Here is my first lesson submission and I learned a lot from it. These exercises are such great drills and I know consistently practicing this stuff is going to vastly improve my drawing skills. Many thanks to all the artists who have contributed to making these lessons and creating this platform, it is such a great resource!
Congrats on finishing lesson 1!
Your superimposed lines have quite a few wobbles. Remember, confidence always matters more than accuracy. It's alright if your lines don't perfectly overlap, as long as they are straight. The same principle applies to your ghosted lines and planes, and on your ghosted planes I also notice there are a few lines which you drew twice. You should never draw a line more than once, even if you make a mistake.
Your ellipses are quite wobbly as well, especially in the planes. I suspect you might have been worrying too much about whether the ellipses fit perfectly in the plane. While it is something you should aim for, confidence again is far more important.
Your perspective exercises are well done. Remember to treat your hatching the same way that you would a ghosted line. There are also a few cases in your rough perspective and rotated boxes when you tried to correct your lines, which is never something you should do, even when you make a mistake. You made a good attempt at rotated boxes, though the boxes along the edges aren't rotating back into space as much as they should. Your organic perspective has a lot of convergence errors, but those will be ironed out with practice.
Next Steps:
Well done! Before moving on I will request one more page of ellipses in planes. Remember to prioritize having confident ellipses over having perfectly placed ones.
Ellipses in Planes Exercise redo: https://imgur.com/Tze8Mml
The ellipses are still quite wobbly. I think this is partly because some of the planes were really big and distorted, which might make you a bit less confident as you're worried more about the placement. Remember, the point is to get smooth ellipses and to get you used to keeping them smooth when you have to put them in a plane.
Next Steps:
Do one more page of ellipses in planes, but keep the planes really simple, and for this page don't worry about whether the ellipse fits in the plane at all - just treat the plane as a general area where it should sit. Remember, really focus on getting your ellipses smooth. It could help to ghost a bit more as well, to make sure you're confident when you make the mark.
I'm on new meds that have been making my hands shake badly. This started happening about 3 days ago. Here are my before and after attmempts. I am shaking again as I type this :( Very frustrating but maybe I will get used to the meds in about a week. Either way, I have been doing these as warmups before drawing everyday so I hopefully these meds get adjusted soon because it is really hindering my drawing and hand/eye cordination. https://imgur.com/a/nY5Kgmh
I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully they get adjusted soon.
I can see you've gotten much more confident with your ellipses. The second page has smoother ellipses than the first, though it understandably has a few that deviate in shape. There's not much else to say - your ellipses will improve further with practice.
Next Steps:
Your next step should be the 250 box challenge
Thanks for critiquing my work. I do appreciate it and I agreed with all the critiques you gave me as I was making the lines. I would draw an ellipse and the shaking would get worse and I would be like, "dang. I know I can HAVE BEEN able to do sooooo much better than this."
It is not fun to lose control in this way but I am thinking that if I do these as warmups everyday, maybe I can adjust to the shaking the same way I adjusted to being able to sketch in moving vehicles.
I have been drawing for over 16 years and I have always felt confident in my line quality, up until this week that is, because of this meds switch. It has been incredibly discouraging but I am figuring it out.
I'm mostly judgemental to myself because I have an Illustration degree, a Graphic Design degree, and 5 classes left until I earn my BFA in Visual Communication, so I've been at this for a while. It just makes me a bit nervous that it could become an issue in furthering my career if it continues, but I am hopeful that it will just be a matter of adjusting to the medications. Practice will help for sure.
Thanks again!
congrats getting though lesson 1. i am also just getting started. while not an expert it looks to me like you have a bit of wobble in your lines, likely means moving too slow and trying to be too careful. especially on some of the ellipses, looks like you are thinkthing as you go and targetting points rather than making a smooth faster free motion. best of luck on the 250
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.
