Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids
4:36 AM, Sunday February 2nd 2020
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Here is my homework submission for lesson 4.
Thank you.
Alrighty! So starting with your organic forms with contour curves, these are very well done. You're sticking quite well do the simple sausage characteristics (no pinching through the midsection, no swelling in the middle, and roughly the same size for both spherical ends). Very nicely done there. Your contour lines are also pretty much spot on. They wrap around quite nicely (with just a couple that aren't quite touching the edges), and their degree shifts very nicely over the length of the forms.
Moving onto your insect constructions, you are definitely, overall, conveying a strong understanding of how each complex object is made up of simple forms with a clear grasp of how those forms relate to one another in 3D space, and how they all connect to one another. I feel this spider is an esepcially strong demonstration of this.
Looking at this one, there is a lot of similar strengths, but it's noticeable that you've approached it in a somewhat rougher, somewhat sketchier approach at first where you weren't quite treating your initial lay-down of forms as though those forms themselves were each introducing a solid, 3D form into the world. It seems more like you approached it as an explorative "underdrawing" before properly committing to your lines. It's important that every single mark you put down, from the beginning, is committed. That you see them as placing solid, 3D forms into the world, so you are forced to have every subsequent form interact with the ones you've already put down.
Going back to the spider I linked previously, there's only one issue I want to address. For the most part, your use of the sausage method here is pretty decent (though I do think you're veering away from the 'simple' sausage thing in a few places, so be sure to review the diagram explaining this technique.
The main concern I do have however is that you've got a lot of contour lines placed in the middle of your sausages. In the diagram, you'll see that towards the center I say "No contour lines through the length of sausage". The main thing is that they don't actually contribute much, assuming the contour lines used to reinforce the joints between sausages (which define the relationships between those forms in space) are done properly. With those in place, the illusion of form and solidity will already be present, making any additional contour lines moot. In general, when you're going to place a contour line down, think about what you're trying to achieve, what the construction requires, and whether or not the mark you're going to put down will help in that regard. Don't put them down because you think that's what you're supposed to do - ensure there is a reason for it.
Skipping on down, I really liked youir praying mantis - you tackled a pretty complex configuration of forms at a three quarter angle view, and you did so quite nicely. Honestly, moving down from here, all your drawings generally look very strong in terms of the illusion that you've been able to achieve. The wings on this one do admittedly feel rather weak - more like the details on them have been drawn in such a way that they feel simplified over what was probably present in the reference image. They also look more like you perceived the existence of lines, and then drew lines - rather than thinking about how the things you see are really just shadows cast by the little veins embedded within the wings, and understanding the nature of those forms in order to cast specific shadows. On this topic, be sure to give the freshly rewritten texture section from lesson 2, complete with all new (shorter) videos.
One last thing - on the left side of this page, you've approached drawing legs in such a way that you've done your sausage, and then stuck a big stretched ball over it to bulk it out. Instead of enveloping it in a form like this, I find approaching it in this way yields more believable, tangible, solid results.
Anyway! All in all you're doing a great job. I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete, so feel free to move onto lesson 5.
Next Steps:
Move onto lesson 5.
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