Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids

11:42 AM, Monday August 23rd 2021

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So far lesson 4 is finished! I tried to correct the mistakes made in lesson 3 (mostly making shadows implicit), and this time I included 2 insect from demos.

2 users agree
1:52 AM, Monday September 6th 2021

Hello DECEPE, feedback for Lesson 4.

Organic forms with contour curve.

Well done - The linework looks confident, and the contour curves are changing degree really well. Some of the sausages expand a bit too much in the waistline, but most of those are on Page 1; the Page 2 sausages are keeping closer with Uncomfy's prescribed sausage drawing method (ie. two spheres at each end joined by a tube of consistent diameter, ref here). Continue to practice drawing sausages of consistent diameter and spherical ends (you can do that as warmups), but otherwise, great work here!

Insect drawings.

Solid work overall. I think your insects demonstrate all the main points that Uncomfy wants us to take away from this lesson: starting with strong base forms, piling forms on top of them while respecting all the previous linework you did. I can see that you've been using all the techniques used from the previous lessons in these drawings... great work!

Some details to keep in mind for L5 (since it's just more of L4 but with endoskeletons):

  • It's only on the mantidfly (page 2/4), but definitely avoid "subtractive construction", cutting into an existing form you drew. (Uncomfy's explanation.) I don't see this in the later insects, so keep on using additive construction moving forward.

  • For the weevil's legs on page 5/6, you've drawn a flat sphere/circle over the sausage, and then drew over it with an outline. This is unfortunately not construction since the circle is a 2-d form and doesn't acknowledge the 3-dimensionality of the sausage form,. The proper construction would be drawing the swelling leg as an enclosed mass wrapping around the length of the leg form (like a bun around a hotdog sausage). The weevil legs happen to be the most obvious example of this; I see the same thing in the other insect legs, where the small swells of the legs are drawn as shapes/outlines instead of discrete masses on top of the leg sausages. So keep in mind that all forms must be 3-d masses, not outlines or shapes, no matter how small they are!

  • It's a bit hard to see in the drawings, so I might be wrong about this point. But it appears that you're drawing some forms lightly at first while constructing, and then going over outlines with a heavier lineweight to emphasize silhouette and make the drawing look more "finished". I learned recently that Uncomfy discourages this practice: instead he suggests to maintain a consistent lineweight across all lines, and the only time to add lineweight is at an intersection of two lines/forms, to show which form is in front of the other. So perhaps try to maintain consistent lineweight throughout the construction: no "draft" lines and "finalized" lines.

  • The only shadows you want to draw are cast shadows. Some of the shading is going into form shadow territory, eg. both insects on pages 4/6 and 5/6; and tiger butterfly.

Overall, you've done a great job with these insects, your drawings demonstrate that you understand the purpose of this lesson. Keep up the good work for L5.

Next Steps:

Lesson 5 is next.

This community member feels the lesson should be marked as complete, and 2 others agree. The student has earned their completion badge for this lesson and should feel confident in moving onto the next lesson.
8:30 AM, Monday September 6th 2021

Hi Vega! First, thanks for checking my work. I wanted to ask you if you have any example of the legs construction to get the swelling correctly. About the ink part, I'll be careful next time.

Thanks again!

1:26 AM, Tuesday September 7th 2021
edited at 1:30 AM, Sep 7th 2021

Hey DECEPE,

I don't have direct examples of insect drawings, but these are some images that Uncomfy referenced when he critiqued the wrapping forms in my L5 homework:

https://imgur.com/6WgR3yU (sphere wrapping around a cylinder - same principle as L2 form intersections)

https://imgur.com/IINKdQA (sphere wrapping around a box)

https://imgur.com/8O2RTcT (the rest are examples of leg forms)

https://imgur.com/t6oz7Tv

https://imgur.com/97hS0XF

I had a look at my own L4 homework and I think it's OK to draw leg masses like you did for the weevil at this stage. ^.^;; But having read a bunch of L5 official critique and gotten crit on my L5, wrapping masses around leg sausages is something that Uncomfy points out a lot. I've noticed that the drawing method he recommends is a call back to L2 form intersections.

Hope this helps, good luck with L5.

edited at 1:30 AM, Sep 7th 2021
8:08 AM, Tuesday September 7th 2021

Thanks again Vega, it's really useful!

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