Lesson 3: Applying Construction to Plants

5:52 PM, Monday April 6th 2020

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Hi! Wow, that was quite a journey. Apparently, I'm extremely bad at drawing vegetation. Looks like I need to take it to my everyday warm up exercises. The second plant was the most difficult for me to draw because it has so many leaves going from one point and it was hard to not make a mess. We're supposed to fail here, I know, but I haven't even found a sufficient approach to drawing this guy.

Anyways, thank you in advance for watching and giving a feedback.

Sorry, I've lost the reference image for the sixth plant, couldn't find it.

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8:29 PM, Monday April 6th 2020
edited at 8:33 PM, Apr 6th 2020

Starting with your arrows, you've got them flowing quite nicely and confidently through space. One thing to keep an eye on however is to always make sure that the gaps between your zigzagging sections get smaller as they move back in space, and to have them do so in a consistent manner.

An amount of the confident fluidity of your arrows definitely carries over into your leaves, though I do think that at the same time you are stiffening up a little in the face of actually drawing more concrete objects instead of something more abstract. When drawing the flow lines of your leaves, it's important to think not only of how it's going to sit statically in 3D space, but how it is actually moving through that space. This flow line represents the forces that drive the leaf - wind, air currents, etc. - and pushing through this line with a sense of energy will help imbue your leaf with life. One thing that can help with this is to add a little arrowhead at the tip of your flow line.

Other than that, you've done an excellent job of adhering to the underlying structure of your leaf construction when adding additional detail. You're showing considerable respect here for the bounds set out by previous phases of construction, and are respecting the answers you've given to certain questions/problems without seeking to provide new contradictory answers later on in the process.

Finally, moving onto your branches, you're doing an excellent job here. You're mindful of extending the segments fully halfway towards the next ellipse, and you're doing a great job of keeping the widths of your branches consistent throughout their length with no sudden pinching or swelling. There are a couple visible 'tails' where the segments don't quite flow into one another - one thing that helps with this is to make a point of using a the last bit of the previous segment as a runway for the next segment to overlap directly before shooting off towards its next target. This may hurt the results of that branch itself, but by forcing yourself to roll with the consequences of every mark, it'll encourage you to improve them more quickly.

Honestly, looking at your actual plant constructions, I'm afraid I don't have too much else to offer. Your work here is fantastic, and you're taking the points I made about your respect for the constructional process in regards to your leaves to an even further level. The result are constructions that feel solid and tangible, that carry an impression of weight and solidity. You're also demonstrating a measured, light touch when it comes to implying certain aspects of detail - for example, the long lines that run along the length of flower petals - the way you've drawn them does not create visual noise, but instead they flow smoothly and fluidly, ever in line with the surface without contradicting it at any point.

You build up your constructions with a great deal of patience, never overextending yourself to add an complexity that cannot be supported by the existing structure. You're also leveraging line weight and cast shadows effectively to help organize your drawings and bring emphasis where you need it to be, while letting the less important elements drift to the back.

You've done a fantastic job, and should be proud of yourself. I will happily mark this lesson as complete, and I am excited to see how your work for the next few lessons will turn out.

Edit: I just went back and read your comments (I usually ignore them unless they contain questions, as I prefer them not to taint my own point of view), and I suppose the main thing you need to work on is your tendency for self-criticism. While it is absolutely valuable to see your flaws and mistakes, it's also critically important to leave room for acknowledging your strengths and successes.

A lot of students tend to fall into this trap of feeling nothing but dissatisfaction with their own work, and to a point, that is one of the things that make external critique valuable. Reason being, what you look for in your drawing may be entirely different from what is expected of you within the limits of a given lesson. You may be delivering exactly what I'm asking for and demonstrating a keen grasp of the material in the lesson, while not ticking your own boxes.

When I say your work here is very well done, I mean it. I'm not above breaking down students' mistakes when they clearly disregard the principles covered in my lessons. I am also not against giving credit where it is due. You've done a great job, but it may take a little more experience to open your eyes to exactly why that is.

Next Steps:

Feel free to move onto lesson 4.

This critique marks this lesson as complete.
edited at 8:33 PM, Apr 6th 2020
8:01 AM, Tuesday April 7th 2020

Thank you so much, Uncomfortable. These lessons give me A LOT.

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