Hello, I finished lesson 3.
https://imgur.com/a/zMrhV38 this link here isn't that important, it is just the reference images and the construction of the bamboo plant without the leaves just in case you really need to look at them.
Starting with your organic arrows, these are coming along decently - you're definitely putting a fair bit of confidence into the linework which helps to establish the way in which they flow through space. I would however recommend trying to draw these in a single stroke for each edge for now - there are obviously disadvantages to doing so in terms of accuracy and such, but it'll still be more useful in terms of this exercise. As long as you focus on executing those marks from the shoulder, with the same confidence you're exhibiting here, it should come out well.
Additionally, remember that we want the gaps between the zigzagging sections to compress as we look farther back, as shown here. You're doing this now to an extent, but exaggerating it will definitely help you push that sense of depth in the scene.
Continuing onto your leaves, the first thing that jumps out at me was that there was definitely more room on the page, so you could have certainly fit at least another 3 leaves in there - that would mean getting 50% more out of the assigned work, definitely worth considering in the future. In terms of the exercise itself, you're definitely doing a good job of pushing that same confidence from the arrows exercise to capture not only how they sit statically in the world, but also how they move through the space they occupy.
In terms of the steps, you're working through them correctly, albeit not as carefully as you could be, and as a result there are a lot of little bits of sloppiness that could have been avoided. I've pointed out some instances of sloppiness here - basically, avoid leaving gaps, and don't jump ahead to greater levels of complexity without first laying down the structure needed to support it. You can see another example of this last point, alongside the one I drew on your page, here on another student's homework.
Continuing onto your branches, there are a few signs here that suggest you haven't fully understood the instructions for this one. It appears that you've got your segments starting just a little bit before the previous one ends - rather than going back to the previous ellipse and starting there as the instructions prescribe. As shown there, each segment goes from one ellipse, past the second, and stops halfway to the third. So your next one would start at the second ellipse and repeat the pattern from there, allowing for a healthy overlap between segments. That overlaps is important, because that's where we get the more smooth, seamless transition from one segment to the next.
Continuing onto your plant constructions, I'd say that the results here are similar to your leaves - you're following the correct instructions (and I don't really see any instances here of you skipping constructional steps) but your execution is still kind of sloppy, with a lot of gaps being left between lines. It really comes down to ensuring that you're giving each and every mark as much time as it requires of you to be executed to the best of your current ability. Using the ghosting method is paramount, in terms of breaking your markmaking into steps of planning, preparation, and execution.
When you don't give enough time to the planning phase, you're more likely to end up with gaps and inaccuracies, even (and especially) with smaller marks. It's actually those smaller marks where the issues tend to arise, and they also happen to be the ones that we're the most likely to give less attention.
This can also occur if we feel artificially pressured by the expectation or need to complete a drawing in a certain time frame. It's quite common for students to feel that they're supposed to complete a given drawing before they finish that particular session and get up, but there's no such restriction. There's no reason you can't spend multiple sittings, and multiple days on a single drawing, if that's what you need to complete it to the best of your current ability.
So! To that point, I am going to assign some revisions, and you'll find them listed below. Overall I'm not worried in terms of your skills - you're demonstrating a decent understanding of how to approach these constructions, you just need to be more patient with yourself and allow yourself all the time you need to actually complete the drawings to the best of your current ability. These revisions should help give you an opportunity to do that.
Next Steps:
Please submit the following:
1 page, half of leaves and half of branches
2 pages of plant constructions
These are what I use when doing these exercises. They usually run somewhere in the middle of the price/quality range, and are often sold in sets of different line weights - remember that for the Drawabox lessons, we only really use the 0.5s, so try and find sets that sell only one size.
Alternatively, if at all possible, going to an art supply store and buying the pens in person is often better because they'll generally sell them individually and allow you to test them out before you buy (to weed out any duds).
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