Lesson 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction
2:06 PM, Thursday February 2nd 2023
hey!
this lesson was a bit difficult for me, especially dissection.
but, i tried!
thank you for critiques in advance!
Organic Arrows
As arrows get farther away, the space between their segments should also get compressed/smaller
Using hatching “folds” an arrow either towards or away from us - some arrows have hatching which folds the back, smaller part towards us, making them look less 3D
Hatching should go fully across an arrow’s width - I’d also recommend fewer hatching lines, as they convey the same idea with less work
Some arrows are missing line weight, or aren’t capped off at the end
Some arrow’s curves don’t match - this will improve with practice, but rearranging the steps of this lesson (like here https://drawabox.com/lesson/2/4/example) might also help
You’re not afraid to overlap your arrows, which makes them look more 3D, nice work
Most of your arrows’ widths get smaller as they move further away, good job
Organic Forms / Contour Ellipses
Some forms pinch at the middle - it’s something to keep in mind, but as long as you’re aiming for simple organic forms, it shouldn’t be much of an issue
Some contour ellipses don’t align to their organic form’s minor axis/where the minor axis should be
Some ellipses’ degrees don’t change with their form
Most ellipses are drawn through 2-3 times, and are executed confidently, well done
Organic Forms / Contour Lines
Two forms have contour ellipses instead of lines
Some contour lines’ degrees do not vary/turn with their organic form
Your contour lines hook around and reflect the shape of their forms, good work
Texture / General
Each mark should be deliberate and build a specific shadow shape - avoid scribbling/hatching
If a detail is small enough to warrant a single mark, that mark should still be shaped in an intentional way and convey a cast shadow
Texture Analysis
The black and white bars for the texture gradients should be blended into the texture to the point where they’re not clearly visible - try making the transition from dark to light more smooth
For the bottom texture, incorporate the varying rotations found in the texture study into the texture gradient as well
The top and bottom textures have some outlined forms
Dissections
Some textures have fully outlined forms (pangolin scales, snake scales, stones)
Some dissections capture the surface color or form shading of an object (watermelon, chrome/metal) - for these exercises, we want to capture changes in a form's surface, which are things we’d feel running our fingers across an object. Things like watermelon or smooth metal have a lot of color changes, but not so much change on their surface
Some dissections don’t transition smoothly from dense to sparse levels of detail, and some have cast shadows going in inconsistent directions - It may help to picture the light source for each dissection, and then base cast shadows off of it (like in the texture gradient section)
Form Intersections
Your forms are solid and roughly equilateral, good work
Some pages/forms are missing hatching - I’d recommend applying hatching to every form you can in this exercise, as it really helps to keep track of all the stuff on the page
Some forms have hatching on more than one face, which can confuse the viewer’s eye and make things look less 3D
Some line weight is overly heavy, and some linework has wobbles - it’s harder with so much to keep track of, but make sure each line you make is confident and follows the ghosting method
The fourth page has a standalone pyramid
Some cylinders’ ellipses have the same degrees - the back ellipse should have a greater degree than the one in front (see here for more detail on constructing an ellipse https://drawabox.com/lesson/250cylinders/1/degree)
Some intersections on the forms are incorrect, but these aren't the core focus of the exercise, and will improve with practice
Organic Intersections
Some contour lines hook into the poles of the organic forms, which makes them look “torus” or donut shaped instead of simple
Some of the linework wobbles - keep trying to apply the ghosting method
Some cast shadows at the bottom of page 2 act more as outlines, going around the entire form, instead of casting a shadow based on a light source
I’d recommend line weight for clarifying overlaps, as it helps a lot with keeping track of which forms are in front
You've gained a very solid understanding of the concepts Lesson 2 teaches, well done!
Next Steps:
Keep moving forward! Your next steps are:
Add the exercises from Lesson 2 into your pool of warmup exercises
Move on to Lesson 3!
Thank you so much for your critique.
You explained very clearly, thanx soo much.
glad I could help :D
When it comes to technical drawing, there's no one better than Scott Robertson. I regularly use this book as a reference when eyeballing my perspective just won't cut it anymore. Need to figure out exactly how to rotate an object in 3D space? How to project a shape in perspective? Look no further.
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