Lesson 3: Applying Construction to Plants

12:53 AM, Tuesday February 4th 2020

Lesson 3 plants - Album on Imgur

Direct Link: https://i.imgur.com/XsRFNfr.jpg

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My lesson 3 homework! sorry for the quality once again, I wasnt sure if I also had to add details to the pots and containers these plants were in, id be fine to go back and add those details if needed (my arm just got a little sore after these drawings and I didn't think theyd be important enough to finish in this lessons)

it was a bit nerve wracking starting this lesson but I found it a bit enjoyable after a while!

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12:31 AM, Wednesday February 5th 2020

This is largely quite well done.

Starting with your arrows, you're demonstrating an excellent fluidity to them as they move across the page. There are definitely some places however where as the arrows move farther back into space, the space between the zigzagging sections doesn't compress enough with perspective, making them feel more like they're gliding closer to the surface of the page rather than delving into the depths of space. Keep in mind that perspective applies to both positive and negative space.

Your leaves are largely well done. They flow reasonably well, carrying over much of that energy from the arrows exercise, and you've done a good job of adhering to the previous phase of construction - that is, treating the simpler leaf shape as a scaffolding when adding additional edge detail. You definitely are treating the vein texture on the leaves somewhat incorrectly though - you're drawing them as lines, though back in lesson 2 we discussed how every single mark that exists as part of a texture is a shadow shape being cast by a little textural form (like the veins themselves). Don't forget this.

In fact, I recommend that you go back and read that section again, as it has been rewritten along with the whole website update. I've included several new videos (which are short, thankfully) that explore the concepts a little better than before.

Your branches are generally looking good, except in some cases the visible 'tails' at the end of your segments fly way off course. It's normal to have them diverge a little, but some get rather extreme. One thing that may help is getting used to using that last chunk of the previous segment as a runway for the next one, overlapping it directly with the following stroke before shooting off towards its next target.

Moving onto your plant constructions, you're demonstrating a generally good use of construction and form, and for the most part you're following the instructions quite well. I'm also quite pleased with additional elements like the potted plant's actual pot. These don't need to be detailed, but we do need to be mindful of the various aspects of their construction - like the various ellipses that make up its rim, giving it a sense of thickness. You've done this quite well. For the future though, keep in mind that all cylinders should be constructed around a central minor axis line, which helps keep the ellipses aligned correctly to one another.

Another minor issue on the potted plant is that with some of the rippling edge detail on the leaves, you start to zigzag your lines. I address this issue here.

Now, texture is the only area where you definitely need work, though it is not the main focus of this course. I think that the new content on that topic clarify a number of issues however - for example, how you tried to use shading on this rose. I address that specifically in this new section and video.

The only one that stands out as being particularly odd to me is how you tackled the leaves on the bonsai tree at the end. You drew a bunch of little clusters of lines all over, which was an interesting idea, but it does go against the principle that lines technically do not exist in the world. Everything is a form - and we either draw forms constructionally (by outlining them entirely, drawing through them, using contour lines, etc.) or we capture them by drawing the shadows they cast on their surroundings. In this case, we'd be using the shadows cast by clusters of leaves, creating various shadow shapes on the surface of the larger leaf-mass. Generally you should be avoiding this kind of use of independent lines - even when tackling fur later on, as explained here. I'm linking this here now because of how to capture the fur, which we know exists in little strands, we're actually creating clusters and interesting shapes.

Anyway, all in all you're doing a good job. I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete.

Next Steps:

Move onto lesson 4.

This critique marks this lesson as complete.
3:53 PM, Wednesday February 5th 2020

hi uncomfortable, thanks for the critique as always!

yeah textures in general and how the lighting works (making it go from dense to spare and such) is still super difficult and i dont really understand it well so ill definitely go back and try to absorb the new material.

I did feel like I was doing something wrong with the bonsai as i was kinda just placing lines kinda chicken scratchy, but i went half way so i decided to just go ahead and finish it haha. My thought process was just to try and convey the little spikey leave bits in clusters somehow but I was afraid i wouldnt be able to convey the shape properly somehow if I just relied on shadows? (im not sure what i was doing exactly to be honest lol) but thanks for helping out with that i'll keep it in mind moving fowards :)

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The Science of Deciding What You Should Draw

The Science of Deciding What You Should Draw

Right from when students hit the 50% rule early on in Lesson 0, they ask the same question - "What am I supposed to draw?"

It's not magic. We're made to think that when someone just whips off interesting things to draw, that they're gifted in a way that we are not. The problem isn't that we don't have ideas - it's that the ideas we have are so vague, they feel like nothing at all. In this course, we're going to look at how we can explore, pursue, and develop those fuzzy notions into something more concrete.

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