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11:07 PM, Sunday March 22nd 2020

If you feel that certain things I've mentioned in my critiques are unclear, or that you're unsure of what I mean, you can ask questions. Looking at your latest drawing, you repeated all the mistakes I'd pointed out, aside from #4 (where you'd drawn the cougar to be larger on the page - there was still plenty more room left on the page so you could have gone even bigger, but what matters to me is that you moved in the right direction as far as that is concerned).

As to the other points, you're still repeating the same issues, I am going to give you the opportunity to ask me about things that you may have felt were not clear.

Just to list the points I'd made last time:

  • You're not treating the forms you draw as though they're real 3D forms that occupy actual space. You allow yourself to draw over them as though they're just shapes on the page, cutting back across them without dealing with them in three dimensions. For example, the ribcage mass was roughed into be larger, then you drew over it with a darker line to make it smaller - but we cannot ignore the fact that the original mass is still there.

  • You're not drawing through all of your forms - for example, the back foot (you choose to stop the line where it is hidden by that mound of dirt instead of drawing it in its entirety, and you do the same where the cougar's front-left leg (our right) connects to the torso - the line just stops. This all reinforces the fact that you're just drawing lines and shapes on a page, not 3D forms, and therefore the drawing does not appear 3D to the viewer.

  • Your sausages are still rather stubby on the ends - it's not as bad as before, but it definitely needs work. Also, your contour curves are often still looking quite shallow as they wrap around the joint between sausages - I mentioned in my last critique that you should check how in lesson 2 we encourage students to overshoot their curves to make it clear how they hook around, but you appear to have ignored that.

There are elements of your head construction that are actually much better than before, and I think especially with how you make the cranium feel like a three dimensional ball and reinforce that in how the muzzle connects to it helps sell that illusion. But the fact that there are things I pointed out very specifically that you've completely ignored suggests to me that either I'm not being clear, or you're not reading my critiques very thoroughly.

Next Steps:

Since your latest drawing didn't correct the majority of the issues I pointed out, I'm not considering it a completion of my last request, so I will expect it to be done again. Before you do it however, you, as always, have the opportunity to ask for clarification on things you may not understand.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
6:53 PM, Monday March 23rd 2020

Thanks for your critiques sorry i was being dumb and misunderstood. I try to keep everything in mind when drawing, but i find that when i try to draw i cant relax as i am constantly worried i will make a mistake even with planning out my marks and applying the ghosting method. My lines end up wobbly and i end up drawing with the same bad habits...

8:36 PM, Monday March 23rd 2020

That is completely normal. Drawing involves a lot of thinking, and it can really be quite overwhelming - especially when I'm outlining all of these things you need to work on. Getting stressed and having it cause you to forget important points is entirely normal.

What may help is to read through the critique (while looking at your drawing and trying to identify what I'm talking about on your drawing), then taking a break. Come back to it later - like perhaps the next day - and try doing the same thing again. Then you can try doing another drawing, and compare it to the critique you'd received, see what you'd actually ended up improving upon, and what may have been forgotten. You may then wish to give it another shot the following day, if many elements were missed.

8:00 PM, Sunday March 29th 2020

https://i.imgur.com/MT0XAX9.jpg i really hope i did better this time

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