Hello DrDarkly, I'll be the teaching assistant handling your lesson 5 critique.
Starting with your organic intersections it is good to see you’ve kept most of your forms simple, which helps them to feel solid.
On this page you’re drawing your forms parallel which makes the forms feel precariously balanced. Try laying the forms perpendicular to the form below, to allow the new form to slump over the lower one, coming to rest in a position where it feels stable and supported.
When practising this exercise in future, imagine you’re dropping your forms in from above, one at a time. Imagine each form being pulled down by gravity. We want to avoid trying to draw forms underneath forms that are already on the page, which is what appears to be happening on the lower left of this page. If the form you have already drawn is affected by gravity, there won’t be any space below it to fit a new one in there, and you’ll wind up cutting the new form off (as we see in your work) or destabilizing the whole pile.
When designing your shadows try to think about nature of the surfaces that the shadow is being projected onto. Establishing how the curvature of a form's surface (or the flat surface of the ground plane) affects the shape of the shadow will help to make them more convincing.
Moving on to your animal constructions, before I get to the criticisms and recommendations that I have, I just wanted to say that I thought this giraffe was well observed, and is quite pleasant to look at. That’s a really challenging pose, with a lot of foreshortening, and you did well to keep everything organised. It does demonstrate a certain amount of understanding of 3D space even though it doesn’t follow some of the constructional methods we’d like students to use for these exercises.
I’ve got quite a bit to get to, so I’ll break this into topics to help make things digestible.
Core construction
It is important to start your quadruped constructions with the 3 major masses discussed in this section of the lesson intro page. On some of your pages some of these masses are either out of proportion, or misplaced, to the extent that I couldn’t understand which ellipse is supposed to represent the ribcage mass of this donkey and the hybrid construction appears to be missing both the ribcage and the pelvis masses completely. Paying attention to the placement of these 3 masses will allow you to establish a solid foundation upon which to build the rest of your construction. Some constructions are closer to following these instructions than others,this cat isn’t that far off. Correcting your core construction on this page was just a matter of enlarging the rib cage and placing the front of it between the shoulders, as the legs are attached to the torso, not the neck. This allows the “torso sausage” to occupy the bulk of the torso, rather than floating in the middle somewhere. Adding an ellipse at the base of the neck where it connects to the torso goes a long way towards establishing how the two structures fit together in 3D space.
Taking actions in 3D
During both rounds of feedback for your lesson 4 submissions I talked about how to take actions on your constructions that reinforce the 3D illusion we seek to create with these constructions, both for the viewer, and more importantly for you as you draw them. To do this we ensure that we are drawing a complete new form with its own fully enclosed silhouette every time we want to build onto the construction or alter something, and establishing how the new form connects to the existing structures with specific relationships. In doing this, we force our brain into figuring out how the forms exist in 3D space, and fool ourselves into believing our own lie, that the construction is solid, and not just a bunch of lines on a flat piece of paper.
While I do think you’re genuinely working with this goal in mind, and you are drawing a good portion of most of your constructions with 3D forms, you do still switch to working in 2D by adding one off lines and flat partial shapes often enough to be concerning. I’ve marked some examples of these flat extensions in blue on your cat. This was mitigated by enlarging and moving the ribcage in the previous section of feedback, and we can correct the remaining flat extension under the neck by drawing it as an additional mass, as shown here.
Leg construction
It looks like you’re working with the sausage method of leg construction (which is good) although there is some variation with how closely you stick to all of the specific requirements of the method. If we take this dog for example, it looks like you used a sausage form for the front leg, but a flat shape for the hind leg. Interestingly, when you added to that hind leg, you did so by adding a complete new form (which is also good) but unfortunately the structure you were adding to was already flat. Remember to include a contour curve at each joint, as discussed previously and shown in step 2 of this example I drew for you as part of your previous feedback.
I noticed that you’d simplified the front legs of all of your dogs and cats to a single sausage form. Take another look at the limbs section of the lesson intro page. If the leg appears fairly straight in the reference it may not be very obvious, but there is a joint in the front leg, which is what will allow the leg to bend, and in turn this lets the animal walk and run. Observe the reference carefully to find this joint, and replicate that information in your drawing to build a more natural looking construction.
On some of your constructions, such as this dog you’ve made a good start with building onto your sausage armatures with additional forms. It looks like you tend to focus primarily on forms that actually impact the silhouette of the overall leg, but there's value in exploring the forms that exist "internally" within that silhouette - like the missing puzzle piece that helps to further ground and define the ones that create the bumps along the silhouette's edge. Here is an example of what I mean, on another student's work. Uncomfortable has blocked out masses along the leg there, and included the one fitting in between them all, even though it doesn't influence the silhouette. This way of thinking - about the inside of your structures, and fleshing out information that isn't just noticeable from one angle, but really exploring the construction in its entirety, will help you yet further push the value of these constructional exercises as puzzles.
Foot construction
I have some additional information for constructing paws. I'd like you to study these notes on foot construction where Uncomfortable shows how to introduce structure to the foot by drawing a boxy form- that is, forms whose corners are defined in such a way that they imply the distinction between the different planes within its silhouette, without necessarily having to define those edges themselves - to lay down a structure that reads as being solid and three dimensional. Then we can use similarly boxy forms to attach toes. Please try using this strategy for constructing paws in future.
Additional masses
I mentioned additional masses as a solution in the taking actions in 3D section, and they are an incredibly valuable tool we introduce in lesson 5 to help students to build onto their basic armatures while reinforcing the 3D illusion. It is good to see that you’ve been experimenting with additional masses on quite a few of your constructions. It can be quite challenging to figure out how to design these additional masses so that they feel convincing and solid.
One thing that helps with the shape here is to think about how the mass would behave when existing first in the void of empty space, on its own. It all comes down to the silhouette of the mass - here, with nothing else to touch it, our mass would exist like a soft ball of meat or clay, made up only of outward curves. A simple circle for a silhouette.
Then, as it presses against an existing structure, the silhouette starts to get more complex. It forms inward curves wherever it makes contact, responding directly to the forms that are present. The silhouette is never random, of course - always changing in response to clear, defined structure. You can see this demonstrated in this diagram.
With that in mind, let’s revisit the cat construction again. Starting with the mass on the hind leg, I’ve been much more intentional with each stroke. There was a certain wobbliness to your mass here that suggested you weren’t sure how to draw it, and were combining the thinking and the execution of the lines into a single step, resulting in lots of little course corrections along the way. We want to put each line down with clear purpose, based on a decision we’ve already made. It is okay for the decision to be wrong, by being based on an incorrect understanding of how the forms exist in space, as that is something we can work to correct. What is harder to correct is an indecisive line, or a random line, something based on an absence of understanding altogether. It is not uncommon for students faced with a difficult problem to get flustered into putting down any line, to get the job done, even if it is one that hasn’t been fully thought through. So, if you find yourself getting overwhelmed by a problem,take a step back and assess the situation. Try and think through it logically, and come up with an answer - even if it's wrong.
With the mass along the top of the back I’ve broken it into two pieces. I’d generally avoid having one mass run over a very long distance, or try to accomplish too much, as this often leads to accidentality overcomplicating the mass and having it fall flat. I’ve pulled the masses down from on top of the spine, around the sides of the body and allowed them to press against the top of the protruding shoulder and thigh masses, which helps to anchor the additional masses more securely to the construction. The more interlocked they are, the more spatial relationships we define between the masses, the more solid and grounded everything appears.
Head construction
The last thing I wanted to talk about is head construction. Lesson 5 has a lot of different strategies for constructing heads, between the various demos. Given how the course has developed, and how Uncomfortable is finding new, more effective ways for students to tackle certain problems. So not all the approaches shown are equal, but they do have their uses. As it stands, as explained at the top of the tiger demo page (here), the current approach that is the most generally useful, as well as the most meaningful in terms of these drawings all being exercises in spatial reasoning, is what you'll find here in this informal head demo.
There are a few key points to this approach:
The specific shape of the eye sockets - the specific pentagonal shape allows for a nice wedge in which the muzzle can fit in between the sockets, as well as a flat edge across which we can lay the forehead area.
This approach focuses heavily on everything fitting together - no arbitrary gaps or floating elements. This allows us to ensure all of the different pieces feel grounded against one another, like a three dimensional puzzle.
We have to be mindful of how the marks we make are cuts along the curving surface of the cranial ball - working in individual strokes like this (rather than, say, drawing the eye socket with an ellipse) helps a lot in reinforcing this idea of engaging with a 3D structure.
Try your best to employ this method when doing constructional drawing exercises using animals in the future, as closely as you can. Sometimes it seems like it's not a good fit for certain heads, but as shown in in this rhino head demo it can be adapted for a wide array of animals. To help you apply this method I recommend making your cranial ball larger when you’re constructing heads with longer muzzles, if we look a your donkeys, for example, the cranial ball was so tiny there was no way you could inscribe the eye sockets upon it.
Okay, that should cover it. I’ve outlined a number of areas where I would like you to demonstrate your understanding, so I will be assigning some revisions for you to address these points. Please complete 4 pages of animal constructions.
Next Steps:
Please complete 4 pages of animal constructions.
Hi Dio,
Please find attached my revisons. https://imgur.com/a/2FbUbD0
Thank you for your feedback it was super helpful, and it clarified many things for me.
I look forward to your response.
Michael.
Hello Michael, thank you for completing these additional pages as requested.
You’re making progress towards grasping what we aim to teach with this lesson, although it appears there are some points which require further clarification.
Core construction
I’m happy to see that you’ve included all 3 major masses on all of your constructions. It looks like you may still be confused about the size and placement of the ribcage, you tend to put it too far back, in the tummy area, and make it too small. The ribcage connects to the base of the neck. There is no gap between the neck and the ribcage. If you feel the base of your neck, where your collar bones attach, juuust below that notch you’ll feel the hard, bony area of your sternum (or breast bone) that is part of the the top of your ribcage, there’s no big squishy gap there, it is bone. Many animals do not have collar bones, but their ribcage still starts at the base of the neck. Because you’re placing the rib cage too far back, your torso sausages are coming out very strange, and it is giving you a weaker foundation upon which to build the rest of your construction. Take another look at this section of the lesson intro page and the correction I made to the ribcage of your cat. Notice how the ribcage goes at the front of the torso sausage. This provides a solid, stable structure to connect the neck and the shoulders to. Of the 4 constructions, the ribcage of the goat is the closest to correct.
Taking actions in 3D
I can see notable improvement here, as you’re more mindful about drawing complete 3D forms to build the various pieces of your constructions. Keep in mind that we want to be working in 3D even for smaller additions. For example with the antlers of your deer you’d altered their structure by adding partial shapes in a few places, in a similar manner to how we add edge detail to leaves. This strategy works for leaves because they are paper thin, so essentially they are already flat. As antlers are more voluminous structures we’d need to use another strategy for building up all those spikes and pieces of complexity. I think you may find it helpful to follow along with this step by step deer head construction which shows how to add each bump as a complete 3D form.
As well as making sure we draw complete forms, we need to think about how the pieces connect together. I’ve marked a few places on your rhino where, as far as I could tell, you were trying to attach additional masses to thin air. For these constructions we start with balls and sausage forms and then build upon them piece by piece with additional forms. With every form you add you want to keep it very clear in your mind how it is going to attach to the structures that are already in place. Remember to always work from the inside, core structures building outwards. To be frank, I couldn’t figure out what was going on along the top of your rhino, but I have corrected the belly mass here.
Leg Construction
It’s great to see that you’re sticking to the sausage method more consistently in this set of pages, and overall your legs are looking better. I did notice a few places where you’d overcomplicated the upper section of some of the legs. Remember, the more complex a form is, the more difficult it is to understand how it is supposed to sit in 3D space, so the more likely t is to fall flat. Instead, what we can do is use an ellipse for the big mass of the shoulder or thigh, where the leg connects to the body, then a simple sausage for the upper leg. We can then flesh out the leg as needed with additional forms. For clarity, I’ve demonstrated this here on your goat.
Additional Masses
It is good to see you experimenting with additional masses throughout the set, and again I think the goat is the most successful. On this page I can see you were drawing each mass one at a time, thinking about how to create specific 3D relationships between the additional mass and the structures that are already present. On the goat you’ve also done a good job of keeping each mass simple (using an outward curve) where it is exposed to fresh air and there is nothing present to press against it. If we compare this to the dog notice how you’ve pressed a big inward curve into both the mass on top of the back and under the belly. This kind of unexplained complexity makes the additional mass feel flat. You also appear to be jumping back and forth between complete forms and partial shapes when adding masses to the dog and the result is a little confusing.
So, while the goat has the most well thought out and convincing masses of the set, I did spot a couple of things that could be improved further. As noted here you’d used the ribcage mass to press against your additional masses and anchor them to the construction. While this type of thinking is heading in the right direction (you’re thinking about how your forms interact in 3D space) we do need to consider how the structures exist at the time of adding the additional mass. As part of the core construction process, we take the ribcage and pelvis masses and enclose them within a “torso sausage.” This is one of the few occasions where fully engulf one form within another. The torso sausage covers the ribcage, so the ribcage does not protrude, and there is nothing left to press the additional masses against, only the torso sausage itself.
However, we can push additional masses against the shoulder/thigh masses, as these do protrude from the torso sausage. I’ve shown how to do this on your work.
I also wanted to note that when adding a mass under the belly, we’ll usually want to tuck it between the legs, rather than stopping it abruptly.
Head construction
I can see elements of the informal head demo being used throughout the set, and I was happy to see that you’d used the rhino head demo to help with your own rhino head construction. Keep striving to stick to the specific pentagonal eye socket shape shown in the demo, your dog has quadrilateral eye sockets. On some of your pages you could be a little clearer about establishing the footprint of the muzzle and extruding it as a boxy form. Remember not to leave arbitrary gaps between pieces of the head construction, as seen with the gap between the eye socket and the muzzle on the goat. When the animal has its mouth open (like your dog) it helps to construct the lower jaw as a separate boxy form, as shown here. You can also see an example of how to use the informal head demo method of construction in the deer demo I shared earlier.
Next steps
I genuinely think you’re making progress, but the misplacement of the ribcage is making things much harder for you than they really need to be, and I would like to see that corrected. Your additional masses are also quite mixed, some of them show that you’re thinking about them as pieces of clay or putty that you’re pressing against your 3D structures, and some of them look like you were thinking about something else.
I’d like you to draw along with this running rat demo from the informal demos page. Follow the first 7 steps as closely as you can. Pay close attention to the size and placement of the ribcage, and the construction of the torso sausage. Note the use of big elliptical shoulder and thigh masses, and the specific design of the additional masses that wrap around these existing structures.
Then, please complete 3 additional pages of animal constructions of your choice. If at any point you’re unsure where to place the ribcage, make sure you refer back to the lesson intro page and check, rather than relying on memory. If anything said to you here, or in a previous critique, is unclear or confusing you are allowed to ask questions.
Next Steps:
1 drawing done following the running rat demo
3 additional pages of animal constructions
Hi Dio,
Here are the additional drawings. I never realised I was drawing the ribcage too far back, thanks for pointing that out, I would have merrily continued doing that being non the wiser.
I do have a question, if I look at the anatomy of a dog or any other animal I see that the pelvis is in the other direction as to how we draw the ellipse for the pelvis. Is this so that the sausage form when connecting the pelvis mass to the ribcage mass looks like a sausage. See here the anatomy of a dog and then the example from Drawabox.
Where the rest of my recommendations tend to be for specific products, this one is a little more general. It's about printer paper.
As discussed in Lesson 0, printer paper (A4 or 8.5"x11") is what we recommend. It's well suited to the kind of tools we're using, and the nature of the work we're doing (in terms of size). But a lot of students still feel driven to sketchbooks, either by a desire to feel more like an artist, or to be able to compile their work as they go through the course.
Neither is a good enough reason to use something that is going to more expensive, more complex in terms of finding the right kind for the tools we're using, more stress-inducing (in terms of not wanting to "ruin" a sketchbook - we make a lot of mistakes throughout the work in this course), and more likely to keep you from developing the habits we try to instill in our students (like rotating the page to find a comfortable angle of approach).
Whether you grab the ream of printer paper linked here, a different brand, or pick one up from a store near you - do yourself a favour and don't make things even more difficult for you. And if you want to compile your work, you can always keep it in a folder, and even have it bound into a book when you're done.
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