Lesson 3: Applying Construction to Plants
3:21 PM, Friday May 19th 2023
Feel like I could've done much better on this assignment, oh well.
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4:28 AM, Friday September 1st 2023
Congratulations on getting through lesson 3! It's okay--all these assignments push the limits of what we can do, which is the place of growth. With that in mind, here is some feedback.
Arrows: It seems you are starting to see the idea here. You've got some tapering, and some overlaps. Some arrows have this sort of "river" effect on a few bends, where the edges don't overlap ( https://drawabox.com/lesson/2/4/overlap ). Putting dots down to sort of mark the path of the second line can help you plan it out. Draw the dots before this step ( https://drawabox.com/lesson/2/4/step2 ).
Leaves: You have the idea here! I like to think of leaves sort of like rectangles that can bend, like so: https://imgur.com/a/cQ98k6f
Branches: This one didn't seem to upload.
Plants: It looks like you're drawing through most of these, although the venus fly trap doesn't seem drawn through, except for the planter. I'd try to construct this some more, or maybe pick a plant/view that lends itself to construction.
Overall: Your line/ellipse confidence isn't yet where you're going to want it for clean looking drawings. Make sure you warm up each time you draw, for 3-5 minutes (I like to put one song on youtube and warmup until it's done). Work on frayed lines (both straight and curved), arrows, plus tables of ellipses. The next two lessons will have a LOT of curves and ellipses, including large ellipses that you'll need to draw with confidence.
Next Steps:
You're getting there, but to mark this complete I'd like to see:
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Another page of arrows. I believe that this point you can get them working, but just need a little more practice. (see notes above)
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Branches exercise, which seems to be missing. (I'm guessing you did it, and it didn't upload.)
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One more plant--the venus fly trap seems fairly flat compared to the others.
Beyond that, make sure you warm up each time you draw, for 3-5 minutes (I like to put one song on youtube and warmup until it's done). Work on frayed lines (both straight and curved), arrows, plus tables of ellipses. The next two lessons will have a LOT of curves and ellipses, including large ellipses that you'll need to draw with confidence.
You can do this! Good luck!
4:39 PM, Friday September 1st 2023
Thank you for critiquing my work, here is my branches exercise and the two revisions you requested.
I guess I just... somehow forgot to upload my branches exercise, lol.
1:44 AM, Sunday September 3rd 2023
Fabulous, that's what I was looking for!
(Also, you don't have to do all the things for warmups each time--just pick one each day.)
Next Steps:
On to lesson 4, and continue with the warmups I mentioned (frayed lines and curves, arrows, ellipses).
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Printer Paper
Where the rest of my recommendations tend to be for specific products, this one is a little more general. It's about printer paper.
As discussed in Lesson 0, printer paper (A4 or 8.5"x11") is what we recommend. It's well suited to the kind of tools we're using, and the nature of the work we're doing (in terms of size). But a lot of students still feel driven to sketchbooks, either by a desire to feel more like an artist, or to be able to compile their work as they go through the course.
Neither is a good enough reason to use something that is going to more expensive, more complex in terms of finding the right kind for the tools we're using, more stress-inducing (in terms of not wanting to "ruin" a sketchbook - we make a lot of mistakes throughout the work in this course), and more likely to keep you from developing the habits we try to instill in our students (like rotating the page to find a comfortable angle of approach).
Whether you grab the ream of printer paper linked here, a different brand, or pick one up from a store near you - do yourself a favour and don't make things even more difficult for you. And if you want to compile your work, you can always keep it in a folder, and even have it bound into a book when you're done.