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2:08 AM, Tuesday April 27th 2021

In my original critique, and in the subsequent feedback you received after your previous round of revisions, I called out the fact that your head constructions tended to feature eye sockets that floated loosely, instead of being tightly integrated with the rest of the structure as shown here. I pointed you to that explanation/diagram each time, but the issue still seems to be present.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of that. What is demonstrated in that diagram is a fairly straightforward step by step process. So first, let's tackle that directly. The first thing I'm going to ask you to do is to do a direct copy of the head construction diagram linked above. This is the process I want you to try to apply to each and every one of your animal constructions. While it may not fit perfectly to something like a shark (that wasn't really a big concern, your shark was fine), but the core concepts there of making sure everything fits together tightly, creating a three dimensional puzzle, is very important.

The other point to look at is how you're drawing your additional masses. As shown here, the masses along the legs are actually coming along pretty well. For all intents and purposes, their silhouettes are designed much more intentionally and purposefully, taking into consideration where they're making contact with another structure, and where they're not.

The big mass on the back however is a lot more erratic. As I marked out there, there are a lot of arbitrary inward/outward curves that don't respond directly to the existing structure in the way that those on the legs did. That is definitely something to work on - you're clearly able to do it correctly, but it comes down to being more purposeful in what it is you try to do.

As shown here, it's also important to try to get your pieces to wedge together, rather than having them stand separately. It's the exact same thing we talk about with head construction - elements that float more loosely aren't going to feel as solid and three dimensional. But the more relationships you can create between the given pieces (where appropriate of course), the more solid the construction remains. So creating a ball form at the shoulder then allows you to wrap that mass along the back around it, creating more sturdy relationships, as it also wraps around the torso/neck.

So, once again, I'm going to ask you to review the previous critiques you've received in this lesson (and hell, the ones for lesson 4 as well), and then complete the revisions assigned below. You are making progress, but it's very clear that there are areas where you're either just forgetting by the time you reach the drawing stage, or you're just not allowing yourself to apply what you know as intentionally and purposefully as you can.

Next Steps:

Please submit the following:

  • A draw-along with the head construction demo

  • 2 additional animal constructions, taking them as far as you reasonably can with construction, but not getting into any textural detail.

And let me tell you, if you've got floating eye sockets on those two animals, we're gonna have words, you and I.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
2:40 PM, Tuesday April 27th 2021

I've actually drawn that demo multiple times and did it again after the last critique. I guess I didn't realize I was required to follow that exact formula for my other constructions. I have to say I don't really understand how to apply it to other animals (i.e. sea horse, shark, or even a bird) since their facial makeup doesn't always fit together that way; at least in my head (i.e. eye socket doesn't butt up against a muzzle).

I think it's probably a case of me forgetting since I did these over a longer period of time in addition to all the other drawing I'm doing whereas normally I would knock them out closer together in a shorter period of time. I'll try to be more actively aware of what I need to focus on.

5:14 PM, Tuesday April 27th 2021

One thing to keep in mind with all construction is that this course is always looking back at the same problem of basic construction using forms. Whether it's a table or a house or a car or a dog, we're really just looking at how we can take what we see and break it down into simple forms, that can then have the relationships between them defined in 3D space.

Knowing certain things about an animal's underlying body - like the fact that eye sockets exist - simply gives us one way of looking at how to break down the body. But we don't need to stress over exactly where the eye socket exists relative to the beak on a bird, because we're not concerned with their underlying anatomy. It's just one way we can approach the simplification of the complex structure.

One day you may take a course on actual animal anatomy, but at that point what you'll have learned from here will have been distilled only into the understanding of how the things you draw exist in 3D space, and how they relate to one another within it to create something believably three dimensional.

Long story short - don't get too caught up in what the animal's actual skull looks like. We're just looking for excuses to wedge our forms up against one another.

6:40 PM, Tuesday April 27th 2021

So does that mean it's key to wedge forms against each other even on the face?

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