Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes
9:17 PM, Monday November 8th 2021
Missing my pencils this week. Or any writing implement that lets me see where I'm going. I swear I was trying to make the ellipses the same size where applicable.
Hello Mmmmmg! Just one thing before we start. Keep in mind that throughout the course you still need to do the 50% part explained in lesson 0, and to do that you can use pencil, digital or whatever tools you want. Clarifying just in case because the no pencil thingy worried me a bit. Let's go into the exercises now! Overall you've done a pretty good job, but there are a few things I want to comment on, let's go through them section by section:
Starting with your lines sometimes they get a little bit wobbly (so keep in mind you always want to focus on confidence over accuracy) but overall you've shown that you aren't afraid of committing to your lines even if that means missing the marks, good job!
Another problem is that some of your lines fray on both ends. Whenever you are starting a line , you should carefully place your pen on the start of each line so only a maximum of 1 end can fray.
Last thing is that sometimes you draw your dots pretty big, make sure you draw them smaller so it's easier to assess the results of the exercises.
Moving onto your ellipses you're doing a good job drawing them confidently as well, though similarly as with lines you sometimes draw them a bit wobbly which breaks the symmetrical shape of the ellipses. Try to loosen up and draw more confidently and always keep in mind the symmetrical shape of the ellipses before drawing them.
Your ellipses in the tables also sometimes overlap each other or get a bit outside the tables, so always keep in mind that the goal is to keep the ellipses close and touching together, as well as touching the top and bottom parts. That said it's less important than the confident thing, so focus on confidence first and once you nail it try to improve this part!
This applies as well to the ellipses on ghosted planes, which I think they're a bit wobblier than the others. You might be thinking that the centre of the ellipses is the same as the centre of the planes or that you should modify the elliptical ellipse shape so it touches the contact points, but this is not the case. Ellipses have to be symmetrical and have the same form regardless of where they are, so the only things you can change is how wide the ellipse is and which position it is in.
Lastly on your funnels sometimes you are making some good attempts, but sometimes you aren't aligning the ellipses to the minor axis. Make sure you always aim for the ellipses to be cut symmetrically by the middle line even if that means you need to ignore the initial curves. This means they also can't be tilted, they need to be straight and cut at a 90 degree angle by the axis line, so keep that allignment in mind too if you aren't already!
Finally in your boxes a few things:
-Overall your lines get a little bit wobblier, in general you should approach them the same way as you did on the lines exercises. So always focus on making them confident and straight..
Here's one example, top line is a level 1 line, and bottom line is a level 0 line. This is because a confident line will always be better than a wobbly line in these exercises. Applies as well when the lines are on boxes so always keep it in mind!
-Sometimes you're repeating lines that were off, or you're crossing them. Whenever a line goes off, ignore it and go to the next. It's important you don't repeat them as that can encourage bad habits and will make the drawing messier.
-On rough perspective you are making some good attempts at the perspective guesses, but you seem to have trouble at times keeping height lines perpendicular to the horizon line, and width lines parallel to it. I know it's hard, but make sure you always are aiming for it. You can check if the starting and ending dots are correct or not, and if you find that they aren't you can change them. You can put down as many dots as you want as long as it's before drawing the actual line, so give it a shot!
-On rotated boxes you've done great finishing it! The boxes that are close to the starting box are rotating and close together just like you were told to do, which is great. The main problem is in the boxes that are on the outer parts. I recommend that you start drawing the boxes by the parts that are close to the other boxes. If you do this you'll always be able to draw the boxes close together and it will make this exercise much easier. So give it a try on future attempts,
-On organic perspective you've also done a good job finishing it and planning it carefully. The main thing on this one is the line problems I described earlier. Always focus on drawing your lines confidently over making them accurate. For the exercise itself one improtant thing is that you aren't drawing the parts of boxes that get covered by other boxes, make sure you always draw your boxes completely even if they're covered. You can clarify after which box is on top by adding lineweight to the outer parts of the boxes that overlap.
You've done some good attempts on the perspective of the boxes, but they still have issues. It's not a problem as you'll work on it through the box challenge though!
Overall you've done a pretty good job but before moving on I want you to do 1 more page of rough perspective just to know you can focus on confidence on boxes fully as well as you did on the lines section. Make sure you don't repeat any line as well! Good luck and keep up the good work!
Next Steps:
-1 page of rough perspective
Thank you elodin for the review and for keeping me accountable! And yes dont worry I know I can do the other 50% in any medium and have been doing so. Here is the revised page with what I hope are some more confident looking lines. In box 2 I accidentally made a mark while ghosting and the box on the far left got all messed up. I was very tempted to do this again and try for fewer wobbly lines, which is my way of saying I really needed to be told not to grind and I enjoy that about this program.
Happy to hear that! Lines are better now, more confident! They still get a bit wobbly at times, specially at the end of the lines; so keep reminding yourself to do your best not to correct them and prioritize confidence instead, but very good in general!
About the boxes themselves they still have some issues on the perspective guesses, but they'll get better as you keep practicing the exercise on your warmups so nothing to worry about.
Overall apart from this you've done a very good job as I said on the previous critique so I don't have anything else to say. Don't forget to do warmups from now on and good luck on the box challenge! Remember as well to ask any questions you have and keep up the good work!
Next Steps:
250 box challenge
Thank you!
And to clarify, I can use all or any of the exercises in lesson 1 as warmupss, correct? So one day I might do a page of ghosted planes and a page of funnels. And another day I would do rotated boxes (a warmup that seems like it needs a warm up tbh) and a table of ellipses. I remember him discussing the "pool" but it wasn't clearly defined.
This is a remarkable little pen. Technically speaking, any brush pen of reasonable quality will do, but I'm especially fond of this one. It's incredibly difficult to draw with (especially at first) due to how much your stroke varies based on how much pressure you apply, and how you use it - but at the same time despite this frustration, it's also incredibly fun.
Moreover, due to the challenge of its use, it teaches you a lot about the nuances of one's stroke. These are the kinds of skills that one can carry over to standard felt tip pens, as well as to digital media. Really great for doodling and just enjoying yourself.
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