Lesson 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction

7:53 AM, Tuesday June 22nd 2021

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(this is a re upload of this homework since there apparently was some problem with the link in the last one)

Here is my submission for lesson two. I had a lot of struggles in this one but it was still a lot of fun like the others.

I'd say the things I struggled the most with was:

Texture. I had a really hard time striking that balance with detail and most of the time it just feels really cluttered to me. Also I just didn't know how to stick to only drawing cast shadows, especially when (to me) it didn't look like Uncomfortable was doing that in a lot of the examples either and rather drew the contour lines of a lot of the textures.

I really struggled with the intersections, especially box against box. For some reason how two boxes cut into eachother just doesn't make sense to me. Like which of the boxes focal points does the cut follow? Or is it a mix of both?

Thank you for your time!

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3:55 PM, Wednesday June 23rd 2021

First of all congrats on finishing lesson 2! Despite already completing lesson 3, each lesson completion is a small win which is a big win! Now onto the critique.

Organic Arrows

Your arrows are fairly good, you have a variety of perspectives and they all overlap each other. Good job!

Organic Forms with Contour Lines

Your forms has a hard time being consistent like it starts tampering its size from big to small at times, you also start to have this long forms and then this chunky forms which just complicate things. You also forgot to establish the flow for one of you forms, make sure you take more advantage of the flow line in the future. Now for your contours:

  1. Contour Ellipses - Your ellipses are okay, the ellipses snuggle fairly nicely in your forms and you also draw through your ellipses, but they sometimes come out of their forms and the minor axis of your ellipses are a little far off or doesn't really change much at times to really describe the form in space.

  2. Contour Curves - Your curves may need more work, some of your curves doesn't wrap around the forms properly and some are way too loose.

I recommend you do some warms-up on ellipses and do some organic forms without the worry of ellipses instead focus on the consistency of the form themselves. Remember when you get overwhelmed by a big problem make sure to break it down into small problems that you can handle

Texture Analysis

I'll be honest your textures arn't the best, your too random, the transition from dense to sparse is really not there and you tend to scribble your lines, but that can be excused for now since exercise's purpose was to introduce and force you at the deep end of the pool anyway.

Remember, textures somewhat has a harmony to them you somehow just need to observe them more and somehow find it, take advantage of the references you have and a take your time

Dissections

This dissections are pretty good, there's some that still carries the flaws from your texture analysis but some are good, you even took the time to write some notes about the textures (basically your texture analysis redemption arc). You curved the form and have a strong silhouette, good job.

Intersections

Nice job! The forms are able to co-exist in the same space real nicely, the only thing i notice you seem to struggle with are the cylinders. As for the intersections not bad, though I'm a little confused on why some of your forms don't intersect with some forms but intersect with some, some of your forms (especially the boxes page) is implying that their overlapping, which breaks the idea that this forms co-exist in the same space.

You said you struggle with intersections but I don't really have much to say considering I think their well done, my main takeaway is intersections are a series of decisions, you decide if how this forms reacts to the other forms, you're going to think about what are you trying to convey, it's all up to you

Organic Intersections

You done a phenomenal job with this forms, they all just stack up on each other naturally! But some of your shadows are a little too timid which is implying the light source is really far away or is really weak which sadly gives you less privilege to describe the form more, to deliver more visual information to the viewer.

I get your point that uncomfortable doesn't really offer that much examples of him using implicit shading (cast shadows only) but we're not trying to be like him, were trying to be our best selves, so I recommend you somehow take uncomfortable's instructions when doing these exercises despite sometimes the contradictions in his examples

Sorry for the critique for taking awhile I'm pretty slow when it comes to critiques. I hope the things I pointed out and advice I gave can help you in this journey of becoming a better artist.

Next Steps:

Since you finished lesson 3 and you have some problems with texture I recommend you do the 25 texture challenge or do it alongside lesson 4

This community member feels the lesson should be marked as complete, and 2 others agree. The student has earned their completion badge for this lesson and should feel confident in moving onto the next lesson.
9:46 AM, Thursday June 24th 2021

Thank you so much for your time, feedback and kind words! It was very thorough and well put together so it was well worth the wait. :D

Even working on Lesson 4 I still have a hard time with the things you mentioned about the organic forms and contour lines. So that's something I'll work at for sure.

And yeah. I think I understood textures better by the time I got to dissections and I understood the analysis phase better there, too. I think one of the things I struggle with still is definitely the transition between detailed in medium lighting to more simple in lighter and darker areas. I'm already doing the 25 texture challenge along side lesson 4 so hopefully my understanding gets better.

Again; thank you and have a good one

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2:49 PM, Tuesday June 22nd 2021

Don't think in terms of the whole box, nor just lines. Try to think in terms of planes, how is this surface going to behave against another one?

The intersection should flow through both surfaces.

You did a good job on the lesson, but I have a piece of critique for the organic intersections' minimalist cast shadows.

You did a great job at conveying form through the sagging and thickening of the sausages but you missed a huge opportunity to describe the surfaces beneath them.

Next Steps:

Try doing again the organic intersections with a focus on cast shadows. Look for Uncomfortable's example homework if you catch yourself being timid with

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
6:01 PM, Tuesday June 22nd 2021

Thank you for your time, kind words and critique! I'll be sure to keep the intersections tip in mind. I recently also saw a imgur link going around the discord that is basically a "cheat sheet" with a bunch of examples of how different forms cut into eachother and it really helped my brain understand it a bit more.

I'm confused about the organic intersections though since I do have a shadows underneath them. If there is anything unclear or anything I misunderstood then that's on me, of course.

Have a good one and again thank you!

7:11 PM, Tuesday June 22nd 2021

I'll make it clearer. Your cast shadows are very thin and timid!

Most submissions I've critiqued have cast shadows that nicely wrap around the organic form underneath but because your cast shadows are too thin, they end up making the surface they are sitting on very flat.

Next Steps:

The previous revision is still required, cast shadows are a very useful tool but if you apply them this way you will only end up damaging your

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
7:58 AM, Wednesday June 23rd 2021

ah okay. This is not coming from a place of defensiveness. I'm not precious about these studies and I'm not trying to argue. I just want to have a good understanding of the feedback so I could better apply it in revisions. Because when I look at Uncomfortable's examples, his shadows are smaller than the ones I've done (with the exception of his cast shadow on the floor.)

Link to his example homework: https://d15v304a6xpq4b.cloudfront.net/lesson_images/07fd0fa0.jpg

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