2 users agree
9:01 AM, Saturday September 2nd 2023
edited at 1:59 PM, Sep 2nd 2023

Hi Marelix2! I'm Tonygotcakes and I'll give feedback on your submission based on my understanding of this lesson and using official critiques as a framework:

1) Organic Arrows:

The arrows flows and bends nicely and the overall confident mark-making enhances this fluidity even more. You do hatching on proper sides of an arrow for the most part except for the arrow at the bottom right corner. For the bottom middle arrow, the negative space between each fold is a bit consistent whereas there should be a noticeable change in magnitude every time the arrow makes a swing. For the top right corner arrow, the change in arrow size is not consistent, which undermines the illusion of depth for this arrow.

2) Leaves:

You follow the instruction for this exercise closely and the result is coming along pretty nicely as each leaf curls and flows fluidly through space. Edge details are carefully thought out instead of zigzaging aimlessly and you add additive details for your leaves except for the leaf at the top left corner and one leaf in the middle to which you create edge details subtractively. You should avoid working subtractively or cut back into the original form whenever possible. I think you are heading towards the proper direction for leaf texture as you imply the presence of veins by adding cast shadow instead of outlining the shape of veins. You may have overdone it with one leaf at the top right corner but other leaves look overally good.

As a suggestion for future warm-up, you can vary leaf shapes a bit more instead of always going for ovate leaf shape and try out more complex leaf structure such as this one.

3) Branches:

You have done a solid job adhering to step 2 & 3 of the branch construction method and keeping most ellipses aligning with the flow line. However, make sure you draw an ellipse in 2-3 rounds as per instructions in lesson 1 because sometimes you stop at one and a half round. One factor of ellipses stays the same when it needs to change and another factor is changing when it doesn't need to. The most apparent example of this is the branch at the bottom right corner. There should be a degree shift for your ellipses but it remain consistent in your branch construction. On the other hand, the branch should have consistent thickness instead of tapering on one end, meaning the size of each ellipse should remain the same throughout the branch instead of getting progressively smaller. Besides that, the entire construction should encompass the flow line instead of leaving an "arrow tail" poking out like some branches on the left. Doing so will sell the solidity of your branch construction better.

4) Constructions:

Overall you have done a nice job applying every tool and method introduced in this lesson for your plant constructions. I do have few things to point out from your constructions. Some are what I already mentioned, some are new:

4.1) Branch construction

You don't draw ellipses in 2-3 rounds (1 round + 1-2 extra round over) as some of them stop in one round. You can see this mistake in the branches of page 5. For the branch of page 5, it's better to cut the branch short instead of going off the page because it will undermine the solidity of your construction, so make sure to always close them, or cap branch structures with an ellipse. When drawing forking branches, the ball at the fork must have bigger size than the branch itself since it is an additional mass sitting on top. In page 7, ellipses situated at the ball should align with the flow line instead of slanting left and right.

4.2) Leaf/petal construction

In page 5, you are skipping constructional steps when drawing the leaves. An entire leaf is composed of multiple smaller leaves. Therefore, you should start constructing these smaller leaves with their own flow line. In page 1, you don't follow step 2 properly when applying leaf construction method to the petals. The length of the petals can only reach as far as the flow line (see this image) whereas in your construction they extend further than that. As the page said: "Don't treat that line like some kind of a suggestion - it is a rule. Build your leaf around it." The flow line sets up the limit on how long a petal should be and you should adhere to that rule when drawing. You make the same mistake in other flowers except for the final page.

4.3) Floating form

In page 5, you don't show the connection between the branches and the hanging fruits. You can see the connection I mention of in this image where he adds an intersection between the cylinder of the branch and the sphere of the fruit. The same image also shows how he hooks the contour curves around the fruit. If you refer back to Lesson 2's organic form, not hooking your form is a mistake that you should avoid. In page 1, you are also missing the same connection between the branch and the base of the flower (see this image).

4.4) Minor mistakes

  • In page 2, you should avoid blacking out the small bulbs at the top.

  • In page 8, you are missing a contour around the bulbs that shows their spherical volume similar to this example.

This wraps up my critique on your submission. Feel free to ask questions if you have any and I will try my best to answer them.

Next Steps:

1 page of Branches exercise

  • Half of them should have forking branches

  • Try to avoid all the mistakes I mention in section 3 and section 4.1 when doing the revision

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
edited at 1:59 PM, Sep 2nd 2023
6:25 PM, Friday September 22nd 2023
edited at 6:28 PM, Sep 22nd 2023

https://imgur.com/a/k3CeQhO

At the moment, when I look at it, the shorter the gap between two circles, the better it looks. I think I should have placed more circles around the sharper curves. Anyway, that's my assignment.

edited at 6:28 PM, Sep 22nd 2023
1:28 PM, Saturday September 23rd 2023

Regarding what you said, you should keep the number of ellipses minimal. Afterall, we do the exercises to practice, not to produce nice result. Breaking up the branch into many ellipses will make it easier to draw for sure but in exchange you miss out on a chance to practice (1) drawing longer lines and (2) connecting them seamlessly.

Moving on to your revision, there are a couple of things I want to point out. They will be color-coded in this image:

  • Blue: Ellipses' degree is too consistent. Just like the Organic sausage exercise in Lesson 2, you should always keep degree shift in mind. As he demonstrates in this video, the ellipse closest to the viewer will be narrowest and it becomes wider as it travels to either side.

  • Red: You don't follow step 2 properly for some branches. In the image above, your lines do not extend to the half-way point but end earlier.

  • Orange: The flow line curves abruptly in your branch. This is not necessarily a mistake but it will make the exercise a bit more challenging as the flow line is a bit wobbly in branch 4 and later on it will be harder to draw the edge because the curve is sharp. In branch 3 you don't align the ellipse well with the flow line as well.

That's everything I want to cover. Don't forget to add L3's exercises into your warm-up pool to practice regularly!

Next Steps:

  • Lesson 4

  • Add Lesson 3's exercises into the warm-up pool

This community member feels the lesson should be marked as complete, and 2 others agree. The student has earned their completion badge for this lesson and should feel confident in moving onto the next lesson.
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