View Full Submission View Parent Comment
12:38 PM, Sunday December 31st 2023

Hello Eduardo, thank you for replying with your revisions.

"P.S.: Loved your cow abduction drawing!"

Thank you! It is great to see that you took some time away from your studies to participate in the promptathon.

General Approach

I do see the improvement in your observations here, particularly in your wolf construction. It is something you'll have to keep reminding yourself about, until it becomes a habit to observe the reference before each line you draw.

Using a dot to plan where you want a line or form to go (as introduced in the ghosted lines exercise) can be quite helpful, as having something on the page to aim for can make the ghosting process easier. However, you must still prioritise making a smooth, confident stroke first and foremost, which brings me to the next section.

Core Construction

Some of the larger ellipses for the rib cage and pelvis masses are quite deformed and I think this may be due to prioritising hitting the dots you've placed over executing a smooth ellipse. Deforming your ellipses undermines their solidity, so it is important to prioritise smoothness even if it means the ellipse doesn't quite come out as intended. Remember to engage your whole arm, and that you should rotate your page as needed.

In general, I feel you could stand to review my previous feedback more carefully, as I'm seeing the following:

  • You're drawing the rib cage as a sphere, so it tends to be a little too short. We're aiming to have it occupy roughly half the torso length.

  • The elephant has no neck construction, which was something I specifically corrected for you previously on this frog.

  • You've pinched the middle of the torso sausage on the horse. The elephant and springbok are missing the slight sag in the torso sausage discussed in my previous feedback and in this section of the lesson intro page, which makes these constructions stiff.

Leg Construction

Most of your constructions are missing the shoulder and thigh masses.

Previously I gave you points for remembering them, and advised you to make them larger.

I'm happy to see that you've used ellipses to define how the legs connect to the body in 3D. Right now these connections are very small, and very low down on the body. It looks like you're treating these ellipses as holes to plug the leg into. Instead, think of them as large rounded masses that we use as a simplification of some of the bulky muscles in the shoulder and thigh area that allow the animal to walk. So for most quadrupeds they should be larger, and attached to the sides of the body.

I also demonstrated this on your springbok here.

The blue ellipses represent the large shoulder and thigh masses discussed earlier. The shoulder and thigh masses provide very helpful structures for anchoring additional masses to the construction. You can see this in action with the two additional masses on top of the back.

I would like you to construct shoulder and thigh masses, using ellipses as shown in my draw-over. You can find an additional explanation of this in the wolf demo in case you missed it. If something about this is confusing to you, let me know and I will find another way to explain it.

Your leg forms are getting closer to simple sausages, good work. There are cases where they are a little stiff, particularly where you allow them to continually swell through their midsection like an ellipse. Focus on keeping their width consistent along their length, and study your reference for opportunities to include a subtle curvature to your limb segments, even if it is not obvious.

The majority of your feet seem to be drawn using partial shapes. Remember we want to draw complete new forms with their own fully enclosed silhouettes wherever we build on our constructions.

Here are visual examples of the above points applied to your horse.

Additional Masses

I can see you've taken strides towards building your constructions in 3D by drawing complete forms to build on your constructions rather than working with individual lines (aside from the previously mentioned feet, and the neck of the elephant and wolf) so things are definitely heading in the right direction here.

When it comes to how we design these additional masses, I have a couple of points to bring up that should help you to reinforce the 3D illusion more effectively.

  • There's a general tendency for some of your additional masses to have a very minimal overlap with the underlying structures, with the silhouette of the additional mass running almost parallel to that of the form it is attached to. This can make the form feel flimsily attached, like it might wobble off if the animal were to move. This is particularly prominent where you have a single mass running over a long distances, try keeping your masses more limited in scope, so each one can achieve a specific purpose. Think about how you might wrap the additional mass around the underlying structures to give it a firmer grip.

  • Think back to this diagram I shared with you previously, how when masses first as they exist on their own, in the void, as a ball of soft meat. Here they have no complexity, being made up only of outward curves with no corners or inward curves to their silhouettes. This means that where your masses are exposed to fresh air they should remain simple. There are some places where you're pushing inward curves into your additional masses where they are exposed to fresh air and there is nothing present in the construction to cause such complexity. This unexplained complexity will make the masses appear flatter. I've pointed to one such example under the neck of the horse and made a diagram to show how if we need to build an inward curve with an additional mass, we can do it by layering multiple masses, allowing each one to stay simpler where it is exposed to fresh air.

  • I'd also redrawn the long mass on top of the back, pulling it down from on top of the spine, around the sides of the body, and pressing it against the top of the thigh.

Head Construction

I'd like you to review the informal head demo and my previous explanation on the key points of this method.

On your elephant you've got the correct pentagonal shape for the eye socket, and on your wolf you've made an effort to wedge the base of the muzzle snugly against the eye sockets, but none of your constructions have both of these elements working together.

I've put together a rebuild of your horse head here.

1- Eye sockets are larger than what you'd used here. Pay attention to the pentagonal shape.

2- Drawing the footprint for the muzzle, the lines curve across the rounded surface of the cranial ball. Notice how it is wedged snugly against a full edge of the eye socket.

3- Next we extrude the muzzle, and start wedging other pieces against the eye sockets, such as the brow ridge/forehead area.

4- We keep building more complete forms to arrive at a construction that represents the animal we're drawing. Here I've added forms for the cheek, chin, eyeball, ears.

You can see the informal head demo being applied to an elephant construction here.

I discourage redoing your constructions several times, as indicated by your comment under the horse construction. Drawing more itself isn't a bad thing on its face, but it's about how it impacts the manner in which we engage with the work. You will always have more opportunities to practice these exercises in your warmups - the quantity we assign is not with the expectation of seeing growth and improvement over the set, but just to judge whether your understanding of what you're meant to be doing with the exercise is correct, or whether it requires clarification. Can't really judge that too well if you're spreading the time, energy, and effort you could have dedicated to a single construction over several attempts. To that end, I suggest you review this video which explains how to get the most out of Drawabox.

Conclusion I'm happy to see that some aspects of your constructions are being more carefully observed, and you're taking more of your actions "in 3D." There are however some fairly substantial points from my previous feedback which have not been applied here- such as shoulder/thigh masses and using the informal head demo method of head construction as requested. If there is something in the feedback provided that is unclear or confusing, you are allowed to ask for clarification. Otherwise, you may want to consider taking further measures to ensure that the feedback is applied. This may mean referring to the feedback more frequently, taking notes in your own words, a combination of the two, or something else entirely.

I will be assigning some further revisions below. I'd like you to continue to stick to only working on one construction on a given day, and making a note of the date(s) and time spent on each one.

Please complete the following:

  • Draw along with the informal head demo following each step exactly as shown, as closely as you can.

  • One stand-alone head construction of your choice, using the method shown in the informal head demo. You can use the rhino, elephant, and horse examples I have shared with you to help.

  • Three additional pages of animal constructions.

Next Steps:

  • Draw along with the informal head demo following each step exactly as shown, as closely as you can.

  • One stand-alone head construction of your choice, using the method shown in the informal head demo. You can use the rhino, elephant, and horse examples I have shared with you to help.

  • Three additional pages of animal constructions.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
9:13 PM, Thursday January 4th 2024

Hi, Dio,

Thank you for pushing me on this one.

Here you can find the revisions: https://imgur.com/a/ygVYaSw. I annotated the images with time spent in imgur.

I would like you to construct shoulder and thigh masses, using ellipses as shown in my draw-over. You can find an additional explanation of this in the wolf demo in case you missed it. If something about this is confusing to you, let me know and I will find another way to explain it.

I tried this approach now. In my second set, I tried to put them as "muscles". In this third set, I think I've improved it and used ellipses to represent the thigh masses. Are they supposed just to be "placeholders"?

The majority of your feet seem to be drawn using partial shapes.

I tried this, but you will notice I still struggle.

Think back to this diagram I shared with you previously, how when masses first as they exist on their own, in the void, as a ball of soft meat.

I tried to make the masses exist on their own and be less flimsily. But, I struggle a lot in this area. Conceptualizing the form wrapping in my head is hard, putting it to ink is harder.

If there is something in the feedback provided that is unclear or confusing, you are allowed to ask for clarification

Your comments are crystal clear. The problem is me. I read the lessons, read your comments, and the amount of information is overwhelming.

I end up focusing in some parts of the technique, rather than the whole thing. Does that make sense? For example, in my first set I tried to focus on the sausages, but almost ignored the head construction and other parts.

Any tips on horn and tail constructions? I feel like they are not good in my constructions. What if I use a similar technique to plants? Create a line for flow, then add small ellipsis and connect everything together.

Draw along with the informal head demo following each step exactly as shown, as closely as you can.

I did this, but I threw it away. I can do it again if it needed uploading.

I'll refrain from self-critique, because I can already see some problems in my constructions (which is good, I'm learning). I'm happier with these constructions, but, please, if you think I need to do more constructions, push me.

Thank you.

1:49 PM, Friday January 5th 2024
edited at 1:54 PM, Jan 5th 2024

Hello Eduardo, thank you for getting back to me with these extra pages.

For future reference, to ensure that TAs can work as efficiently as possible (due to the limited resources with which we run the official critique program) it's best if you either bold or specifically list any questions you may have. Along with increasing our efficiency, it ensures nothing you ask gets missed as a result of being mixed in with other commentary.

Head Construction

Yes, I did intend for you to upload your demo draw along, but if you already threw it out I won't ask you to do it again. The main point is that physically following along with the steps in the demo does seem to have helped you apply the method to your own constructions.

So! On most of these new pages you've done a good job of using the specific pentagonal shape of the eye sockets, and wedging your solid boxy muzzle form snugly against the eye sockets. This is a big improvement, and things are heading in the right direction. Remember we want to use a complete additional form for the cheek, as noted here.

As a fairly minor bonus point. Rather than simply drawing the opening of the eye, it will help you to think in 3D if you first construct the eye ball as a sphere, then build the eye lids as additional forms, as shown here.

Core Construction

This is better. On the whole your ellipses are looking smoother, the rib cage is more correctly proportioned, and you've avoided pinching the middle of your torso sausages. Good work!

Leg Construction

Regarding shoulder and thigh masses:

I tried this approach now. In my second set, I tried to put them as "muscles". In this third set, I think I've improved it and used ellipses to represent the thigh masses. Are they supposed just to be "placeholders"?

I do see what you mean by trying to draw the shoulder muscles on this horse, though on the wolf, bird, and springbok, the leg sausages sprouted from the bottom of the body with no shoulder/thigh construction.

I wouldn't necessarily describe the elliptical shoulder/thigh masses as placeholders, as this implies they will be discarded and replaced at a later stage. What I would describe them as is simplified. The more complex a form is, the more difficult it is for the viewer to understand how it exists in 3D space, so for these constructional exercises we always start with big simple forms, and gradually work our way to smaller elements, building complexity as we go. We can always construct more bumps onto these basic shoulder forms once they are in place, if you are able to observe more specific volumes of the shoulder/thigh muscles in your reference.

It is great to see that you've included the elliptical shoulder and thigh masses in this round of constructions, as it makes it much clearer how the limbs attach to the body, good work.

For feet, I do see you've taken more care to draw them with complete forms, nice work. I appreciate that the lion was particularly tricky as 3 of the feet were obscured in the reference. When this happens, you can always find a supplementary reference of the same species with the feet visible to help you construct them. For the lion's feet, instead of drawing the toes with single lines (which cuts and extends the silhouette of the foot in the 2D space of your paper) try drawing each toe as a complete form, as shown in these notes.

Additional Masses

It is very common for students to struggle in this area, so what you're experiencing is normal, and I do expect to see mistakes. What I am seeing is a great deal of improvement, especially compared to your initial submission, as a little extra guidance and practice seems to be doing the trick.

I've made some edits to your bovine construction of things you can keep in mind when practising these constructions in future.

  • 1- I've marked with blue where the leg had been extended with a one-off line. I think this was just a forgetful moment, as you are otherwise demonstrating a good understanding of how to add complete 3D forms to your constructions. Try to be methodical when working through these exercises, being sure to complete each form before moving on to the next one.

  • 2- Here I'm showing again how we can use the shoulder to help anchor additional masses to the construction. Please see my previous rounds of feedback for a fuller explanation on this.

  • 3- Here you had an additional mass under the chest, to the left of the foreleg, and another one to the right of the foreleg. This isn't necessarily a mistake, per se, but if we look at the reference I think this hanging mass passes between the front legs, so I would draw it as a continuous mass to make it clearer how it exists in space.

  • 4- Remember to avoid pressing an inward curve into the silhouette of an additional mass where it is exposed to fresh air. I've shown how this can be achieved by layering masses instead.

  • 5- By and large you're doing much better at wrapping your additional masses around the underlying structures. This particular mass did seem precariously balanced, so I've given it a bolder overlap with the structures it is attached to.

  • 6- Where your masses overlap, allow them to do so "in 3D" and draw each mass with a complete silhouette. Avoid partially cutting them off where they pass behind one another.

Other

Any tips on horn and tail constructions? I feel like they are not good in my constructions. What if I use a similar technique to plants? Create a line for flow, then add small ellipsis and connect everything together.

Yes, modifying the "branches" exercise from lesson 3 is a good strategy for horns and tails.

Your comments are crystal clear. The problem is me. I read the lessons, read your comments, and the amount of information is overwhelming.

This lesson is difficult, and the information I've been pushing at you is dense. You are not a problem. My statement was included in an effort to make sure you're getting as much support as needed, within the limited scope of this written feedback. Some students simply need a little longer than others to be able to absorb and apply everything.

As I've stated earlier, things are heading in the right direction. I'm confident that your constructions will continue to improve with practice, and that you have the tools that you need to be able to do so independently in your own time. I'll go ahead and mark this as complete, congratulations. Thank you for all your hard work and determination with this lesson, feel free to move on to the 250 Cylinder Challenge, which is your next step in this course.

Next Steps:

250 Cylinder Challenge

This critique marks this lesson as complete.
edited at 1:54 PM, Jan 5th 2024
The recommendation below is an advertisement. Most of the links here are part of Amazon's affiliate program (unless otherwise stated), which helps support this website. It's also more than that - it's a hand-picked recommendation of something we've used ourselves, or know to be of impeccable quality. If you're interested, here is a full list.
Ellipse Master Template

Ellipse Master Template

This recommendation is really just for those of you who've reached lesson 6 and onwards.

I haven't found the actual brand you buy to matter much, so you may want to shop around. This one is a "master" template, which will give you a broad range of ellipse degrees and sizes (this one ranges between 0.25 inches and 1.5 inches), and is a good place to start. You may end up finding that this range limits the kinds of ellipses you draw, forcing you to work within those bounds, but it may still be worth it as full sets of ellipse guides can run you quite a bit more, simply due to the sizes and degrees that need to be covered.

No matter which brand of ellipse guide you decide to pick up, make sure they have little markings for the minor axes.

This website uses cookies. You can read more about what we do with them, read our privacy policy.