Lesson 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction

12:37 PM, Thursday January 4th 2024

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Finally uploading my lesson 2.

Life gets in the way, but here's the long awaited lesson 2 upload.

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10:32 PM, Sunday January 7th 2024

I'll be the TA handling your Lesson 2 critique.

You're making progress towards understanding the concepts introduced in this lesson and hopefully this critique will help you in your future attempts.

  • Starting off with the arrows section you want to be making sure you're drawing confidently to keep your arrows as smooth as possible, accuracy will come with mileage. There are spots where your arrows bulge/narrow suddenly, this is an issue because it gives the impression that your arrows are stretching which hurts their solidity. Remember that as our arrows move closer to the viewer we want them to widen consistently. This is a good exercise to experiment with line weight but when applying it we want to make sure we do subtly to key areas like overlaps to give clarity to our forms. Here are some things to look out for when applying line weight, and here are some reminders on how to apply it subtly. At times you don't overlap your edges when you should, this results in your arrows flattening out as you can see here. I'd like you to experiment more with foreshortening in your future attempts, by utilizing it in both the arrows themselves as well as the negative space between their curves we can create a stronger illusion of an object moving through 3D space as demonstrated here.

  • Moving into the organic forms with contours exercise your forms are getting a bit too complex. We want to create our forms with both ends being the same size and to avoid any pinching, bloating, or stretching along the form's length as discussed here. Some of your line work here shows a lack of confidence as well, remember that our first priority is that we want all of our linework/ellipses/contours to be drawn confidently and mileage will improve our accuracy. Speaking of contours you're doing a good job trying to shift the degree of your contours so far, be sure to keep experimenting. The degree of a contour line basically represents the orientation of that cross-section in space, relative to the viewer, and as we slide along the sausage form, the cross section is either going to open up (allowing us to see more of it) or turn away from the viewer (allowing us to see less), as shown here.

  • In the texture exercises you're focusing largely on outlines and negative space rather than cast shadows created by forms along the texture itself. This makes it difficult to create gradients with implied information which we could then use to create focal points in more complex pieces, by doing so we can prevent our viewers from being visually overwhelmed with too much detail. For more on the importance of focusing on cast shadows read here. I'd also like to quickly direct you to this image which shows that when we're working with thin line like textures if we outline and fill the shadow we will create a much more dynamic texture than simply drawing lines.

  • In the form intersections exercise you're often highlighting existing edges rather than creating new ones for your intersections, look at this diagram to get an idea of the goal of this exercise. Your forms also appear a bit hastily done, some are rather small (I'd recommend drawing fewer but larger forms as it can be less tedious and encourage patience as well as make your work clearer), your lines don't always appear to be following the principles of markmaking from lesson 1. There also appear to be steps missing like drawing the minor axis in your cylinders. Remember that whether your goal is to draw a single box or dozens of forms you want to give each mark the same amount of time and attention as described in lesson 1 here.

  • While wrapping up your submission with the organic intersections exercise you do a good job demonstrating that your sense of 3D space is developing as your forms begin to wrap around each other believably. Addessing the issues in the previous organic form section and taking your time with each individual form here will help you see even better results, as will taking your time and drawing larger. I'd like you to draw through all of your forms when attempting this exercise again in the future, it will help reinforce your understanding of the 3D space you're creating. When it comes to your shadows you're pushing them enough so that they cast rather than just hugging the form that creates them which is a great start. Your shadows appear to be following a consistent light source, be sure to experiment with different angles and intensities when trying this exercise again in the future. I recommend pushing your light source to the top left or right corner of the page to start with, it's easier than working with a light directly above your form pile.

I won't be moving you on to the next lesson just yet, each lesson builds upon each other and I'd like to make sure you understand a few of these concepts a bit more before potentially creating more problems down the road.

With that being said I'd like you to please re-read and complete:

  • 3 pages of the form intersections exercise

  • 1 page of the organic intersections exercise

Remember to take your time, draw large and put your best effort into each mark you make.

Once you've completed the pages mentioned above reply to this critique with a link to them, I'll go over them and address anything that needs to be worked on and once you've shown you're ready for the next lesson I'll move you on.

I look forward to seeing your work.

Next Steps:

  • 3 pages of the form intersections exercise

  • 1 page of the organic intersections exercise

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
12:18 AM, Monday January 8th 2024

Thank you very much! I will make sure to do what you asked me to.

I was hoping for some redo work, as I felt something was off, so I am glad to get that feedback.

Life has gotten in my way quite a few times while working on lesson 2, so it's completely understandable that you think I need to redo those.

I will let you know when I am done with these!

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