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6:26 AM, Friday November 6th 2020
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, with that said I do notice some things you can work on to improve your future attempts and I'll be listing them below.
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In the arrows exercise the two things I notice to work on are keeping the flow of your arrow as well as it's size consistent, there are spots where the size changes very drastically all of a sudden. The second being that you will find it beneficial to experiment with the foreshortening of the space around the arrow itself as well, as seen here we can really sell the illusion of an arrow moving through 3D space by foreshortening both the arrow itself as well as the gaps between curves of the arrow.
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Your organic forms with contours are off to a good start, they could be a bit smoother but you kept them mostly simple. Just remember that you want to keep both ends roughly the same size, and avoid any pinching, bloating, or stretching along the length of the form as discussed here. Other than that it does look like you're attempting to shift the degree of your contours, but just in case you don't fully grasp why I'll quickly comment on them. 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.
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When it comes to texture I get the impression that you're focusing largely on outlines and negative space rather than thinking about the cast shadows created by forms along the texture. This makes it difficult to create a proper gradient which is quite helpful when working on larger pieces. By implying information with cast shadows we're able to create gradients that become focal points rather than overwhelming the viewer by explicitly attempting to draw everything. I do seem some spots where you're wrestling with the idea so I can tell you're on the right track it'll just require more mileage to truly get a feel for. You can read more about the important of focusing on cast shadows here. I'd also like to direct you quickly to this image which shows how when dealing with thin line like textures we benefit and create a more dynamic texture from outlining the shape and filling it in rather than just drawing a line.
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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 lesson material. With that being said however, one thing I do have to point out in this exercise is that your line weight is way too excessive, line weight should be used to help make certain overlap or outlines clearer but usually an extra stroke is enough.
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Lastly when attempting the organic intersections again in the future I'd suggest trying to simplify your forms and reduce the number of them as well. You do get a bit too complicated and have some difficulty wrapping forms around one another comfortably. Simplifying your forms will not only benefit your understanding of 3D space but also make it easier for you to create believable shadows, at the moment some of your shadows aren't following a consistent light source and being cast in different directions.
While you do have things to work on I believe you've shown that you understand what you should be doing, you just need more mileage to become more comfortable using all the concepts introduced here. 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!
Next Steps:
Do previous exercises as warm ups.
Move on to lesson 3.
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Faber Castell PITT Artist Pens
Like the Staedtlers, these also come in a set of multiple weights - the ones we use are F. One useful thing in these sets however (if you can't find the pens individually) is that some of the sets come with a brush pen (the B size). These can be helpful in filling out big black areas.
Still, I'd recommend buying these in person if you can, at a proper art supply store. They'll generally let you buy them individually, and also test them out beforehand to weed out any duds.