Can we apply some of the techniques that we learned from lessons 1 and 2 when constructing plants? For instance, adding line weight to overlapping forms, or thickening the silhouette?
Many thanks.
Yup, the lessons build on top of one another. As long as it doesn't contradict the specific instructions of a given exercise/assignment, you can and should be using techniques taught in previous lessons as you continue to move forwards.
Thanks for the reply.
I see now. Although, I would like to clarify a few things if possible. I hope you don't mind answering.
In the Arrows exercise, we use hatching lines for shading at the bends. I just tried this same technique for leaves, but for some reason, it doesn't end up having much of a sense of believability to it. https://imgur.com/YHa1v3Z
Also, I know you said in Lesson 3 (and in previous lessons) that we should only be using contour lines when necessary and not to use an excessive number of them. In particular, leaves in real life sometimes have those visible contour lines that aren't misaligned. Would you like us to draw them aligned to each other for the purposes of applying construction (analogous to the symmetrical contour lines in organic forms), or should we draw them based on how they look in real life? https://imgur.com/Ho2K3fq
In addition, is this what you're talking about when you say not to use excessive contour lines? https://imgur.com/F51LFWn
If you say that having a bunch of these lines are not necessary, then I'm not sure how else I can simplify it without making it lose its believability of that specific leaf. Is there a specific technique at all that we should use to simplify it effectively?
The hatching on your leaves entirely neglects the curvature of the leaf itself - they're just straight lines, being drawn across a somewhat curving surface, so the hatching is flattening it out.
The lines you see on real leaves are veins - that's an actual texture, and therefore if you want to try and capture them, then you would be doing so using textural techniques as described back in lesson 2 (capturing the shadows they cast to imply the presence of those textural forms, not just drawing them as simple lines). Otherwise, for now, you can just focus on them behaving as simple contour lines. Leaves are probably the only place where you can get away with adding a bunch.
As to your last image, no - each of those lines define the 'flow' of the individual, smaller leaf form, and therefore they each serve a clear purpose. They are not extraneous in any way. There you're following the same principles laid out in the correct form of this section.
All that matters is that you weigh whether or not the mark you're looking to draw serves a purpose within your drawing that has not yet been accomplished by any other. If it does, then draw it. If it does not, don't. The planning phase of the ghosting method is ideal for determining whether or not the mark is necessary.
It makes more sense. I'll keep these things into consideration.
Thanks for your help. I appreciate your time.
Michael Hampton is one of my favourite figure drawing teachers, specifically because of how he approaches things from a basis of structure, which as you have probably noted from Drawabox, is a big priority for me. Gesture however is the opposite of structure however - they both exist at opposite ends of a spectrum, where structure promotes solidity and structure (and can on its own result in stiffness and rigidity), gesture focuses on motion and fluidity, which can result in things that are ephemeral, not quite feeling solid and stable.
With structure and spatial reasoning in his very bones, he still provides an excellent exploration of gesture, but in a visual language in something that we here appreciate greatly, and that's not something you can find everywhere.
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