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2:58 AM, Friday August 12th 2022
o7 BowTieBuck here:
General feedback:
1) I notice you write down the times beside each drawing. This is not a bad thing. However, make sure to remember that drawing fast is not a requisite of drawabox or drawing in general (within reason).
2) It is all right to attempt the same drawing multiple times and to present whichever best follows constructional processes. But please only post the one per insect as I can only give feedback on one. For the rest of this post I will be referring to the final drawing.
2a) Keep that final drawing on it's own page and make it large enough to see the interactions of the shapes.
3) Please stick to one colour pen (either blue or black), red pen is somewhat more difficult to make out.
4) You should clarify your forms by darkening overlapping edges so that it is clear to the viewer what overlies what.
5) I notice you keep noting that the 'proportions are bad'. Remember that accuracy comes with experience and while accuracy is important, the purpose of these exercises is to develop a sense of three dimensions and to act confidently. Don't worry about proportions, they can be fixed with iterations.
6) Please refrain from adding crosshatching to the intersections, especially those that are not part of the surface of the insect, it discredits your illusion and I fail to see it's purpose.
7) You seem to freely use contour ellipses, sometimes without thinking about their purpose. For example, your wings often have curved ellipses when in reality wings are relatively flat. Additionally, you like to use them on the legs, but this just adds contrast to the legs in an unwarranted fashion. Try to look for natural contours (like the joints) to describe the surface details of an object, rather than adding contour curves.
Sausages:
1) Drawing circles at each cap takes away from their sense of three dimensions, even with cross hatching. The back circle always feels like it is floating in space.
2) There are instances where the sausage does not bend with the minor axis curve (the C shaped curve at the center of each sausage). For examples: Page 1 - #2, 6. Page 2 - #5, 8, 13, 15. These are the core of each sausage, which has a sphere on each end and is connected by a bending cylinder. In the aforementioned sausages the cylinders do not bend with the minor axis curves. This also discredits your sense of three dimensions.
Wasp
1) Contours and hatching can help clarify the three dimensional structure, but if appears you are using it incorrectly. Try looking for natural contours that you can add. For example,
1a) The contour curves on the legs clutter the legs and are too small to demonstrate volume. Instead of adding contour curves on the legs at the middle, clarify the shape of the joints to demonstrate contour of the legs.
1b) The wings should not have curved contour lines, they are flat and so their contours are flat.
1c) The crosshatching at the base of the head is unnecessary because that part of the head is inside and therefore not visible. It makes for a good contour ellipse but discredits the shape with the crosshatching.
1d) The abdomen's contour curves should bend back more. Remember these are not lines but partial ellipses to demonstrate how the surface of a thing exists in space.
2) The elements often do not adhere to your previous constructional decisions.
2a) You are onto the correct idea with drawing flowing curves to show the leg trajectories. Make sure the tips of these lines meet the tips of the limbs, even if it is stretched.
2b) The bee's left (our right) wing was re-drawn as evidenced by the ellipse tilted just below it.
Louse
1) Crosshatching misuse. It flattens the drawing because the lines imply that the contour is flat.
2) Your limbs appear to be drawn like the branches from lesson 4. While this is a preference, I strongly reccomend sausage forms because they are flexible compared to cylinders, meaning there is more potential for flow.
3) I like that you used up the full page for this. It is important to take risks and running out a page is fine (though a shame. I've been there too).
4) Like with the wasp, the liberal use of contour ellipses on the legs clutter the drawing and draw the viewer's attention
Spider
1) Looking better, excellent use of the paper to stretch the drawing and show the details. Because we are looking at the bottom of the spider, it warrants adding some detail how the legs attach to the spider. At the moment they phase into the body.
2) The outline of the abdomen is unclear.
Fly
1) Wings are flat, not round. Do not add contour lines freely or without thinking about the surface of the thing you are drawing.
Next Steps:
Please draw two more insects:
-
Without crosshatching
-
Focusing on the leg intersections instead of adding contour curves
-
In black or blue ink
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