Lesson 6: Applying Construction to Everyday Objects
3:09 AM, Sunday November 1st 2020
Image references: https://imgur.com/gallery/vLvyhnL
Image references: https://imgur.com/gallery/vLvyhnL
Starting with your form intersections, these are looking pretty good, with just a couple minor points to mention:
I am seeing clear signs that you're applying the ghosting method (especially in the planning of your marks), but there is still some hesitation in your linework. Make sure that when your pen touches the page, that you focus on nothing other than executing the mark with confidence, free from fear of making a mistake. Mistakes may happen, but at this point that is no longer a concern of yours - you push through, and let the cards fall where they may.
Some of your intersection lines looked a little confusing at times because it appears that you may have been selectively drawing them on the backside of forms (in cases where they wouldn't normally be visible to the viewer). This wasn't entirely consistent, but even if it had been, this is one case where I'd argue not to draw through those intersections and instead to focus just on the parts that would be visible to the viewer, simply to help us keep them clearer in our heads.
Moving onto your object constructions, I am honestly very pleased with your results. You've shown a great deal of care and patience in applying the techniques covered in the lesson, and went to great lengths to subdivide your containers as much as is needed to establish some of the more nuanced, subtler elements of a given construction. This resulted in objects that felt quite solid and three dimensional, and whose edges were well defined in specific terms, rather than relying on looser relationships.
I was especially pleased with cases like this mug's handle where you did an excellent job of building it out in very specific terms, and pinning down the form with a blocky, boxy structure before finishing it up with rounding out some of the corners. My only complaint there is that you didn't place a second ellipse inset within the opening of the mug to give it a "rim", but all in all this is a minor issue at best.
While this soap dispenser came out fairly solid overall, the top ellipse of the main body definitely came out a little distorted, causing it to appear more angled/skewed rather than flat. That body does come off a little strange upon closer inspection, with the sides suggesting that it's a more pinched shape, but the top and bottom suggesting a more even ellipse. Adding some vertical lines along its length might help to have the elliptical shape continue through, providing it with a little more structural support.
Aside from those points, your work here is coming along great. I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete.
Next Steps:
Feel free to move onto the 25 wheel challenge, which is a prerequisite for lesson 7.
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.
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