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11:32 PM, Saturday July 23rd 2022

Hi NOW_ITS_ORANGE! I'll be reviewing your homework. Let's see:

Organic Forms with Contour Curves: First of all, it was supposed to be two pages with contour curves, not ellipses, so there's that. A lot of the sausages are well done, but some of them are bigger on one side or the other. Try to think of them as two spheres joined by a tube, nothing more than that.

As for your curves, it would've been great to see more degree change, as they describe how the form is turning in 3D space. Also, some of the curves are asymmetrical in their degree: one end has a bigger degree than the other in the same curve. Be very careful when you're drawing the curves, ghost them thoroughly and try to visualize them before making the actual marks.

Insect Drawings: First of all, the lineweight: it is excessive. Apply it only on the sections that intersect each other to clarify what's on top of what; do that only when it's needed and with subtlety. I know it's tempting to apply it indiscriminately, but the end result is a very messy drawing.

I really appreciate the effort you went through, drawing even the informal demos. But the moment you start drawing other insects (without a previous demo) the cracks start to show. Some things are pretty good, like the construction of the legs on some of them, and the base construction is there most of the time. But most of the time once you have that initial construction, you draw all the other forms on top, without making them interact at all with your initial construction.

This is not helped at all by the fact that you're drawing extremely small for what's required. Sometimes you have so little space that it is impossible to construct anything. The first and third page are the best here, but even there, it's just too small to work on what you have to work. And even then, you have issues like constructing shells without acknowledging the natural curve of the forms underneath; drawing flat legs instead of constructing sausages on which you add forms later; not drawing through the legs on the background and forms in general; and the linework making all the drawings look really sketchy and messy.

They look visually good a lot of the times, but remember that we're not here to draw pretty drawings: we're here to learn about constructional drawing, using these drawings as a tool to do so.

I can see that you're putting a lot of effort, but you need to redirect that effort to the things we're actually trying to learn. So, I'll ask for the following:

  • 1: Go back and read again the demos, especially the first two, and the lobster and shrimp ones from the Informal demos. Pay special attention to the way the forms get added onto the initial, simple construction.

  • 2: Make 7 drawings of insects without any detail. Draw big, one insect per page. Add the reference photos to the submission.

Once you're done, submit them here and I'll take a look. Remember to go easy on the lineweight, use confident and fluid lines, draw through all of your forms, and don't hatch the background legs.

Good luck!

Next Steps:

  • 1: Go back and read again the demos, especially the first two, and the lobster and shrimp ones from the Informal demos. Pay special attention to the way the forms get added onto the initial, simple construction.

  • 2: Make 7 drawings of insects without any detail.

  • Draw big, one insect per page. Add the reference photos to the submission.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
9:04 PM, Tuesday July 26th 2022

Hi, I really appreicate that you took the time to respond and help me out. I tried to fix the issues, mainly the messyness, line weight, and trying to understand the construction of the forms better.

Here is the link: https://imgur.com/a/BB3Mexk

If there is something I am still not understanding, please don't be shy to correct me and assign me more exercises.

Again, thanks.

2:19 AM, Saturday July 30th 2022

Hi! So, there's a ton of good things: the drawings are a lot clearer, the intersections are mostly well done, and they are a lot less messy. Your drawings are showing more volume and look more threedimensional overall, and the way the forms and masses interact is shown a lot better. That being said, there are still some issues:

  • The lineweight: you're using it on areas that don't need it at all, like the abdomen of the beetle. The butt of the beetle isn't crossing over anything, so there's no need at all for more lineweight.

  • Also, we are not overdrawing the sausages, that's only for the spheres/ellipses. It's not always, but it happens. On the ant, the upper leg looks sketchy, and there's no need at all for it to look that way. On the last insect, something similar happens, where it looks like you made a test run, and then, with a denser line, drew the "actual" lines.

Which is something we don't do at all. The lines that you make first, those are the lines you'll use. If you need to add volume or other shapes, you add it separately, as independent masses build on top of that initial construction. If that initial construction is a bit off, it does not matter, work with it nonetheless, it's more valuable what you'll learn from that, than drawing things without construction to make them look better, in the context of this course.

  • The excessive lineweight also undermines the work you made. On the ant's head, thanks to the lineweight, it looks like you drew a flat, triangular shape on it, even though you did construct it on top of the initial cranium sphere. Something similar happens to the grasshoppers head, which also looks flat even though you did construct it right; that's all thanks to excessive lineweight.

  • I made this to show you some other corrections. Take a look at the extra diagram on there too. One of the most important things there, is to keep our initial constructions and work on top of them, even if they're not accurate. The beetle is another example, where you just ignored your initial abdomen construction, and just built the shell on the air, without any interaction with your initial form.

So, as you see, you've fixed most of the issues, but there are still some things that can be improved. Taking these corrections into consideration, make one more drawing, of a beetle or dragonfly. Again, work big, just one page, and no detail. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them. Good luck!

Next Steps:

  • One more drawing, of a beetle or a dragonfly, taking into consideration all of the corrections.
When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
4:19 PM, Tuesday August 2nd 2022

Oops... sorry, I didn't mean to do that. Okay so, here is the link to my revision, except this time it's not a report.

https://imgur.com/a/HMJmwOk

Hopefully this is good enough, I did my best to not apply line weight unless it was absolutely necessary, and never underlying the constructional forms.

Thanks for the critique, I really appreciate it.

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5:54 PM, Monday August 1st 2022

Just letting you know that when attempting to send in your latest round of revisions, you did so by clicking the "report" button, and filling out the report form with your reply.

You'll need to post it again.

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