Check Out NMA    Learn More About our Partnership
Close and Enjoy Drawabox Ad-free
View Full Submission View Parent Comment
8:02 AM, Thursday October 8th 2020

Finished the single drawing and spent about 3 days at 30 minutes per day on this drawing. I have also split it up each day to show how fast/slow I progressed through it.

https://imgur.com/a/0UTljIg

Not exactly the most accurate one but, I tried to slow myself down as much as humanly possible. It still looks like things are 2 dimesional.

The legs don't have much meat I can see on them so I did not feel the need to add anything more Most of the fat / muscle was on the torso and stomach. I think I exaggerated the stomach a bit too much and the mass on top of the animal could just be one conjoined lump instead of 3.

The neck did have a bit of a lump but, not that much so I only added a little.

Now I understand that you drew each of these many, many times, and picked the best ones - but I have to ask, just how long did you put into each individual drawing? There is nothing wrong with every single one taking an entire sitting, spanning over an hour, two hours, and more. Whatever it takes for you to really look at your reference, analyze the forms that are present, and then take care in drawing them using the techniques we've covered before.

I'm actually having trouble putting in anything more than an hour or so per drawing unfortunately. I might not be spending enough time analyzing and observing the form.

Some drawings are abandon after only 15 minutes or so because I realize I've made a terrible mistake (something is so horribly out of proportion I may as well start over) or, I have made a number of mistakes after 40 minutes or so of drawing and decide it isn't acceptable.

7:11 PM, Thursday October 8th 2020

I am very pleased with this experiment, and even moreso that you decided to take photos at various stages of the drawing, because that ended up highlighting both specific strengths and weaknesses with greater clarity.

There are two primary issues that come into play when it comes to why you're struggling with drawing:

  • As I suspected, you don't spend enough time on your drawings. This time, you did - and the result is a HUGE improvement over everything you've submitted to date. This second-last stage, for example, is extremely well done. Construction is being applied very well here, and you've exhibited a lot of care in studying your reference and ensuring that most of the marks you put down were directly informed by the reference image.

  • When you add your additional forms, you're showing signs that you're still thinking very much about how this is a two dimensional drawing, rather than a three dimensional object. You tend to pile the additional forms on top of the antelope's back, but don't consider how they actually wrap around its structure, not just remaining on top but also wrapping around the creature's sides. I've drawn on top of your construction here to demonstrate what I mean. Pay attention to the difference between my additional masses and yours.

To that last point, you mention that you abandon some drawings after a short while because of a mistake or an issue with proportions. Don't. What is being asked of you here isn't to create a perfect replica of the reference photo. What we're doing here is an exercise, an exploration of the animal, how they're structured, how they can be broken down into simple forms, and how those forms relate to one another in space. I have had ample situations where students have submitted drawings that were proportionally hilarious, but where because the construction itself was well established, it looked like it was still real - despite being malformed. As though the student had accurately captured some abnormality.

Now, let's take one step forward. I want you to do 5 more animal drawings. Of these, I want the first three to focus on the core construction only, no additional forms at all. That basically means ending at this stage. You're handling this well, but I want to make sure that you grasp how to go about it and a single drawing isn't quite enough to establish that.

Once those first three are done, I want you to do the last two taking them as far with construction as you can, pushing the use of additional forms and all of that.

Again, take your time. That is the primary issue that has always held you back, and you've shown considerable progress here in pushing yourself to invest loads more time into observing and studying your reference, and into planning and preparing each mark.

Next Steps:

5 additional animal constructions as described at the end of my critique.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
6:24 AM, Wednesday October 28th 2020

https://imgur.com/a/I3PHepu

Sadly everything still looks flat and my attempts more often than not do not resemble the subjects I have attempted to draw. I feel as though I'm missing something major even thought I'm trying everything I know how to.

5:00 PM, Thursday October 29th 2020

Alrighty, I did a number of redlines which you'll find here. The main issues are as follows:

  • Observation observation observation. The deer showed clear signs that you were observing more carefully, whereas this dog (especially its head) shows that you were clearly lost doing your own thing. As pointed out in the horse, taking note of the "negative shapes" between the legs can help in deciding how you want to place them in your drawing.

  • With the horse, you appear not to have noticed that it was walking away from the viewer, at an angle. You drew it walking across the field of view.

  • In some cases - like the fox - you didn't use sausage forms.

  • You pretty consistently drew your ribcages too small. I mention here that they take up 1/2 the length of the torso. It's half for the ribcage, then a quarter gap, then the last quarter is the pelvis.

While you tend to make steps forwards and backwards, it comes down to how much you're paying attention, especially to your reference, and the techniques/methodologies that we cover in the lesson. It's a lot to remember, but I'm seeing more and more as we move forwards that you are retaining increasing amounts, and as a result the overall trend is towards improvement. A lot of small steps back, mixed in with larger leaps forwards.

That's why we're seeing examples like the deer, which generally feels not only well put together, but also more realistic (due to the more extensive observation).

Now, I didn't cover all of the smaller notes I added in my redlines on top of your work, and it is admittedly a little scattered there. So I recommend that you take some time to go through them, and perhaps do so a few times - definitely more immediately before your next drawing session as well.

Moving forward, let's continue with another 5 drawings.

Next Steps:

Another 5 animal constructions.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
View more comments in this thread
The recommendation below is an advertisement. Most of the links here are part of Amazon's affiliate program (unless otherwise stated), which helps support this website. It's also more than that - it's a hand-picked recommendation of something I've used myself. If you're interested, here is a full list.
Sakura Pigma Microns

Sakura Pigma Microns

A lot of my students use these. The last time I used them was when I was in high school, and at the time I felt that they dried out pretty quickly, though I may have simply been mishandling them. As with all pens, make sure you're capping them when they're not in use, and try not to apply too much pressure. You really only need to be touching the page, not mashing your pen into it.

In terms of line weight, the sizes are pretty weird. 08 corresponds to 0.5mm, which is what I recommend for the drawabox lessons, whereas 05 corresponds to 0.45mm, which is pretty close and can also be used.

This website uses cookies. You can read more about what we do with them, read our privacy policy.