kotka

Hello, and well done on starting DAB. I'm Kotka and I'll be reviewing your submission today.

Everything you have started here are skills that you’ll work on for a while and skills that will help you improve in the long run. With that said, let's break apart your submission - what's good, less good, and perfectly normal in the beginning!

Superimposed Lines

Your superimposed lines show that you have understood the assignment and avoided the first and most common issue: wobbles. Yor lines show confidence and are smooth and are properly lined up at the start. Sometimes their trajectory wander. At this stage, smooth marks are more important than accuracy. A line that’s completely off but smooth is correct. Keep practicing drawing from the shoulder while and your stray lines will tighten up over time because your hand-eye coordination will improve.

Ghosted Lines

For a beginner, it is normal to see misses. I see no wobbles, which is good and proper and tells me that you are working from the shoulder rather than the wrist. You are already past the hardest step!

What about the arcs and misses then? Well, our brain needs to adjust because the joints in our arm—like the wrist, elbow, and shoulder—create an arc rather than a straight motion. This could mean that you might be drawing primarily from your wrist or elbow, whereas you should be using your shoulder more. It’s also possible that your brain isn't making the necessary adjustments.

If you find this to be a persistent problem, I'd recommend paying attention to which joint you're drawing from. Also, if you're already engaging your whole arm from the shoulder, try intentionally arcing your stroke slightly in the opposite direction to counteract the natural curve. This technique should help retrain your brain’s expectation of the movement needed to achieve a straight line. It might require conscious effort at first, but with practice, it should become more instinctive.

Ghosted Planes

Here, I search for new issues that suddenly become visible that were not there before. Your line quality here is in line with previous exercises where which is what I like to see. It means that you probably are not rushing, and are consistent with your line confidence. Well done, keep at it!

Table of ellipses

Your table of ellipses exercise looks good. There’s the occasional stiff ellipse (for which I’d recommend more ghosting), but for the most part, these are smooth, rounded, and properly drawn through. They’re sometimes a little too same-y (I’m referring here to their degrees/angles), so it would behoove you to be a little more varied in that sense, but it’s nothing too serious. The ellipses in planes show some good improvement throughout the set - I can see that the passes become tighter and do not stray as much as in the first rows. Be careful that you don't do more than three passes! I can see some of your ellipses have four, maybe five passes. Try to avoid it, it's more important to spend longer time on ghosting and drawing once you really decided. There is a danger that one might trick oneself with more passes to compensate for hurried ghosting.

Funnels

Looking good. Ellipses are aligned to the main axis of the funnel, they stay within the funnel, and you are doing at least two passes. Like I wrote for your table pf ellipses exercise, don't do more than three passes here either.

I am happy to see you attempt the optional degree variation. Keep at it, it will become increasingly more important in the upcoming lessons.

Plotted perspective

The plotted perspective exercise looks clean. You have used rules where they were supposed to be used, your vertical lines are perpendicular to the horizon, and all vanishing points try to converge properly. Of course, they don't converge properly, but that is not to be expected at this stage.

Rough Perspective

A nice attempt. This is a very hard exercise to nail and requires lots and lots of training. Like before, your lines are confident and I wouldn't worry about the arcs. It will improve with time and practice.

Rotated Boxes

One of the better ones I have seen on DAB, congratulations on your effort and results. This is a very hard exercise but you followed all the instructions, kept a very consistent distance between each box in both vertical and horizontal directions and your line quality looks good and as before, confident. You didn't miss any box and they actually look very accurate in their convergences. I applaud you! The next time you're doing this exercise, try to add some hatching.

Organic Perspective

Very good. You have kept your strengths throughout the whole submission and it is visible here, too. Confident, strong lines. Some boxes look a little overly dramatic in their perspective, but overall the the boxes are following a convincing path in 3D space. When you use overly dramatic foreshortening - or extremely rapid convergence - in a drawing exercise that involves multiple forms, it can lead to inconsistencies in the sense of scale. I would suggest that you aim for more shallow foreshortening. This means achieving more gradual convergences rather than steep ones.

This doesn't mean the forms should be drawn parallel on the page with no convergence at all. There should definitely be some convergence, considering that the boxes are randomly rotated and not aligned in any specific arrangement that would result in infinite vanishing points. Aim for a fairly gradual convergence to maintain a consistent and realistic scale.

I like that you use the whole value range bravely. I think that the next step for you would be to look up how to plan and organize your value in groups. Your hand has some areas where the values are conflicting, or too busy. Planning them out beforehand in clear steps and in a small thumbnail will help.

Hello, I'm Kotka and I'll be revieweing your submission today!

Overall, you have completed this Lesson with flying colors, even though you say it was hard you did very well. I have some tips that I think you should keep in mind. Let's dive into it!

Organic Arrows

Your edges overlap properly and you show perspective correctly by narrowing the distance between the curves as the arrow travels further from view. Very good line quality with some minor hiccups, but nothing to worry too much about - it will become even more smooth with more practice. You have thickened the topmost overlaps of the arrow curves and the hatching is well done - if you look carefully in the instructions, the hatches are supposed to be a little more dense the closer we get to the actual turn of the arrow plane. You have very similar hatching distances, which is a minor miss.

Organic Forms with Contour Lines

Your sausages are properly round at the edges, the same size in both ends, and they are not overly complicated. Your ellipses and contour lines are well placed inside the sausage. There is enough degree variation along the sausage, but be very careful so that you choose the "right" degree order - in some of your sausages, not all, the degree sequence doesn't follow a visually logical order. If the sausage is receding in view, the degree of the ellipse should be widest/largest at the furthermost end. The next ellipse after it, now a little closer to the viewer, should have a little smaller degree, and so on throughout the sausage. I have altered some of your sausages so you can take a look at what I am talking about. Don't be afraid to use extremely small degrees and exaggerate the differences more.

This is a fine technicality that doesn't affect you passing this exercise, but something I'd think you'll benefit from considering when you use this exercise as warm-up in the future.

Texture analysis

You draw the cast shadows properly and avoid focusing on outlines. I can see the texture going dark to light, complete with lost edges at the lighter parts. I appreciate that you took the time and made everything quite neat. Looking at your details, I feel there might be some danger that you start drawing details rather than cast shadows - it's very easy to be swept away by this exercise and forget the outside world for a while. For your feathers, I'd try to minimize the individual feather fiber details and maybe even invert them at the darkest parts - so that at least some individual strands are white in a sea of black cast shadows. Try it! A little out of scope of this exercise, but yours was so well done that I think you're ready to experiment a little.

Dissection

One again, very well done. This is your strongest submission in the set. You turn the textures along the surface of the sausage in a very believable way by increasing the amount of cast shadows, building additive details upon the sausage, and keeping lost edges in the middle. This is really great, congratulations!

Form Intersections

This is a very hard exercise but you really rose to the challenge here. You have managed to avoid the most common errors - your forms are mostly equilateral, you have grouped them correctly and there are no overpasses with wobbly lines. I get a very clear idea of how you want to solve the intersections! Keep doing this as warm-up and watch yourself get even better. In your fourth paper, it's normal to think "WTF have i done", but remember there is no "right" answer - only the one you imagine and your job is to communicate it clearly.

Organic Intersections

You have done everything correctly by using uncomplicated forms, stacked perpendicularly, and the cast shadows warp around the shape below in a believable way - with some issues. Remember that a cast shadow can fall on two shapes below each other - such is the case in your second of these submissions - which will alter the way it looks. In one of the cast shadows, it looks like it's not following the underlying two sausages very well. I have redrawn a part which can give you an idea of what I mean. Not saying I have done it perfectly correctly, but the important part is to consider the effect on the two underlying sausages a bit differently.

Overall I think you should be very proud, to do this well the first time is an accomplishment. You take this seriously, draw in a neat manner and understand the principles. Congratulations on finishing and good luck with Lesson 3!

Hi there, tonight I'll be critiquing your submission! Overall, your whole submission is solid and carefully executed and you should be happy with it! There is one mistake that will require the smallest of revisions, so let's dive straight into it.

Organic Arrows

Your edges overlap properly and you show perspective correctly by narrowing the distance between the curves as the arrow travels further from view. Good line quality, too. One obvious mistake is that the hatching is in the wrong plane - if you look carefully in the instructions, the hatches are supposed to be drawn vertically/perpendicularly to the surface plane of the arrow. You have drawn them in parallel. For this reason, I'll ask for a tiny revision with only three arrows, where you revisit the instructions for this exercise and hatch properly. Remember to condense the hatches closer to the actual turn. Don't forget to make use of added line weight on top of the overlaps to reinforce their depth.

Leaves

The centerline is not too stiff, I can see you did constructive steps on some leaves with "arms" going our from the center line as well as smaller shapes. There is only one leaf with a weird little bend - mistakes happen and you are doing absolutely right not trying to fix it afterwards with redrawn lines! You have followed the instructions and avoided the obvious mistakes.

There are many "timid" leaves of the same type and orientation in your submission. In future warm-ups with this exercise, try bending them a little more, explore the folding and challenge yourself to bend their directions in a believable way.

I can see you tried the optional texture and it looks good. Not overdone and properly as cast shadows of the leaf textures.

Branches

If you ask me, the most difficult thing with this excercise is not drawing the whole branch with one stroke, but not divide it in too many segments. You definitely have avoided the first issue! This has created the problem of too many smaller segments to be connected. I can see that you have been very careful, but there are some width irregularities and visible tails in compound strokes where the lines should connect. I have some tips for future warm-ups (I recommend you revisit this exercise as soon as you can) which can help you minimize this issue:

• Ghost each stroke before executing it

• Place the ellipses with enough space between them, then make sure that you extent one compound stroke at least half way towards the next ellipse. You need enough room to work with to aim the tails

In some branches, the degree of your ellipses can be a bit similar. In the next warm-up, try doing more dramatic degree changes along the branch. Drawing through the ellipse twice helps making the mark appear more smooth.

Plant drawings

Lastly, let's review your plant constructions. You effectively utilize the construction techniques from this lesson which I feel communicates a three-dimensional quality oin your work. You're not just capturing the appearance of these structures but also considering their functionality and spatial relationships. Your best one is the flytrap, and your weakest is the Asiatic lily. In the latter, you skipped the extension of the center line all the way across the petal, which flattens your image quite a lot. Here, you have lost some three-dimensional quality. Be very careful to remember why you are doing the centerline - even if the plant lacks it you have to try to imagine it on the paper. It will help you construct the rest of the elements in a believable way. The same issue, but not to the same extent, can also be seen in your Plumeria, Iris and Lotus.

In the Aloe Vera and Flytrap, which is a complicated plant, you have done solid constructions and that is why it looks more dimensional. You have a feel for a centerline, you add the smaller elements, such as thorns, outside the constructive shapes with additive drawing.

Also, like I wrote earlier for the branch exercise, I advise you to explore more dramatic degree changes in the ellipses along the branches. This also limits your plant constructions a bit right now. Good branches really add to achieving the next level in these.

Sorry, of course I meant that you're ready to move on to Lesson 4, not 3.

For sure it looks like you're a bit more careful now. Keep narrowing the shoulder movements down and you'll be even more precise with time. Congratulations on finishing this lesson!

Hi again!

Now, you are definitely passed. Your leaves look a lot better and the serrations are done properly. Your plant constructions look really good. Congratulations and enjoy the next lesson!

Hi! I'm Kotka and I'll be reviewing your work today. Congratulations on your clean, confident strokes and lines! You will have no problem going forward but there are some things that need to get a little more in order before youäre completely done. Let's jump into it!

Organic Arrows

You correctly show perspective by compressing the space between the curves farther away, and overlapping edges where it should. You have avoided the most serious mistakes, which is good. Your curves and lines look confident and are good. Likewise, I get a feeling that you are in a hurry - although too slow comes with its own problems such as wobbly lines (at this point, it's not an issue for you and I wouldn't worry about it). In your arrows, I see a lot of overstretched connection points - that is, the curve has gone a little too far, or maybe it was the line. Being too fast is probably a common reason for this. Try slowing down just a little and see whether this can be improved.

I would like you to try adding one or two careful passes of line weight where the topmost curve overlaps next time you do this exercise.

Organic Forms with Contour Lines

Your sausages are properly round at the edges, and easy to understand, but be wary of differently sized ends! In some sausages, one of your end tends to be a little smaller, which you should avoid. Furthermore, it looks like you're hurrying here too - your ellipses are mostly within the sausage and follow the center line, but they lack enough degree variation one would expect from perspective change. The overall impression is that they are floating a bit too arbitrarily inside the sausage, which is why I'll ask for a tiny revision. Slow down and try to be a bit more precise.

Your contour line sausages are better than the ellipse sausages - a lot less but in some of them, there is still too little degree variation along the sausage.

Texture analysis

You draw the cast shadows properly and avoid focusing on outlines. I can see the texture going dark to light. I would like to see deeper and darker cast shadows and less and lighter. In other words, more contrast between dark and light areas. For dark areas, you can try adding more blacks. For the light areas, try "lost edges" as explained in the lesson section. Keep this in mind and definitely keep doing this exercises as a warm-up.

Dissection

Well done! I can see you minding the curvature with more condensed shapes closer to the turns of the sausages, and you break the silhouette in the additive, proper way. If I'm to say anything, it's the same advice as for the Texture Analysis - try to push the darks darker, and the lights with more lost edges.

Form Intersections

This is a very hard exercise and the first times doing it, there will rarely be and "obvious" correct intersection line. You have managed to avoid the most common errors - your forms are mostly equilateral, you have grouped them correctly and there are no overpasses with wobbly lines. Keep doing this as warm-up, and try to tighten your ellipses (don't be too fast!) to avoid too many passes. Your drawings will look a lot neater. Ghost like in the previous lesson, and when youäre sure, put down the line. This will most probably fix your overshooting errors, which can also be seen in this exercise.

Organic Intersections

You have done everything correctly by using uncomplicated forms, stacked perpendicularly, and the cast shadows warp around the shape below in a believable way. What you suffered from in the Organic Forms with Contour Lines is also visible here. The drawing looks rushed and a bit messy. The contour lines seem to float around in some parts of the sausages. I will not ask for a revision because you got the cast shadow and stacking part correct here and also because your main issue will be addressed in another revision, but remember to keep this in mind and do a little more of these as a warm-up until it looks less busy.

Hi there! I'm Kotka and I'll be doing your Lesson 3 critiques. It is clear that a long break did not affect you negatively as your line expression and freedom in drawing is very much visible and your drawings generally look very good. Now, onto the details and your critique requests (I hope I can succeed in addressing them).

Organic Arrows

Your arrows move in 3D-space and compress/decompress in a believable way. Your curves are fluid and confident. The variation of your ribbons is good without being too complex. The hatching/shading lines to create a sense of receding planes are on the right side of the ribbon and get more dense as the turn becomes more dramatic, which is exactly what we want to see for this assignment. Good job! I consider this exercise more than complete.

Leaves

Your leaves are energetic and really come alive on the paper. I can see that you properly visualize an organic centerline, or “spine” of the leaves, and the undulating edges are nicely folded around the spine.

It seems you skipped the other part of this exercise - constructing the rest of the leaf, with “arms” flowing out of the main centerline, and also adding serrations where needed. Remember to add the serrations outside of your folding edge - go for additive construction rather than subtracting from the form (this is a general rule in DAB exercises). Make sure to try drawing various types of leaves.

Branches

Your segments well in most cases and like everything else you have done, have good flow. I can see that you’re aware of your own mistakes, such as not overlapping properly which creates the mistake of visible tails in a compound stroke. As for the perspective of the ellipses, it looks good and coherent throughout the branch, and the angle of the ellipse is properly chosen depending on how close a part of the branch is to the viewer. I can see that you tried one forking branch, which looks good. I’d encourage you to try some more, but I consider your branches to be complete since you are aware of the mistakes you make.

Plant Constructions

There is too much detail here, and I am a bit confused on what you considered purely constructional since you mix detailed and constructional drawings on the same page. Remember, you need to have four pages of constructions only, that is, branches and petals without any added detail or shading. Since I can see that you have done some purely constructional drawings, I’ll cut the requirement down to two pages.

Your detailed drawings look good, and I think you have enough of them.

In general, there are some mistakes which you mention yourself already, in notes on the drawings. The most apparent one is that you might want to try slowing down a bit! I love your expressive drawings, they are some of the most dynamic I’ve seen here - but I think if you deliberately avoid overreaching your lines, focus on connecting all ends, and make sure to ghost and never go over the same line/ellipse twice, in a more calm manner, that your drawings will be superb.

Hi Knight!

I noticed now that I expressed myself a bit unclear. Your texture analysis was good in the third column; what I meant is that the cast shadow effect could have been applied more strongly in the Dissections. I should have chosen the Dissections option in the Next Steps rather than the confusing Texture Analysis.

I will mark this lesson as complete since somehow, you deduced what I wanted to see and made it! Your complementary sausage is well done, showing the difference in cast shadows as the form turns. Have a great day!