the same scene.
There are some issues with ellipses as previously discussed. This causes the cylinders to sometimes look like they're foreshortening too much or too little, and detracts from the overall cohesiveness of 3D objects that this lesson is trying to teach.
The boxes (and pyramids) have some issues with overshooting lines.
Some of the hatching is messy. This causes the cones in particular to look off.
The shadows of the first page are not always wrapping around the forms correctly. The second page largely addresses this, but the shapes of the shadows there don't always reflect the form that casts it. Consider the contour lines on the form when adding the shadows.
The forms look like they're unsupported, especially in the second page. This causes a few missed opportunities to cast shadows and consider how forms intersect. It may help to think of them like water balloons.
Overall, I think this is done. There will be a few exercises involving ellipses coming up, so there will be lots of time to practice.
Next Steps:
Lesson 3
Every now and then I'll get someone asking me about which ruler I use in my videos. It's this Wescott grid ruler that I picked up ages ago. While having a transparent grid is useful for figuring out spacing and perpendicularity, it ultimately not something that you can't achieve with any old ruler (or a piece of paper you've folded into a hard edge). Might require a little more attention, a little more focus, but you don't need a fancy tool for this.
But hey, if you want one, who am I to stop you?
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