Lesson 3: Applying Construction to Plants
5:57 AM, Wednesday September 7th 2022
I redrew some of the plants to see if I can do better and I think I did better :)
Hi, I'll take care of reviewing your homework today.
I'll go by sections, since it seems easier to understand that way:
Lines in general:
Many of your strokes look fluid, but you still need to put some more confidence into making them; you can see how your plant drawings look a little soft from a shaky stroke.
I would recommend doing some of the exercises from the first lesson as warm-ups. Those focused on the quality of the lines, they will come in handy.
Arrows: I like how these fold and grow/shrink across the leaf space; both aspects give a great sense of perspective that we want in plant drawings.
Leaves: These fold correctly, and they do look like leaves above all else, hehe.
Those contour lines inside them are well drawn, but you'll want to use only a couple next time, adding too many tends to cause an artificial look.
Branches: The ellipses you aligned to the minor axis should change degree according to their position. It is indicated in the exercise instructions: https://drawabox.com/lesson/3/2/exercisebranches
Remember how in the funnel exercise, the ellipses looked skinnier or fatter with respect to their distance from the center? That change I mean, you should apply it here too.
Sample: https://d15v304a6xpq4b.cloudfront.net/lesson_images/26427b90.jpg
On the other hand, it's great how few "tails" look on the branches. You are correctly superimposing each stroke over the previous one, and it makes everything look very fluid.
It's equally good that you practiced adding additional branches, but we can rectify something: when adding things to a base object (in this case a branch to the previous one), it's very necessary to think about the connection and relationship of these.
In this case you have skipped a step that ensured that connection.
https://d15v304a6xpq4b.cloudfront.net/lesson_images/91b66ca0.jpg
Look at this diagram. You will see how before adding that ball and the additional branch, a section with two ellipses is created.
You forgot to create that section, which was used to measure the size of the ball, and it was too wide and looks disconnected from the base branch.
You have to try to follow all the necessary steps, and in this way we avoid that the final drawing looks irregular.
Drawings of plants:
It would have been great to see more variety. I know you repeated several plants to correct them, but applying those corrections in different contexts is usually more effective.
This way your brain starts to see the errors at different angles.
I can see that the leaf structure here is a little softer than in your dedicated exercise. You may feel a little insecure drawing them in a larger context. When drawing each leaf or petal on a plant, avoid getting overwhelmed thinking about the details of the whole plant.
By the way, if you mark the flow of your leaf with a line, try to make the edge of the leaf end exactly on that line (or that little arrow). That way all your leaves stay aligned and you keep them from losing their direction.
I will also recommend you to apply line weight; even if the leaves and petals are well drawn it is easy to confuse one over the other; by applying line weight on the leaves that are in front of the others, you give more difference and clarity to the drawing.
Everything mentioned about the lines and exercises above is highlighted in these plants, since it is the combination of all that. Improving on them, they improve your plants just as much.
** I am going to leave you some homework; take the time to read this review, and then do it at your own pace.
Next Steps:
*try to take into account and correct what appears in the critique.
Draw:
Hello there chayota thanks for the critique I appreciate it. So anyways here is the 3 plant construction drawings I hope you like them :)
Greetings again!
Great job with the corrections, I like the variety in these plants.
Intersections, strokes and construction look well worked in these drawings.
Remember to practice these things sometimes in your warm ups.
You can move on to the next lesson
This is a remarkable little pen. I'm especially fond of this one for sketching and playing around with, and it's what I used for the notorious "Mr. Monkey Business" video from Lesson 0. It's incredibly difficult to draw with (especially at first) due to how much your stroke varies based on how much pressure you apply, and how you use it - but at the same time despite this frustration, it's also incredibly fun.
Moreover, due to the challenge of its use, it teaches you a lot about the nuances of one's stroke. These are the kinds of skills that one can carry over to standard felt tip pens, as well as to digital media. Really great for doodling and just enjoying yourself.
I would not recommend this for Drawabox - we use brush pens for filling in shadow shapes, and you do not need a pen this fancy for that. If you do purchase it, save it for drawing outside of the course.
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