Lesson 3: Applying Construction to Plants

7:01 AM, Friday April 3rd 2020

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Hello! Here is my submission for lesson 3. Based on previous feedback, I tried to do a better job at showing perspective in the negative space in the arrows, hopefully that came through. Looking forward to your feedback!

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6:04 PM, Friday April 3rd 2020

Starting with your arrows, these are definitely flowing really nicely through space. You carry this confident fluidity quite well into your leaves, where you've captured the impression of how they move through the space they occupy, rather than simply establishing how they sit statically in the world. You're also doing a good job of adhering to the earlier phases of construction rather than being particularly loose. One minor recommendation I have is just to avoid getting too heavy with your line weight, and when adding line weight, try not to simply 'trace' over the edges of the silhouette.

Tracing involves a mindset of following the lines as they exist on the page itself, and it can reinforce the fact that we're looking at a flat shape rather than something three dimensional. Make sure you apply your line weight using the ghosting method (as you would for any other stroke), and be more subtle with it. You don't need to reinforce everything, for the most part we'll leverage it to clarify how certain forms overlap others in more complex arrangements. Also, a particularly thick line will quickly drift into the territory of making your drawing look like a flat graphic, so subtlety is key. Line weight is a matter of whispering to the viewer's subconscious - suggesting by just increasing the weight by a touch that one is to follow an edge along a certain path, rather than branching off in alternative routes.

One last thing about the leaves - I noticed that in most cases when adding rippling to your edges, you tended to always cut back into the silhouette of the leaf. As you'll see here, I cut back into the silhouette on one side, and add to the silhouette on the other. This is to give the impression that the edge is being lifted up.

Moving onto your branches, your work here is largely looking pretty good, though I am noticing that you're not extending your segments fully halfway towards the next ellipse, instead choosing to only extend it slightly past the previous one. This additional length of the extension is important as it provides us with more of a runway for the next segment to overlap directly before shooting off towards its next target. This in turn allows us to more seamlessly match the flow of both lines, making them seem like a single continuous stroke.

Moving onto your plant constructions, your work largely applies the principles of the lesson quite effectively. Your leaves and petals flow very fluidly through space and fully demonstrate the scope of all three dimensions. To this end, I'm especially pleased with your lotus drawing, in how those petals all flow from this central point in space, reaching towards and away from the viewer.

One thing worth mentioning that I noticed on your succulent was that while this was constructed quite well and the forms feel very solid, you did use a large number of contour lines. I feel that many of these contour lines didn't end up necessarily contributing to the drawing. This is because contour lines suffer from diminishing returns - the first you add to a form will go a long way to making it feel solid and three dimensional. The second will do somewhat less, and the third even less than that. For this reason, quality stands far above quantity - take the time to draw each contour line correctly (with smooth confidence, wrapping convincingly around the form and fitting snugly within that form's silhouette) and ensure that the mark you're putting down will do the most to reinforce the illusion of solidity.

Along the edge of this tulip's bulb, I did catch you zigzagging back and forth around the simpler form you'd constructed initially. Generally you've been pretty good about adhering to that simple structure, having your more complex details come off and return to it, but it seems here you slipped up a little. Just something to keep in mind - and also remember that zigzagging a continuous stroke back and forth breaks this commandment of markmaking from lesson 1. When the trajectory of your mark changes, it's best to lift your pen and start a new stroke. When zigzagging like this, you're more likely to slip into auto-pilot and focus more on how the line flows across the page rather in 3D space.

Aside from those points, you're doing a great job overall. I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete.

Next Steps:

Feel free to move onto lesson 4.

This critique marks this lesson as complete.
7:55 AM, Sunday April 5th 2020

Thank you for your time and the feedback, I really appreciate it!

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