Lesson 3: Applying Construction to Plants

7:58 PM, Sunday August 21st 2022

Direct Link: https://i.imgur.com/D3dOO5O.jpg

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9:21 PM, Monday August 22nd 2022

Starting with your arrows, you're doing a good job of drawing these with a good deal of confidence, which really helps to push the sense of fluidity with which they move through the world. That said, you do have some instances that end up feeling kind of flat due to the very consistent spacing between their zigzagging sections (in the 2D space of the page itself). As explained here, that spacing needs get tighter and tighter the further it moves back. So for example, this one where despite moving farther away from us, the gaps between the sections of the arrow's ribbon remain pretty much the same (which means that in 3D space, they're actually getting farther apart).

Now, getting back to that confidence and fluidity, it carries over quite nicely into your leaves, where you're not only capturing how they sit statically in 3D space, but also how they move through the space they occupy. My only concern here is that while you're building up edge detail with separate marks rising off and returning to the existing edge in a seamless manner in some cases (like the upper right corner of the page), there are other cases (like the bottom right corner) where you appear to draw significant chunks of edge detail in a single zigzagging stroke, which as explained here should be avoided.

Remember - what we're doing here is not putting down a rough sketch to use as a guide. We are effectively introducing a structure to the world, as though it were a simple leaf shape cut out of a piece of paper, and as we add edge detail to it or build up its structure, we are actively making physical changes to that existing form. If we want to add spikes to its edge, we're physically adding more pieces of paper to it. If we want to create a wobbly edge, we are physically drooping and lifting sections of its perimeter in 3D space. And if we want to cut into its silhouette, then the lines we're drawing represent the paths a pair of scissors would follow to cut it out, as shown here.

Continuing onto your branches, it appears you may not have paid as much attention to the specific manner in which the edges ought to be arranged, as explained in these instructions/this diagram from the lesson. You follow it to varying degrees in different areas - so it's not that you neglect it entirely - but there are plenty of cases where you're not adhering to its specific requirements, which suggests that you may be aware of the approach, but weren't too careful in applying it across the board.

In addition to this, be sure to shift the width of your ellipses wider as we slide further away from the viewer, as explained in the Lesson 1 ellipses video.

Aside from the points I raised above in regards to your leaves and branches, which continue to be present in your plant constructions, the rest has been handled quite well. You're applying the principles of construction, drawing each form in its entirety, and focusing for the most part (aside from the persistent zigzagging) on building things up one step at a time. So, I'm only going to need fairly limited revisions on the leaves and branches in order for your lesson here to be marked as complete. You'll find those revisions assigned below.

Next Steps:

Please submit 1 page, half of leaves and half of branches.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
1:01 AM, Monday August 29th 2022

Thank you for your feedback. I had several distractions while I was doing my work and thus I didn't take as much care as I should. Please let me know if this is better

https://imgur.com/a/CAv0FJW

4:20 PM, Monday August 29th 2022

Your leaf constructions are looking good - although with this one - specifically the areas you filled with black - you may want to review these notes from Lesson 2 which explain how to think about the shadows we're drawing. Right now it seems like they're drawn more from direct observation, but not with consideration to the specific textural forms that are meant to cast them.

Continuing onto your branches, unfortunately you still appear to be running into issues applying the instructions from the lesson. The instructions I linked you to previously clearly demonstrate that each segment should be starting from one ellipse, continuing past the second, and stopping halfway to the third. Then the next segment repeats this pattern starting from the second ellipse. This results in a healthy overlap between them of about half the distance between the ellipses, which is generally helpful for achieving a smoother, more seamless transition from one segment to the next.

Throughout your work we can see instances where you're starting your next segment at an arbitrary distance beyond the previous ellipse, minimizing that overlap.

Next Steps:

Give yourself more time in reading and absorbing through the branches instructions here and reviewing the associated diagram - then try one more page of branches. If anything there is unclear, feel free to ask.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
1:16 AM, Thursday September 1st 2022

Thank you for taking the time to help me see what I missed. I misinterpreted originally. I hope these branches are better.

https://imgur.com/a/XF37MRL

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