Lesson 7: Applying Construction to Vehicles

2:54 PM, Monday March 20th 2023

Draw A Box - Lesson 7 - Album on Imgur

Direct Link: https://i.imgur.com/CMECsr8.jpg

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Yup. That was harder than I thought it would be. Apparently the critters who use the vehicles I draw need really big windows.

Unless I fail this one I want to make sure I give you a big thank you for the hard work you put into this content. I've for sure seen growth in my drawing abilities. I still have a ways to go, but these courses have made a huge dent in that progress.

As usual, feedback always welcome.

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6:24 PM, Thursday March 23rd 2023

Jumping right in with your form intersections, your linework here is definitely improved over your submission in Lesson 6, although I am noticing that you still don't appear to be applying the ghosting method as directly as you should be - for example, the absence of start/end points on the straight lines suggests that you're not skipping elements of the planning phase, and there is some wavering to the strokes that suggests that you might be executing a little more hesitantly than you could. Always remember - the ghosting method is about how we allocate our time into three distinct phases, each one with its own priorities. By investing our time in the planning and preparation phases, we're able to take the responsibility of considering the nature of the mark we wish to make away from the execution phase so it doesn't actually require any additional thought, allowing us to focus only on a confident execution. So - you've improved on this front since the last time I looked at this exercise, but there are still signs that you can be more mindful and intentional with the application of the ghosting method.

When it comes to the intersections, your work is definitely coming along better. The only notable issue I noticed is when you allow the intersection line to curve more rapidly when wrapping around a rounded surface than that surface would really allow, as shown here.

Lastly, don't forget to define the minor axis for your cylinders, so you have something to help define the desired alignment for the ellipses on either end, and when you do build a structure around a minor axis, don't place the ellipse centered around the end of the minor axis line. Have the ellipse sit entirely over the line so you can clearly gauge how the ellipse is bisected by it.

Continuing onto your cylinders in boxes, unfortunately it seems that you didn't apply the line extensions in their entirety - you extended the boxes' edges, but did not identify the contact point lines, nor did you extend your minor axis lines back so as to be able to compare them to your boxes' vanishing points. You also skipped one set of lines on the box towards the top-middle, and in general your boxes tend to avoid convergence in the manner explained to be a mistake here in the cylinder challenge notes.

I'm starting to get the impression that while you're generally quite capable, you're not reviewing the instructions for previous exercises and concepts nearly as much as you should be, and that is causing you to make some considerably sloppy mistakes.

Moving onto your form intersection vehicles, these are well done, although are actually taken well beyond what the exercise actually asked. This is from the homework section, where they were assigned:

These are purely constructional, approach them as you might the form intersections from lesson 2, by drawing primitives (boxes, cylinders, etc). Focus on drawing through your major geometric forms. you can break them down as far as you like, but remember that we're not interested in the smaller details - just on laying down the primitive forms in the arrangement of a vehicle. Do not use grids, subdivision, etc. Just simple primitive forms as you'd draw them for the form intersections exercise, focusing on each individual primitive form, one at a time.

Weirdly enough however, while you ended up taking these much farther than you needed to, your more detailed vehicle constructions were kind of the opposite. In fact, a lot of the more meticulous construction you applied in the form intersection vehicles was what was expected from the later vehicle constructions (just with a few more stages built up on it), but when you got into the more detailed ones, you seemed to reallocate how your time was being spent rather than simply putting in more time. This resulted in what was essentially you laying down the basic grid, and then working from a lot of estimation/eyeballing when drawing the actual vehicle. While you've certainly demonstrated a fairly strong, well developed understanding of 3D space in doing this (especially with constructions like this space ship and this jeep, the point of every lesson throughout this course is not for the student to demonstrate what they can do, but rather to demonstrate that they understand how to perform the exercise so they can continue doing so on their own, in order to further refine and develop their skills.

I do understand the confusion, to a point - being that the course is in something of a mixed up state with many demonstrations that are many years old, and that the course itself is in a constant state of evolution, so while the text may push for certain things, the demos don't always reflect that. We are working hard to address this, but it's a long process of overhauling the video/demo material, and one in which we make little progress as most of our time is spent on critiquing homework submissions. So, for now the best we can provide are sections like this and this section from Lesson 6 to which it refers, on the topic of the use of orthographic plans. Additionally, this section on handling curves, which specifically states not to jump straight into them but rather to build them up first as a chain of straight edges or flat surfaces, rounding them out only after they've been fully established, is also relevant.

Now, I am fairly confident in your ability to perform this exercise in this manner, but before I mark this lesson as complete I am going to assign some limited revisions to ensure that you are applying the concepts correctly. You will find those revisions assigned below.

Next Steps:

Please submit the following:

  • 1 page of cylinders in boxes, being sure to apply the line extensions correctly and to include more convergence to your boxes.

  • 2 vehicle constructions employing orthographic plans as fully as you are able. Don't skip steps - start them out as you did your form intersection vehicles, building up primitive forms inside of a bounding box and making use of all the subdivisions defined in your orthographic plans, and then take that construction through as many successive stages of construction as you need to fully flesh out the vehicle. Every bit of complexity must be built up to, rather than jumped to directly. This is going to take a good deal of time, but it is important that you demonstrate your ability to apply these concepts in their entirety.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
2:43 PM, Monday April 3rd 2023

Ok. Not sure if I fully succeed but here is try two:

https://imgur.com/Vf3HCJ5

I think it was clicking a little more by vehicle 2 (tiny car).

2:44 PM, Monday April 3rd 2023

I think I linked incorrectly. Please use this link:

https://imgur.com/a/CGdkACi

8:11 PM, Monday April 3rd 2023

On one hand, your drawings continue to demonstrate a well developing understanding of 3D space, but on the other hand, you are not following the methodologies I specifically pointed you to in my previous feedback. This includes most specifically:

Looking at your actual constructions (especially this one) we can see some more specificity, and I can see where you've rounded off some of the outer corners appropriately, your process as a whole definitely still relies in a lot of guesswork/estimation when it comes to translating information from the fairly bare and nonspecific orthograhpic plans to the actual 3D constructions. This suggests that you didn't really attempt to address the points I drew to your attention.

As such, I'm going to ask you to try the two vehicle constructions again - this time being sure to apply what is demonstrated in that mouthwash demo, and what is described in the sections I called out to you. You are entirely capable of this, but it seems like you didn't necessarily give yourself the time necessary to go through and process the information that was being laid out. If there are elements you're uncertain about, or have questions, feel free to ask - but do take care to ensure you're going through everything that's being shared.

Next Steps:

Please submit two more vehicle constructions.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
6:16 PM, Sunday April 16th 2023

https://imgur.com/a/4ewztyP

Ok. I think I get it now (hopefully). I would kindly request more orthographic examples for future students. I think the demos I used did not focus on the orthographic approach as much as I think you were looking for. Which I fully understand is difficult with the great amount of time spent reviewing homework.

This round I tried to tune in closely to the mouthwash and mouse examples since those prioritized the orthrographic approach over say the cab demo or the shelby mustang demo. I also did my best to find ways to break down curves into a series of lines that could later be softened into a curve.

Anyways, feedback always welcome.

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