Lesson 3: Applying Construction to Plants

8:10 PM, Wednesday February 14th 2024

DAB Lesson 3 - Album on Imgur

Imgur: https://imgur.com/a/JPRkriB

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Hi. After a long time, I'm back.

I stopped doing DAB exercises because I lost the motivation to do them, but I didn't stop drawing during that time, so I can say that I'm not doing that bad. I asked in the discord chat if I should start DAB again and they told me no, so I reviewed some concepts and did lesson 3 completely (as there was a problem in that lesson).

Anyway, I had difficulty doing some of these exercises, especially in understanding the shape of the petals in 3D space and in texture, because I'm very bad at that, so I chose not to texturize sometimes.

I would like you to point out the flaws in my executions and give me recommendations on how to improve (and give me some tips on how to contour the lines to improve the variation without using the wrist, as I feel that this is my biggest difficulty.)

I would be grateful if you could critique my 250 box challenge that I finished a long time ago, but I ended up sending the wrong Imgur link (this is the right one: https://drawabox.com/community/submission/EMA8V1CR )

3 users agree
2:33 PM, Wednesday April 24th 2024

Hi there! I'm Kotka and I'll be doing your Lesson 3 critiques. It is clear that a long break did not affect you negatively as your line expression and freedom in drawing is very much visible and your drawings generally look very good. Now, onto the details and your critique requests (I hope I can succeed in addressing them).

Organic Arrows

Your arrows move in 3D-space and compress/decompress in a believable way. Your curves are fluid and confident. The variation of your ribbons is good without being too complex. The hatching/shading lines to create a sense of receding planes are on the right side of the ribbon and get more dense as the turn becomes more dramatic, which is exactly what we want to see for this assignment. Good job! I consider this exercise more than complete.

Leaves

Your leaves are energetic and really come alive on the paper. I can see that you properly visualize an organic centerline, or “spine” of the leaves, and the undulating edges are nicely folded around the spine.

It seems you skipped the other part of this exercise - constructing the rest of the leaf, with “arms” flowing out of the main centerline, and also adding serrations where needed. Remember to add the serrations outside of your folding edge - go for additive construction rather than subtracting from the form (this is a general rule in DAB exercises). Make sure to try drawing various types of leaves.

Branches

Your segments well in most cases and like everything else you have done, have good flow. I can see that you’re aware of your own mistakes, such as not overlapping properly which creates the mistake of visible tails in a compound stroke. As for the perspective of the ellipses, it looks good and coherent throughout the branch, and the angle of the ellipse is properly chosen depending on how close a part of the branch is to the viewer. I can see that you tried one forking branch, which looks good. I’d encourage you to try some more, but I consider your branches to be complete since you are aware of the mistakes you make.

Plant Constructions

There is too much detail here, and I am a bit confused on what you considered purely constructional since you mix detailed and constructional drawings on the same page. Remember, you need to have four pages of constructions only, that is, branches and petals without any added detail or shading. Since I can see that you have done some purely constructional drawings, I’ll cut the requirement down to two pages.

Your detailed drawings look good, and I think you have enough of them.

In general, there are some mistakes which you mention yourself already, in notes on the drawings. The most apparent one is that you might want to try slowing down a bit! I love your expressive drawings, they are some of the most dynamic I’ve seen here - but I think if you deliberately avoid overreaching your lines, focus on connecting all ends, and make sure to ghost and never go over the same line/ellipse twice, in a more calm manner, that your drawings will be superb.

Next Steps:

  • One page of leaves with more constructional details, such as "arms" going our from the centerline, as well as additive serrations

  • Two pages of purely constructional plant drawings

For both of these exercises, slow down, connect the lines more precisely. Go go go, you're so close to finishing! Will be waiting for your revisions.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
7:44 PM, Sunday April 28th 2024

I'm very happy that you criticized my homework.

I'm sending an extra page, because when I went to draw it, I forgot that it only needed construction and I ended up adding some cast shadows. (My leaves exercise had more errors than the ones I flagged)

https://imgur.com/a/929czZg

4:49 PM, Wednesday May 1st 2024

Hi again!

Now, you are definitely passed. Your leaves look a lot better and the serrations are done properly. Your plant constructions look really good. Congratulations and enjoy the next lesson!

Next Steps:

Continue with Lesson 3

This community member feels the lesson should be marked as complete, and 3 others agree. The student has earned their completion badge for this lesson and should feel confident in moving onto the next lesson.
4:55 PM, Wednesday May 1st 2024

Sorry, of course I meant that you're ready to move on to Lesson 4, not 3.

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0 users agree
2:22 PM, Tuesday March 19th 2024

Hey there!

I took a look at your work in an effort of understanding homework better, and TBH I would not consider you are bad, AT ALL.

it's such a great work!

keep it up!

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