Retired

Hey there I'll be handling your lesson 2 critique.

You're making a lot of progress towards understanding the concepts introduced in this lesson, below I'll be listing a few things I see that you can work on to hopefully help you achieve better results in the future.

• Your arrows are looking really well done, I'm glad to see you're experimenting with foreshortening. My only real suggestions here are that your hatching lines could be a bit tidier, and that once you're comfortable hatching you can utilize foreshortening here as well. When hatching if you draw more frequent lines that are closer together in the inner folds of the arrow and draw fewer more spread out lines as the arrow begins to smoothen out you can give an even stronger impression of the arrow moving through 3D space.

• In the organic forms with contours exercises you're doing a pretty good job of keeping your forms nice and simple, there are a few where you do get a bit too complex however. Just remember that you want to keep both ends roughly the same size and avoid pinching, bloating, or stretching along the form's length as discussed here. I think you can also push your contours a bit further when trying to shift their degrees as well. The degree of a contour line basically represents the orientation of that cross-section in space, relative to the viewer, and as we slide along the sausage form, the cross section is either going to open up (allowing us to see more of it) or turn away from the viewer (allowing us to see less), as shown here.

• You're off to a really good start with texture, you have a bit of a mix of results which is fine because each texture is it's own challenge. There are some attempts where it looks liek you're focusing more on outlines and negative space rather than the cast shadows (grass and rocks stick out) but there are also some attempts where you're doing a good job of capturing shadows. (elephant skin) Keep experimenting and building mileage and in no time you'll find texture more comfortable to work with, if you need a reminder on the importance of focusing on cast shadows rather than outlines you can read this, I'd also recommend taking a look at this image which shows how when working with thin line like textures we can create a more dynamic texture by drawing the shadow's shape rather than just drawing a line.

• If you feel like you don't fully grasp form intersections just yet don't worry, right now this exercise is just meant to get students to start thinking about how their forms relate to one another in 3D space, and how to define those relationships on the page, we'll be working with them more in upcoming lessons. I will say that I do get the impression that some of your form sin this exercise may have been a bit hastily either due to line quality or just how their convergences don't line up as well as they could. Remember that whether you're drawing 1 form or 100 forms you want to give each line the same amount of planning and confidence.

• Lastly your organic intersections are showing that you're building up your sense of 3D space but there's still some work to do. A few forms don't wrap around one another as believably as they could, and your shadows could be pushed further but this is a good start.

Overall this was a really solid submission and while you have some things to work on I believe you just need more mileage with these concepts to truly grasp them. I'll be marking your submission as complete and moving you on to the next lesson.

Keep doing previous exercises as warm ups and good luck in lesson 3!

Hey there I'll be handling your lesson 2 critique.

While you're taking steps towards understanding the concepts introduced in this lesson there are a few things I notice that you can work towards improving. I'll be listing my thoughts below to hopefully help you when you attempt these exercises again in the future.

• There are two things about your arrows I'd like you to work on. The first being that your arrows could be smoother, you have some wobbling occurring which shows a lack of confidence. There are also spots where your arrows bulge or pinch unnaturally, remember that when using foreshortening the arrow will still flow smoothly. On the topic of foreshortening I'd like you to experiment with it more, by having the arrow and the spaces between it's curves grow larger we can really sell the illusion of it moving through 3D space. When trying these again I'd suggest reading through this section again, it goes over how to utilize foreshortening, I'd also suggest that you try doing more S shaped arrows rather than twisting and spiraling. By keeping your arrows simple you'll build up your understanding faster and have an easier time keeping them smooth.

• In the organic forms with contours exercise you're off to a good start but your forms are a bit too complex. Our goal here is to create a simple sausage where both ends of the form are roughly the same size while avoiding any pinching, bloating, or bulging along it's length as shown here. I do get the impression you're trying to shift the degree of your contours which is great but you could push the shift further especially in your contour lines. The degree of a contour line basically represents the orientation of that cross-section in space, relative to the viewer, and as we slide along the sausage form, the cross section is either going to open up (allowing us to see more of it) or turn away from the viewer (allowing us to see less), as shown here.

• In the texture exercises you're focusing largely on the outlines and negative space rather than the cast shadows created by forms along the texture itself. This makes it difficult to create proper gradients using implied information because you're trying to explicitly draw everything. Gradients are incredibly useful when we want to create focal points in more complicated pieces, for more information on the importance of focusing on cast shadows check here.

• If you feel like you don't fully grasp form intersections just yet don't worry, right now this exercise is just meant to get students to start thinking about how their forms relate to one another in 3D space, and how to define those relationships on the page, we'll be going over them more in the upcoming lessons. A few of your forms look like they were done a bit hastily, remember to give not only each form but each line the same amount of time in terms of planning before executing it confidently.

• As for your organic intersections I'd recommend starting off with a simpler pile of forms as going complex like this hurts the solidity of your forms. I also suggest that you draw through all of your forms, by doing so we build a better understanding of the 3D space we're working with just like we did when working with boxes. Currently your shadows are mostly just hugging the form creating them rather than being cast on to the form or ground below them, having a light directly above is more difficult than having one in the upper left or right so I'd recommend trying to position your light in one of these corners and experiment with your shadows more.

Overall while you do have things to work on, I believe you mostly need more mileage, to remember to draw every mark you make confidently and perhaps a bit more patience in a few spots. You're grasping the concepts being introduced so I'll be marking your submission as complete with the hope that you'll be working on these exercises in your warm ups.

Keep practicing all the previous exercises as warm ups and good luck in lesson 3.

Hi there I'll be handling your lesson 2 critique.

You're making good progress towards understanding the concepts introduced in this lesson, below I'll be listing some things I notice that may help you achieve better results when you try these exercises again in the future.

• Your arrows are off to a good start, I'd suggest focusing on trying to keep your arrows flowing smoothly a bit more because currently you have some spots where bulging is occurring. Other than that I'd also suggest trying to experiment with foreshortening more, you make good use of it with the arrow itself but could use it in the spaces between curves of the arrow more. By utilizing foreshortening in both ways you'll really sell the illusion of an arrow moving through 3D space as discussed here.

• Some of your organic forms with contours are looking a bit too complex. Remember that our goal when making these forms is to keep both ends roughly the same size, and to avoid any pinching, bloating, or stretching along the length of the form, you can read more on this concept here. It looks like you're trying to shift the degree of your contours which is great, some of your contour lines and ellipses are looking a bit stiffy and wobbly however, remember that accuracy will come with time so really try to make sure you're drawing everything as confidently as you can after giving it proper planning time with the ghosting method.

• When it comes to texture you're focusing largely on outlines and negative space rather than cast shadows. This makes it difficult to imply information which is useful when we want to create gradients and focal points in more complex pieces. I do think you're on the right track, it takes quite a bit of experimentation to get comfortable with texture and to learn what to focus on, for a reminder on the importance of cast shadows read here.

• If you feel like you don't fully grasp form intersections just yet don't worry, right now this exercise is just meant to get students to start thinking about how their forms relate to one another in 3D space, and how to define those relationships on the page, we'll be going over them more in upcoming lessons. Your ellipses get a bit wobbly, but other than that your forms are looking solid in this exercise, good work.

• When trying the organic intersections exercise again I have a few suggestions. The first being that you should try to simplify your form pile, you're attempting to go quite complex with complex forms and it results in things looking squished and flat. I'd also like you to draw through all of your forms and to not use light sketchy underdrawing lines, by drawing through all of your forms you'll help develop your understanding of 3D space. (the same principle we used when we drew our boxes applies here basically) Lastly you can push your shadows further, right now they're mostly hugging the form creating them rather than being cast in a particular direction, try setting up a consistent light source to the upper left or right rather than directly above as this can be more difficult to work with. One final note for your forms here is that the ellipses on the end of your forms are too small, and don't really follow you contours lines, this was prevalent in earlier cases but are really noticeable here.

With all that said and done this was a solid submission overall. You do have things to work on but I believe you understand the majority of concepts here and just need more mileage to really refine your skills, so I'll be marking your submission as complete and moving you to the next lesson.

To quickly answer your questions.

• Both these scans and the pictures are workable, I know I personally (as well as a few others) prefer pictures just because it's easier on the eyes, but whatever is easier for you in this case.

• Brush pens take a bit of work to get used too but are really fun, I hope you enjoy it.

• We don't recommend you tackle the cylinder challenge just yet, while they are introduced in this lesson they're meant to be more of an introduction to working with them and not something we expect you to nail right away. (Like intersections and texture) You'll be better equipped and achieve better results tackling the cylinder challenge after lesson 5, you're also less likely to burn out after having just had to do the box challenge. If you do want to tackle a challenge however, you could start up the texture challenge. The texture challenge is optional and something that you could work on slowly as you go through the rest of the lessons, definitely don't tackle it all at once like the box challenge.

Anyways, remember to keep doing previous exercises as warm ups and good luck in lesson 3!

Your forms are still a bit too complicated but this is a step in the right direction.

Make sure when you practice your forms to keep the idea of a simple sausage in mind, you can read a reminder of what qualifies as a simple sausage here.

Other than keep working on them and try and keep your lines/forms simple and smooth.

I'll be marking your submission as complete, good luck in lesson 3!

Hey there I'll be handling your lesson 2 critique.

You're making good progress towards understanding the concepts introduced in this lesson, below I'll be listing some things you can work on to hopefully achieve better results in your future attempts.

• Your arrows are looking good, my only real suggestion here would be to experiment more with foreshortening. By utilizing foreshortening on the arrow and the space in between curves of the arrow you can really sell the illusion of an arrow moving through 3D space. For more info on this concept you can read here.

• The majority of your organic forms with contours are looking well done, there's a few spots where you get too complex. Just remember that our goal in this exercise is to keep both ends of the form roughly the same size and to avoid any pinching, bloating, or stretching along the form as discussed here. Good job shifting the degree of your contour ellipses, just don't be afraid to push your contour lines further.

• When it comes to texture you're focusing largely on outlines and negative space rather than cast shadows. This makes it difficult to use implied information and create gradients, this is important because gradients allow us to create focal points in more complex pieces that would overwhelm the viewer if we explicitly drew every detail. You can read more on these ideas here.

• If you feel like you don't fully grasp form intersections just yet don't worry, right now this exercise is just meant to get students to start thinking about how their forms relate to one another in 3D space, and how to define those relationships on the page, we'll be going over them more in the upcoming lessons.

• When attempting the organic intersections exercise again, I'd suggest trying to create a simpler pile of forms. You do go a bit complex and your forms could wrap around one another in a way that makes more sense, right now some of them are just kind of floating. I'd also like you to pick a consistent light source and push your shadows further as well, right now they kind of just hug the form creating them.

Overall this was a really solid submission, you have some things to work on but you showed that you understand a lot of what this lesson is trying to teach. I'll be marking your submission as complete because I think with some extra mileage you'll have a better understanding of these exercises.

Keep doing previous exercises as warm ups and good luck in lesson 3!

Hi there I'll be handling your lesson 2 critique.

You're making good progress towards understanding the concepts introduced in this lesson, below I'll be listing anything I notice that may help you achieve better results in your future attempts.

• For the most part your arrows are looking pretty good, my suggestion would be to experiment with foreshortening more. By utilizing foreshortening in the arrow and as well as the negative space in between curves of the arrow we can really sell the illusion of an arrow moving through 3D space, you can read more on these ideas here. There are a few cases where your arrows turn and should have another overlap as well, not overlapping tends to make it look like the arrow is stretching which is definitely something we want to avoid.

• Good work keeping your organic forms with contours nice and simple, people often over complicate them. There are a few spots where your arrows or contours themselves could be a bit smoother but this is something that will improve with mileage so I'm not too concerned. It does look like you're attempting to shift the degree of your contours, but just in case you aren't fully conscious of it I'll include this reminder. The degree of a contour line basically represents the orientation of that cross-section in space, relative to the viewer, and as we slide along the sausage form, the cross section is either going to open up (allowing us to see more of it) or turn away from the viewer (allowing us to see less), as shown here.

• You're on the right track in the texture exercises, there are a few spots where it looks like you're focused more on outlines than cast shadows (feathers) but it does look like you're trying to focus on cast shadows and making good use of your references. Texture is largely something that comes down to a lot of experimentation and mileage, just remember that by focusing on cast shadows we can create gradients using implied information. This is incredibly beneficial when we want to create focal points to prevent more complicated pieces from becoming too overwhelming.

• If you feel like you don't fully grasp the form intersections exercise just yet don't worry, right now this exercise is just meant to get students to start thinking about how their forms relate to one another in 3D space, and how to define those relationships on the page, we'll be going over them more in the upcoming lessons. My only complaints here are that you're missing a page, and that some of your forms don't look as solid as they could and it appears like it could have been you being a bit hasty in your planning stages. Remember that whether you're goal is 1 form or 100 you want to give every line the same amount of planning and line confidence.

• As for your organic intersections you kept your forms nice and simple which is great, they could wrap around one another a bit more smoothly but this is a good start. With more mileage you'll find your understanding of 3D space and how these forms interact will grow and you'll have a useful tool to experiment with light and shadow as well. I'm glad to see you push your shadows so they're actually being cast and not just hugging the form creating them, be sure to experiment with different lighting angles in the future as well.

Overall this was a really solid submission, you have a few things to work on here and there but I have no doubt you'll improve wiht more mileage. I believe you've shown a good understanding of what this lesson was trying to teach so I'll be moving you to the next one.

Keep doing previous exercises as warm ups and good luck in lesson 3!

Hi there I'll be handling your lesson 2 critique.

You're making progress towards understanding the concepts introduced in this lesson, I'll be listing things I notice below that will hopefully help you achieve better results when you attempt these exercises again in the future.

• When it comes to your arrows the first thing I notice is that you want to work on having your arrows flow a bit more smoothly. At the moment there are quite a few spots where you have some bulging or stretching occurring, remember that our goal here is to create smooth ribbon like arrow and we use foreshortening to make it appear like it's traveling through 3D space. While on the topic of foreshortening I'd also recommend practicing utilizing foreshortening in the negative space between curves of the arrow as this combined with foreshortening the arrow itself can really help sell the illusion that it's traveling through 3D space as shown here.

• Your organic forms with contours are off to an alright start but are much too complicated. Our goal here is to have both of our ends being roughly the same size, and to avoid any pinching, bloating, or bulging along the form's length as discussed here. I'd also suggest trying to push your contours a bit further when trying to shift the degree of your contours along the form. The degree of a contour line basically represents the orientation of that cross-section in space, relative to the viewer, and as we slide along the sausage form, the cross section is either going to open up (allowing us to see more of it) or turn away from the viewer (allowing us to see less), as shown here.

• In the texture exercises you're on the right track but are focusing largely on the outlines and negative spaces rather than the cast shadows. By utilizing cast shadows can are able to create smoother gradients which are incredibly helpful when trying to create focal points in more complex pieces that would be overwhelming if we tried to explicitly draw every detail. More on this idea here.

• When it comes to the form intersections exercise the majority of your forms are looking solid, good work. If you feel like you don't fully grasp intersections just yet don't worry, right now this exercise is just meant to get students to start thinking about how their forms relate to one another in 3D space, and how to define those relationships on the page, we'll be going over them more in the upcoming lessons.

• Your organic intersections are looking pretty well done, I'm glad to see you simplified your forms here. There are some spots where your shadows don't really look believable which is something mileage will help with, but I'd also recommend trying to pick a light source that isn't directly above the form pile as it tends to be more difficult then having a light that's a projecting from the left or right a bit more.

While you do have things to work on this was a solid submission. I think you have shown a good understanding of the majority of the concepts here and the weaker spots you can improve with more mileage. With that said I'll be marking your submission as complete and moving you to the next lesson.

Keep doing previous exercises as warm ups and good luck in lesson 3!

Hi there I'll be handling your lesson 2 critique.

While you are making progress towards understanding the concepts introduced in this lesson I do notice a few things to work on, I'll be listing them below to hopefully help you in your future attempts.

• In the arrows exercise the first thing that stands out to me is that your lines are way too thick. You're clearly drawing over them and it leads to them looking sketchy and messy rather than confident and smooth. When applying lineweight remember you want to apply it to specific places like overlaps to make them clearer not the entire form. In the future I'd also recommend experimenting more with foreshortening, by utilizing it in the negative space between curves of the arrow as well as the arrow itself we can really sell the illusion of an arrow moving through 3D space as shown here.

• Your organic forms with contours do get a bit too complex, our goal is to try and end up with both ends roughly the same size and to avoid any pinching, bloating, or stretching along the form as discussed here. When it comes to the contours themselves there's a few mistakes worth noting. You aren't drawing through your ellipses, as mentioned in lesson 1 you should draw through every ellipse you create for extra mileage, as for your contour lines you really need to push to have the ends of the line hook back into the form. As a final note remember that you want the degree of your contours to shift as they travel along the form. The degree of a contour line basically represents the orientation of that cross-section in space, relative to the viewer, and as we slide along the sausage form, the cross section is either going to open up (allowing us to see more of it) or turn away from the viewer (allowing us to see less), as shown here.

• When it comes to texture you're focusing largely on outlines and negative space rather than the cast shadows created by forms along the texture itself. This combined with how you are drawing this sketchily makes it difficult for you to create proper gradients. By focusing on cast shadows we're able to imply information, this is incredibly useful when we want to utilize gradients in order to create focal points while working on more complicated pieces, for more information on this idea you can check here. When focusing on cast shadows you want to outline the shape of the shadow and fill it in, this applies when drawing thin line like textures as well as seen here, by drawing more than a simple line we end up with a texture that appears much more dynamic.

• If you feel like you don't fully grasp form intersections just yet don't worry, right now this exercise is just meant to get students to start thinking about how their forms relate to one another in 3D space, and how to define those relationships on the page, we'll be going over them more in the upcoming lesson material.

• As for your organic intersections your forms are a bit too complex as mentioned earlier, but I'd also suggest that when you try this again to try and always draw your forms crossing one another rather than stacking on top of one another in the same direction. It tends to be easier to wrap them if you drawing them headed in opposite directions, by keeping the forms and the pile itself simple you'll build up your understanding of 3D space faster as well as give yourself a tool to practice light and shadow with. Right now your shadows are mostly just hugging the form creating them rather than being cast in a particular direction, try and pick a consistent light source (a light towards the left or right is easier than directly above) and really try to push your shadows.

While you do have things to work on you are headed in the right direction. I won't be moving you on just yet because I want to make sure your organic forms are looking solid first.

Please re-read and redo the organic forms with contours exercise, once you have completed it reply to this critique with a link to your new attempts and I'll go over them, point out anything you need to work on and move you to the next lesson once you're ready.

Remember to take your time, I look forward to seeing your work.

Hi there I'll be handling your lesson 2 critique.

You're making progress towards understanding the concepts introduced in this lesson, I'll be listing some things I notice that you can work on to improve your future attempts.

• Your arrows are off to a good start, there's a few spots they could be a bit smoother but with more mileage this won't be an issue. When trying this again I'd suggest experimenting more with foreshortening, you play it pretty safe a lot of the time. By utilizing foreshortening with not only the arrow itself but in the space between curves of the arrow we can really sell the illusion of an arrow moving through 3D space. For more information on this concept you can read here.

• In the organic forms with contours exercise your forms could be simplified a bit more. Remember that our goal is to keep both ends of the form to be roughly the same size and to avoid any pinching, bloating, or stretching along the form as described here. I'd also suggest pushing your contour lines further and remember that you want to shift the degree of your contours along the length of the form. The degree of a contour line basically represents the orientation of that cross-section in space, relative to the viewer, and as we slide along the sausage form, the cross section is either going to open up (allowing us to see more of it) or turn away from the viewer (allowing us to see less), as shown here.

• When it comes to texture you're focusing largely on outlines and negative space rather than cast shadows created by forms along the texture itself. This makes it difficult to create gradients and focal points, when we attempt to explicitly draw all of the information we see it tends to overwhelm the viewer which is why utilizing implied information via cast shadows is incredibly beneficial. For more information on these ideas you can check here, you may also find this image helpful, it shows how when we work with thin line like textures it's useful to outline the shadow's shape to create a more dynamic appearing texture.

• If you feel like you don't fully graps the form intersections exercise just yet don't worry, right now this exercise is just meant to get students to start thinking about how their forms relate to one another in 3D space, and how to define those relationships on the page, we'll be going over them more in the upcoming material. Your forms are looking nice and solid here though, good work.

• When it comes to your organic intersections you do want to work on simplifying your forms here as mentioned earlier. By simplifying them you'll have an easier time building your understanding of 3D space as well as working with light and shadow. Right now your shadows are mostly hugging the form creating them rather than being cast in a specific direction, I'd suggest trying to set a light source on the left or right (directly above is more difficult) and attempt to push your shadows further.

While you do have some things to work on this wasn't a bad submission, you have shown that you're grasping the majority of the core concepts introduced here. I think that if you give some more attention to the texture exercises and work on building up mileage in general that you'll have no problem improving your results, so with that said I'll be marking your submission as complete.

Keep doing previous exercises as warm ups to build up your mileage and build a stronger understanding of the concepts you've learned so far.

Good luck in lesson 3!

Hi there I'll be handling your lesson 2 critique.

You're making progress towards understanding the concepts introduced in this lesson, I do see some things you can work on to improve your future attempts and I'll be listing them below.

• Most of your arrows are looking pretty good, when attempting 2 of them you didn't overlap your edges which result in them looking flat and like they're stretching as described here. Other than that be sure to experiment with foreshortening not only the arrow itself but also the space in between the curves of the arrow as discussed here.

• In the organic forms with contours exercise your sausages are close to being simple but there are a few here and later on that get a bit too complex. Remember you want to aim for both ends being roughly the same size, and to avoid any pinching, bloating, or stretching along the length of the form as mentioned here. Other than that your forms and contour lines are looking confident which is great, you just want to keep in mind how you shift the degree of your contours. The degree of a contour line basically represents the orientation of that cross-section in space, relative to the viewer, and as we slide along the sausage form, the cross section is either going to open up (allowing us to see more of it) or turn away from the viewer (allowing us to see less), as shown here.

• When it comes to texture you're largely focusing on outlines and negative space rather than cast shadows created by forms along the texture itself. This makes it difficult for you to create gradients which are incredibly beneficial in larger projects where we want to create focal points, by doing so we can prevent the viewer from being overwhelmed by too much visual information. For more info on the importance of focusing on cast shadows and how we can use them to imply information you can check here.

• If you feel like you don't fully grasp form intersections just yet don't worry, right now this exercise is just meant to get students to start thinking about how their forms relate to one another in 3D space, and how to define those relationships on the page, we'll be going over them more in the upcoming material. While I'm glad to see you filled up your pages with lots of solid looking forms you did have one critical mistake here which is you utilized underdrawings and/or clean up passes as discussed here.

• When attempting the organic intersections exercise again in the future I'd recommend that you try and always draw forms crossing each other rather than stacking them in the same direction as the form below. By simplifying it in this fashion you will have an easier time wrapping the forms around one another, which not only has the benefit of building your understanding of 3D space but will also benefit your understanding of light and shadow as well. Currently your shadows are mostly just hugging the form creating them rather than being cast on to the form/ground below as mentioned here.

Overall while you do have things to work on, I believe you have shown an understanding of the core concepts being introduced here and you just need to experiment and gain some more mileage to fill in some of the holes of your understanding. With that said I'll be marking your submission as complete and moving you on to the next lesson.

Keep practicing previous exercises as warm ups, give some extra time to texture and the organic intersections exercises to help better your future attempts and understanding.

Good luck in lesson 3!